Apply These 5 Secret Techniques to Improve Cloud Pen Testing

icon Posted by: Praveen Joshi
icon March 4, 2022

In Brief: 

The Concept of Cloud Pen Testing 

Cloud pentesting is a cyber security measure to scan out the vulnerabilities within your cloud applications. Here we simulate the scenario of an actual cyberattack. This illuminates the weak points that might allow an outsider to penetrate through. 

93%

of organizations have concerns about human error causing accidental exposure of credentials

22%

of businesses are still using manual procedures for their cloud security

25%

of data breach cases involve phishing usually through emails

59%

are the ransomware incidents encountered by the encrypted data in the cloud

5 Secret Techniques to Improve Cloud Pen Testing

1 Understand the Policies of Cloud Service Provider 

Every CSP has its different policies that regulate: 

  • Types of pen testing techniques allowed 
  • Terminal to perform tests on 
  • Permissions and authentication 

Hence, it is important to familiarize yourself with all the policies before planning the test. Even the service providers have the provision of penalizing if you break any protocol related to pen tests. For instance, while pentesting azure cloud, the test aspects are:

  • Detecting intrusion and attacks 
  • Response measures to intrusion 
  • How the recovery works after a data leak 
  • Immunity against potential attacks in future 

5 Secret Techniques to Improve Cloud Pen Testing

2 Create an Appropriate Plan 

After going through the policies, you are now set to plan the pen test on your targeted cloud infrastructure. There’s no fixed pattern for planning this test. However, you must include the following steps: 

  • System and services discovery: This concerns permissions to the MID server and access to related resources. 
  • Automated vulnerability scanning: Assessing the network including servers and connected periphery to deploy proactive security. 
  • Manual verification of vulnerabilities: Add the human element by applying test protocol manually to the data collection. 
  • Manual application pentesting: It is important to fill any hardly left gaps in scanning for vulnerable spots in your application stack. 
  • Network pivoting: To move around the network and look for any other accessible devices and access points. If left unattended, might later serve as a backdoor for the online intruders. 
  • Domain privilege escalation: Keep in mind to attend this area while planning the loud pen-testing. Hackers most likely use this vulnerability as a chance for unauthorized access. 
  • Access sensitive data and critical systems: Plan to analyse and assess your whole critical infrastructure thoroughly during the cloud pen testing.  

5 Secret Techniques to Improve Cloud Pen Testing

3 Execute With the Perfect Set of Tools 

Selecting the ideal tool according to your test requirements becomes a crucial step in the process. Following are some tools for pentesting Azure cloud: 

  • Azucar: a plugin that enables you to audit your Azure environment thoroughly. It collects and analyses data for any security issues. 
  • MicroBurst: a tool to test the Azure Deployment. You can use it to detect issues like configuration errors and service discovery. 
  • PowerZure: a PowerShell-based script that can perform data extraction, information collection, and credential access. 
  • Cloud Security Suite (CS-Suite): a comprehensive cloud pen testing tool. It not only works for Azure, but you can use different cloud services. 

 

4 Analysing the Results 

Results of the cloud penetration test will introduce you to the key and hidden vulnerabilities of your cloud. Analysing them properly is important to deploy the ideal solution for each problem found. 

Look for the following attributes while scrutinizing the results of the cloud pen test: 

  • Possible Attack Vectors 
  • The complexity of the attack 
  • Required Privileges 
  • The severity of the Vulnerabilities 
  • Sensitivity of the online data 

Most of the time testers overlook the step of report generation. However, you must provide the easy to comprehend report.

5 Secret Techniques to Improve Cloud Pen Testing

5 Deploying the Remediation Steps 

  • Only finding the problems will not complete the task. You must take the remediation steps according to the vulnerabilities found in your cloud. 
  • Sometimes the automated testing procedures generate a few false red flags. To resolve it, you need specific manual operations before taking the remediation steps. 
  • Most of the vulnerable sections are secured only by doing some minor changes. Whereas some of them might need a significant overhauling. You must provide with the right mitigation and remediation steps respectively. 

Purpose of Cloud Pen Testing  

  • Cloud pen testing will guide your business towards having a more secure and efficient cloud infrastructure. 
  • It helps to improve the end-user experience for every application on the cloud. 
  • Makes you attain optimum efficiency for incident response plans and procedures. 
  • It marks a high reputation for your organization. It is crucial to have a dependable image if your business involves the transaction of critical information and data. 

 

Common Cloud Vulnerabilities 

Cloud vulnerabilities might range from operational to security-based. Following are the most common ones you might encounter during cloud pen testing: 

  • Misconfigurations: whether in the server or the cloud storage, misconfiguration is always a possibility. This includes improper permissions and unclear differentiation between private and public data. 
  • Weak Credentials: It is mostly about the usernames and passwords for different accounts, applications, and databases. Clouds have very high accessibility which makes them prone to password spraying attacks. 
  • Insecure API: A slight lapse in API security can turn out to be an open invitation for hackers. They can easily upload malware into the system to access, corrupt, or even delete your data. 
  • Unsecured Networking: The firewalls protecting your network must be efficient enough to strictly control the network traffic. Otherwise, your network is open to exposure to become an easy target for hackers. 
  • Outdated Software: An outdated armor cannot stop an updated bullet. Similarly, if the software guarding your cloud application is outdated, it is worthless. It won’t be able to mitigate the advanced cyber risks. 

Before You Go! 

  • Adapting the best practices along with updated techniques can improve the results of Cloud Pen Testing.  
  • Always trust an expert to hand over the responsibility of ensuring that critical cloud infrastructure remains secure. 

Tags

  • cloud pen testing
  • pen-testing azure

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