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Posted by: Hasan Sameer
July 8, 2022
The primary purpose of cloud pen testing is to enable security professionals to examine the security posture of the cloud. Also, penetration testing for cloud infrastructure includes Evaluation, Exploitation, and Remediation. These are all necessary to secure your resources on the cloud. We will have a detailed look at it later in the blog:
of all organizations have at least some of their resources on the cloud at present
of them experienced at least one cloud attack in the last year and half
of cloud users are having compliance and security issues
of these users have suffered through actual data breaches
Penetration testing for clouds is an in-depth assessment of your cloud infrastructure. It determines the resistance of your systems to the incoming attack vectors. Moreover, it identifies the vulnerable points that attackers might exploit. Consequently, it works as a tool in the hands of security professionals. Helps them to provide optimum protection for customers’ cloud assets.
Cloud Penetration Testing aids the security of the following aspects:
Besides, it also examines the hosted services, user privileges, and access controls. However, some dos and don’ts can be there depending on your Cloud Service Provider. Every service provider has its own set of policies regarding cloud pen testing.
In simple terms, cloud penetration testing has the prime goal to identify the strength and weaknesses of your cloud systems. Furthermore, the following are a few more deliverables:
Cloud Pen Testing is done to prevent cyber-attacks on the cloud. It maps out the potential attack vectors for a certain cloud application. Simultaneously, it prepares the security plan to meet those threats.
Usually, hackers attack a cloud system by exploiting the vulnerability during communications between cloud users and services or applications. Still, some key attack vectors are:
Attackers always exploit the vulnerabilities present in the cloud to initiate any attack. Cloud pen testing, as we have discussed earlier in the blog, finds out these vulnerabilities.
Common cloud vulnerabilities that attackers mat exploit are:
Cloud penetration testing is a bit different from traditional pen testing methodologies. It requires unique techniques and expertise to scan the specific vulnerabilities that are cloud-native. For instance, the traditional penetration testing targets network, IT systems, DNS, and other basic aspects of cyberinfrastructure for testing. On the other hand, cloud pen testing examines cloud system passwords, cloud-specific configurations, cloud applications and encryption, and APIs, databases, and storage access. Furthermore, it follows a shared responsibility model.
