What is Cloud Penetration Testing?
Businesses today are increasingly leveraging the scalability, flexibility, and cost-effectiveness of cloud environments to support their business strategies. However, this shift to the cloud also brings forth new challenges in securing digital assets and protecting sensitive data.
Cloud penetration testing, a crucial practice that enables organizations to identify vulnerabilities and fortify their cloud ecosystem against potential cyber threats. In this blog post, we will explore cloud penetration testing and why it is important to secure your cloud environment.
What is the Purpose of Cloud Penetration Testing?
The main objective of penetration testing in the cloud is to identify and assess vulnerabilities in these environements and ensure the security of the infrastructure and the data and applications hosted in the cloud.
Cloud environments are not immune to security flaws, despite their in-built security and reliability. Injection flaws, improper authentication and authorization, insecure network policies, and misconfigurations are just some of the many vulnerabilities that can be found in cloud environments. In fact, research shows that misconfigurations have been the leading cause of security incidents in the cloud. Identifying and addressing these vulnerabilities is crucial to prevent unauthorized access and data exposure.
Moreover, vulnerabilities in the cloud have led to some of the biggest data breaches in recent times. From Medibank's cloud-based data network being hacked to the Facebook and LinkedIn data breaches, cloud environments are no stranger to cyber-attacks. As more and more organizations transition to the cloud, these attacks are only set to increase. While 39% of organizations already have more than 50% of their workloads in the cloud, this number is expected to increase in the next 12-18 months.
And while cloud providers are continuously improving their security capabilities, 43% of cloud security professionals believe that cloud environments pose higher risks than on-premises environments. And despite advances in security technology, only 6% of cybersecurity professionals are extremely confident in their organization's cloud security posture. This emphasizes the importance of testing cloud environments to uncover vulnerabilities and protect sensitive data.
In addition to keeping the cloud environment secure, it's also important to maintain cloud compliance. Due to the dynamic nature of cloud environments, maintaining compliance in the cloud can often be quite challenging. This is further compounded by the lack of knowledge and expertise in cloud security and compliance. (Source: Cybersecurity Insiders and ISC2 Cloud Security Report 2023) (Source: Cybersecurity Insiders and ISC2 Cloud Security Report 2023
Cloud Penetration Testing vs. On-Premises Penetration Testing
Understanding the Distinct Environments
On-premise, also known as on-prem refers to the refers to the practice of hosting and managing IT infrastructure, including servers, networking equipment, and data storage, within an organization's physical location or data center. In this setup, the organization has full control over its hardware, software, and security, allowing for customized configurations tailored to specific needs. On-premises data centers are typically managed and maintained by the organization's IT team, providing direct access and control over the entire infrastructure.
In contrast, cloud computing involves utilizing remote servers and computing resources provided by a third-party service provider, accessible over the internet. Instead of owning and managing physical hardware, organizations lease cloud resources on a pay-as-you-go basis, scaling their computing power and storage according to demand. Cloud services offer advantages such as scalability, cost-efficiency, and accessibility from anywhere with an internet connection. The cloud provider takes care of the underlying hardware and infrastructure, allowing businesses to focus on their applications and services without the burden of physical maintenance.
Think of it as owning as owning an office space versus renting one in a shared building.
Penetration testing for on-premises and cloud environments is therefore different because the testing environments are different. The cloud penetration testing methodology is designed specifically to target the cloud infrastructure, cloud-native services, and vulnerabilities found in cloud environments.
Unique Cloud Security Threats
The OWASP Cloud-Native Top 10 list outlines unique cloud threats that organizations may face in their cloud environments. While the list is still a work in progress, here are some of the most prominent threats you need to be aware of:
Examples of these threats include insecure cloud storage configurations, injection vulnerabilities like SQL injection and XXE, improper authentication and authorization leading to unauthenticated API access, flaws in CI/CD pipelines such as insufficient authentication and the use of untrusted images, insecure secrets storage within containers, over-permissive network policies, and the use of components with known vulnerabilities. Additionally, challenges related to assets management, inadequate resource quotas, and ineffective logging and monitoring can also pose significant risks in cloud environments.
Shared Responsibility Model & Scoping Considerations
The Shared Responsibility Model is a critical concept in cloud computing that outlines the division of security responsibilities between cloud service providers and customers. In this model, the provider takes responsibility for securing the underlying infrastructure, while the customer is responsible for securing their applications, data, and access controls within the cloud environment.
This shared responsibility model is a key factor in determining the scope of the cloud penetration testing process.
Additionally, it is also important to consider the policies of your cloud service provider before you test the security of your cloud environment. Some providers may have policies that require you to notify them before you perform a pen test or that restrict the types of tests you can perform. You may also have to disclose the results of your pen test to the service provider.
Brand Dilution: Negative Impact on Consumer Perception
While every cloud penetration test is different, here are some common parameters that should be considered when defining the scope of the test:
Benchmark Checks
- Evaluate the size of the cloud environment and the services utilized.
- Utilize automated tools to quickly detect common misconfigurations.
Services Enumeration
- Identify all services employed within the cloud setup.
- Look for misconfigurations that might have been overlooked during the benchmark tests.
Check Exposed Assets
- Manually identify resources potentially exposed to the Internet.
- Investigate instances, web pages, and cloud-managed services like databases or storage buckets that might be unintentionally exposed.
- Assess the security of these exposed services for potential vulnerabilities and misconfigurations.
Check Permissions
- Analyze the permissions assigned to each role/user in the cloud environment and how they are utilized.
- Pay special attention to highly privileged accounts and unused or improperly generated keys.
- In cases of OpenID, SAML, or other federation usage, seek further information on how roles are assigned.
Check Integrations
- Identify any integrations with other cloud platforms or SaaS services.
- Determine who has access to these integrations and the potential for abuse.
- Assess the sensitivity of actions performed through integrations and how data is used in different cloud environments.
Building a Security Focused Cloud Culture
In today's digital landscape, where businesses rely heavily on cloud services for their operations, cultivating a security-focused culture is paramount. Here's how you can create one:
Emphasizing Security Awareness and Training
A security-focused cloud culture begins with empowering employees with the knowledge and understanding of potential cloud security risks and best practices.
One of the main barriers to cloud security is the lack of staff expertise and training. Over 50% of organizations have reported this reason as a barrier to cloud adoption.
Educating employees on the dos and don'ts of cloud usage and the consequences of security lapses can significantly reduce the likelihood of human errors leading to security incidents. Regular updates and refresher courses on emerging cloud threats and security measures are also vital to keep employees well-informed and vigilant against evolving risks.
Collaborative Approach
Effective cloud security cannot be achieved in isolation. It demands a collaborative approach among various stakeholders, including IT, security teams, management, developers, and third-party vendors. By involving all relevant parties in security discussions and decision-making, organizations can harness collective expertise and insights to bolster the cloud defense.
Moreover, engaging in regular cross-functional meetings and workshops on cloud security can bridge communication gaps, align priorities, and ensure that everyone is well-informed about ongoing security initiatives.
Security by Design
Integrating security into the development process from the outset is a hallmark of a security-focused cloud culture. Adopting a "security by design" approach ensures that security considerations are embedded into every stage of the cloud deployment lifecycle. This proactive strategy helps identify and address potential security issues early on, reducing the likelihood of costly fixes later.
Furthermore, organizations should foster a DevSecOps culture, where development, security, and operations teams work hand in hand to prioritize security throughout the development and deployment process.
Regular Security Audits and Assessments
A security-focused cloud culture embraces the concept of continuous improvement. Regularly conducting cloud security audits and assessments enables organizations to identify areas of improvement, validate the effectiveness of security controls, and detect emerging vulnerabilities.
Penetration testing, vulnerability scanning, and security risk assessments are valuable tools in the quest for constant improvement and resilience. Organizations should use these assessments to refine their security strategies, implement corrective measures, and stay ahead of potential threats.
How Can We Help?
At Threat Intelligence, we offer a team of certified pen testers with extensive experience and top industry qualifications including Black Hat and CREST. In addition, our completely automated and cloud-based platform is designed to augment your security team to detect threats quicker than ever before.
Get access to:
- On-demand pen tests anytime, anywhere
- Contextual attacks and real-time exploit locator
- Deep coverage
- Prioritized remediation and recommendations
Reach out to our team today to know more.
