Agentic pentesting terms

1. Your contract with Azacus

AZACUS CYBER SECURITY LTD (SC612699), 5 South Charlotte Street, Edinburgh, EH2 4AN, United Kingdom, trading as Azacus.io ("Azacus", "we", "us"), supplies these services to business customers only. Contact and formal notices: ping@azacus.io. You confirm that you act for the purchasing business and have authority to bind it.

These Agentic Pentesting Terms govern orders expressly described as agentic, autonomous, automated or AI-led pentesting, including their human oversight, reporting and agreed retesting. An assessment of an AI application is a separate service unless expressly included. Manual consulting is included only where the order says so.

The contract consists of the order accepted by Azacus, these versioned Terms, and the agreed statement of work and rules of engagement. A separately signed negotiated agreement prevails where it expressly changes these Terms; the data processing agreement governs personal-data processing; the rules of engagement govern permitted testing actions and boundaries. A purchase order is administrative and does not introduce the buyer’s printed or linked terms unless Azacus expressly accepts them in writing.

An online order is an offer. A payment receipt or purchase-order acknowledgement confirms receipt only. Azacus accepts an order by issuing a written order confirmation after reviewing scope and feasibility. If we decline an order, we refund amounts collected for services we will not supply. Payment, purchase-order submission and acceptance of these Terms do not authorise or automatically launch testing. Testing begins only after the required authorisation, access and rules of engagement are agreed.

2. Scope and authority to test

You must own each target or obtain permission from the person entitled to authorise every proposed testing activity. This includes the permissions of relevant customers, tenants, hosting providers and other third parties. A DNS check, working login or cloud account alone is not proof of permission. You must provide written evidence when requested and keep permissions valid throughout each run.

Before testing, the parties must record the exact domains, applications, API operations, public hosts, internal ranges, cloud accounts or subscriptions, repositories and environments in scope; excluded systems and actions; test accounts and roles; permitted techniques; time windows and rate limits; evidence-handling requirements; emergency contacts and stop conditions. Target changes, redirects, shared infrastructure, connected integrations and newly discovered assets do not automatically enlarge that scope.

You remain responsible for the accuracy of supplied target details, access rights and instructions. Notify us immediately of ownership changes, reassigned IPs, credential compromise, environmental changes or withdrawn permissions. Each recurring run requires valid authority for its current scope. Azacus may refuse or pause a run while authority is uncertain.

These Terms grant no permission to attack an unrelated third party. Azacus will apply reasonable scope controls and will not knowingly continue outside the authorised boundaries. Suspected unintended access or impact must be escalated and the affected activity stopped while the parties assess it.

3. Agent-led testing and human oversight

AI agents and automated tools may plan tests, make requests, inspect responses, attempt agreed exploitation and gather evidence. Methods, concurrency and the sequence of tests may vary between runs. The service uses third-party tools and, where agreed, hosted AI model providers.

Every assessment has a UK-based human operator with at least 10 years of penetration testing experience. The operator oversees the assessment, handles escalations and reviews reported findings. This does not mean that every machine action is manually approved or continuously observed. Continuous supervision, response times and out-of-hours cover must be expressly agreed.

Azacus will perform the contracted service with reasonable skill and care. Automated and AI-assisted systems can misunderstand context, produce incorrect conclusions, omit relevant tests, behave unpredictably or respond to malicious instructions encountered in target content. Human review reduces these risks but cannot eliminate them. Safeguards and limits do not amount to a promise of error-free execution.

The contract promises the agreed assessment work and deliverables, not a minimum number or severity of findings, identical results between runs, complete discovery of vulnerabilities, or prevention of a future compromise. A clean report does not certify that an environment is secure. Blocked access, unavailable functionality, scope restrictions and test budgets can reduce coverage; material limitations will be identified in the report.

4. Operational risk and preparation

Security testing can degrade performance, interrupt services, trigger account lockouts or security alerts, create or change records, exercise transactions, expose existing weaknesses, or cause loss or corruption of data. It may trigger emails, SMS messages, webhooks, cloud consumption charges or other real-world effects. These risks exist even where destructive testing is excluded.

Use a representative non-production environment and synthetic or masked data wherever practical. Production testing requires explicit agreement of production-specific risks and safeguards in the rules of engagement. You must identify fragile or safety-critical systems, payment flows, live messaging, regulated or sensitive data, and other functions whose exercise could have material consequences.

You are responsible for usable backups, restoration capability, business-continuity arrangements, monitoring, test-account provisioning and informing relevant operations and security personnel. We will agree the responsibilities for allowlisting and provider notifications. You must comply with cloud-provider and platform testing policies and obtain approvals where required.

Denial-of-service, deliberate destruction, ransomware deployment, persistence, uncontrolled lateral movement, social engineering, physical testing and real financial transactions are excluded unless separately and expressly authorised in writing. A general request to test thoroughly or to validate impact does not authorise those activities. Customer preparation duties and risk acknowledgements do not excuse Azacus from its contractual duties or remove liability that cannot lawfully be excluded.

Password guessing, spraying, default-credential checks and use of leaked credentials require separate express authorisation identifying the affected systems, account categories and limits. They are not included merely because a login interface is visible. The customer must establish any necessary lawful basis for processing credential data. Such testing may lock accounts or trigger resets; exposed secrets must be redacted from routine reports and handled through the agreed secure channel.

5. Stop requests, incidents and cleanup

Either party may require an immediate safety pause. We may also pause for suspected unauthorised access, unusual impact, compromised credentials, malicious use, material scope uncertainty, legal requirements or operational failure. Use the emergency channel and contacts agreed before the run; email alone must not be relied upon for an urgent stop.

Azacus will take reasonable steps promptly to stop or contain affected activity once a stop request or serious issue reaches the responsible operator, notify the customer and preserve relevant records. Requests already submitted, queued provider jobs and external side effects may not stop instantaneously. The parties will coordinate investigation and safe resumption.

Azacus will identify material test artefacts it knows it created and remove them where safely practical within its access and scope. You must revoke test accounts and temporary access, rotate exposed credentials and complete any required restoration or remediation. Additional recovery work is separately scoped unless required to remedy Azacus’s own breach. Neither party should describe a genuine unauthorised disclosure or personal-data breach as merely testing to avoid notification duties.

6. Confidentiality, personal data and AI providers

Target details, credentials, code, evidence and vulnerability information are confidential. Each party will protect the other’s confidential information using appropriate safeguards, use it only for the engagement and related lawful administration, and disclose it only to personnel, approved providers and professional advisers who need it and are under confidentiality duties, or where legally required. Publicly known information, independently developed information and information lawfully received without restriction are excluded. Trade secrets and sensitive vulnerability information remain protected for as long as they remain confidential.

You retain ownership of your systems, code and customer data. Supply only the data and privileges necessary for the assessment and use the agreed secure transfer channel. Do not put credentials, source code or vulnerability evidence in the public enquiry form, purchase-order fields or payment metadata.

Where Azacus processes personal data on your behalf, a suitable data processing agreement and processing schedule must be in place before testing. They must cover instructions, subject matter and duration, data categories and data subjects, security measures, confidentiality, subprocessors, international transfers, assistance with rights and incidents, audit information and return or deletion. This clause is not a substitute for those arrangements.

Before customer assessment data is sent to a hosted AI or other processing provider, the engagement must identify the permitted providers, processing locations, applicable retention and transfer arrangements and any customer restrictions. Required processor approvals and lawful transfer safeguards must be in place. Do not assume all processing occurs in the UK because the operator is UK-based. If an agreed restriction cannot be met, we must change the method or decline the affected work.

Azacus will not authorise use of identifiable customer assessment data to train general-purpose models without separate express written permission. Data minimisation and suitable provider settings must be applied in practice. We make no claim here that a particular provider has zero retention or that a particular processing region is available.

Raw evidence, final reports, operational records and backups have different purposes. The applicable processing schedule must state their retention and deletion arrangements before the assessment; we will not retain assessment data indefinitely for unspecified improvement purposes. Limited records may be retained where lawfully necessary for accounting, contractual evidence, security or legal claims, with access restricted. Contact and billing data are handled under our Privacy Policy. Applicable incident-notification duties remain unaffected.

7. Findings, reports and reliance

Reports describe the tested scope and the environment at the time of testing. Severity and impact depend on available evidence and context. New deployments, changed permissions, new threats or new information can invalidate an earlier conclusion. Reproduction may depend on credentials, state, timing or external services. We will distinguish unverified observations and material testing gaps from validated findings.

You are responsible for prioritising and implementing fixes and for testing their effects before production deployment. Retesting, fix verification, code changes and incident response are included only to the extent stated in the order. A recurring assessment is not unlimited retesting, continuous monitoring or a managed detection-and-response service.

After payment of the applicable fees, you may use the final report internally and share it confidentially with your customers, auditors, insurers and advisers for legitimate assurance purposes. Share its relevant scope and limitations alongside conclusions. Third parties acquire no independent duty of care or reliance right from Azacus unless we expressly agree that in writing. No public disclosure of exploit evidence or customer identity is authorised by these Terms.

Accreditation, certification, regulatory acceptance, procurement acceptance and coverage of a named standard are not promised unless expressly included in the accepted order. Tell us the exact requirement before purchase. We do not warrant acceptance of agentic testing by any auditor, regulator, insurer or customer. Nothing excludes liability for fraudulent statements about qualifications or services.

8. Prices, scope limits and payment

The order review and accepted confirmation identify the service, scope band or host count, assessment allowance, currency, setup, billing cadence and total commitment. Displayed prices apply to agentic assessments. A cloud security review and cloud exploitation are different assessment types; combined cloud work and other quote-only scopes require an agreed proposal.

All published scope limits apply together. A dynamic page means a distinct interactive page or functional template, not every URL parameter variation. An API operation means a method and route template; materially different workflows and permissions may require separate scoping. Public-host counting must reflect distinct authorised targets, not be reduced merely because they share an IP or increased merely because one host has aliases. We must resolve ambiguous counts, complexity and proposed exclusions before acceptance, not add surprise charges after a run.

Additional targets, roles, workflows, environments or material complexity require written agreement of any price change before extra work. Setup is charged for each new agreed scope as shown at order review; substantial changes may require additional setup agreed in advance. Third-party usage or variable expenses may be charged only if disclosed and agreed. Applicable tax and the final amount payable must be shown before payment or in the accepted invoice proposal.

One-off assessments and bundles are payable before the agreed start unless approved invoice terms say otherwise. Subscriptions are billed on the schedule shown at purchase. Failed payment may lead to suspension after notice, without extending the purchased allowance automatically. We will investigate genuinely disputed invoice amounts in good faith; undisputed amounts remain due.

A valid WELCOME10 first-order code reduces eligible assessment charges on the first invoice by 10%, up to the displayed currency cap. Setup and tax are excluded from the discount base. It does not reduce later subscription invoices. Other promotions require their own disclosed terms. No cash alternative or combination is available unless expressly offered.

9. Bundles, subscriptions and scheduling

A three-assessment bundle provides three runs within 12 months of the agreed service start date. Quarterly and monthly subscriptions provide four or twelve assessments respectively during a 12-month term, billed monthly, for the agreed scope. A monthly payment is an instalment of that term’s commitment, not a right to cancel the remaining term at will.

We will agree commencement, scheduling, access prerequisites and the applicable assessment windows before acceptance. Launches are subject to those arrangements and capacity; buying a plan does not guarantee instant execution. You must request and prepare runs in time for delivery within the term. Unused allowances expire at the end of the term unless we agree otherwise; allowances affected by Azacus-caused delay will be reasonably rescheduled or credited.

Additional assessments and scope changes are separately priced. Renewal arrangements and any renewal price must be expressly stated in the accepted order; these Terms alone do not impose automatic renewal. Where renewal has not been expressly agreed, renewal requires a further order. Contact ping@azacus.io to discuss cancellation, non-renewal or scheduling.

10. Purchase orders and invoicing

You may submit a purchase-order request instead of paying by card. Supply your legal business name, billing address, purchasing contact, invoice email, purchase-order reference and any applicable registration or tax identifiers. Do not include bank credentials or target access information.

Submission records your request for review. It does not mean credit has been approved, that a tax invoice has been issued, that an order has been accepted, or that a testing slot is reserved. We will confirm the agreed scope, tax, payment schedule and any required supplier-onboarding information before accepting the order.

Invoice payment terms, including any credit period, must be approved in writing. A PO number is a reference and does not supersede these Terms or extend payment deadlines. Recurring services ordered by PO still require agreement to the complete term and payment schedule; PO submission does not itself create an automated card subscription.

11. Changes, cancellation and remedies

Contact us promptly to request a change or cancellation. Any agreed cancellation charge must reflect work properly performed, unavoidable third-party costs and reasonable reserved-capacity losses, allowing for costs saved and capacity reused. The order must disclose any specific cancellation or rescheduling policy before acceptance. Setup is earned only as setup work is performed; it is not automatically forfeited merely by placing an order.

An accepted fixed-term subscription remains payable for its agreed term unless a contractual termination right, written cancellation agreement or applicable law provides otherwise. This does not entitle us to charge twice for the same loss or retain payment for services we refuse or are unable to provide without a contractual justification.

If a material service defect is attributable to Azacus, tell us and provide reasonable details. We will investigate and have a reasonable opportunity to correct the affected work or repeat the deficient element without extra charge. If it cannot reasonably be remedied, an appropriate refund or price reduction for the affected service will be considered. These remedies do not remove rights that cannot lawfully be excluded.

Either party may terminate for a material breach not corrected within 14 days of written notice where it can be corrected, or immediately where performance is unlawful or a breach cannot be remedied. A safety pause alone is not a general right to cancel prepaid services without accounting for undelivered work. After termination, testing stops, outstanding lawful charges and refunds are reconciled, and data is returned or deleted under the agreed processing arrangements.

12. Liability and allocation of risk

This section is an important part of the commercial allocation of risk and must be read with the operational risks above. Nothing excludes or limits liability for death or personal injury caused by negligence, fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation, or any other liability that cannot lawfully be excluded or limited. Mandatory rights and applicable requirements of fairness and reasonableness remain unaffected.

Subject to those exceptions and any separately negotiated liability provision, Azacus’s total aggregate liability arising from the affected order, whether in contract, delict (including negligence), breach of statutory duty or otherwise, is limited to the assessment and setup fees paid or payable under that order for its first 12-month term or, for a longer order, the 12-month period in which the event first occurred. Related events are treated as one event. A one-off order uses its full order fees rather than a zero historic-fees figure.

To the extent lawful and reasonable, Azacus is not liable for indirect or consequential losses, or loss of profit, revenue, business opportunity or anticipated savings. Ordinary investigation, restoration or remediation expenses are not automatically labelled indirect merely because they concern data or systems; any recoverable direct loss remains subject to the agreed cap. We do not provide insurance against pre-existing weaknesses, third-party attacks or business interruption.

You remain responsible for losses caused by your unauthorised target selection, inaccurate instructions, failure to maintain agreed safeguards or use outside the agreed scope, to the extent those matters caused the loss. You will indemnify Azacus against reasonable third-party claims and defence costs caused by your breach of the ownership, permission or lawful-use warranties, excluding the extent attributable to Azacus’s negligence, breach or unlawful conduct. We must notify you promptly, allow reasonable participation in defence and mitigation, and obtain your consent before settling a claim at your expense; consent must not be unreasonably withheld. This does not purport to transfer non-transferable regulatory penalties.

Risk acknowledgements do not give Azacus permission to act recklessly, exceed agreed authority or disregard reasonable skill and care. If the proposed allocation is unsuitable for a critical environment, ask for separately negotiated safeguards, delivery terms and liability limits before purchase. Any insurance coverage is governed by its actual policy; no insurance amount is represented by these Terms.

13. Intellectual property, changes and disputes

Azacus and its licensors retain their tools, software, templates and underlying know-how. You retain your pre-existing material and customer data. The report-use rights in section 7 do not transfer third-party tool licences or permit resale of our platform. Neither party may use the other’s name or logo in publicity or a case study without separate permission.

The version you accept applies to that order. Posting revised terms does not retrospectively change an accepted order. Material contractual changes require agreement. We may change tools or providers only consistently with the agreed service, confidentiality, processing restrictions and required approvals.

Neither party is liable for delay caused by events genuinely beyond its reasonable control where it acts reasonably to mitigate them, gives prompt notice and resumes performance when practical. This does not excuse payment already due or remove an obligation to account for undelivered prepaid services. If a material interruption persists, the parties will agree rescheduling or termination and reconciliation of affected fees.

No agency, employment, partnership or third-party enforcement right is created. A waiver must be in writing; a failure to enforce promptly is not a waiver. If a provision is unenforceable, the remainder continues so far as lawful. Neither party may transfer obligations so as to materially reduce the other party’s contractual protection without consent.

Raise contractual complaints and notices at ping@azacus.io and the billing contact in the order. An urgent testing incident must use the separately agreed emergency channel. The contract is governed by Scots law, with the courts of Scotland having exclusive jurisdiction, subject to mandatory law. The English text governs any translation unless a negotiated agreement states otherwise.