Over the past few decades, the world of information technology has been advancing at a lightning-fast pace. One such advancement is cloud technology. Cloud technology turned the traditional way of serving consumers with an information technology product all the way around! With cloud technology came the rise of SaaS based applications and software. SaaS in the market right now does not satisfy consumers. Moreover, current SaaS based tech does not satisfy the purpose and needs of consumers as well. So, here we are with another blog for the day. Namely, SaaS application penetration testing guide!
But before we begin with the procedure for SaaS app testing, let us give a brief about SaaS technology.
What is SaaS Application Penetration Testing?
SaaS is an abbreviation. It stands for ‘Software as a Service’. SaaS technology is a software distribution scheme that is heavily dependent upon cloud computing technology. It was initially launched by the Salesforce company for their CRM (Customer Relationship Management) platform around the late 90’s. SaaS became popular in the information technology market around the early or mid 2000’s.
SaaS technology is essentially a software service delivered over the internet, typically through a monthly or annual subscription. SaaS products are generally accessible through mobile applications, desktop software, or web browsers. With SaaS, users no longer need to install and run applications directly on their devices. Instead, they can access the required services and data over the internet. SaaS application security is therefore essential to protect sensitive data, user accounts, APIs, and cloud-based infrastructure from evolving cyber threats.
SaaS technology-based services will work as long as there is internet connectivity to the device accessing the information through the SaaS company/product. So now let us begin with the SaaS application penetration testing.
How to start SaaS Application Penetration Testing?
1) Understanding the policies of the cloud provider-
Notifying the provider about a penetration test is a must in many cases. So, it places a restriction on what actually can be done while pen-testing. So, if an application is running on public cloud and you want to pen-test it, you will have to conduct some research regarding the cloud provider’s recommendations. Otherwise, sometimes not following these recommendations can cause trouble. Moreover, your pen-test can even look like a DDoS attack, so it may shut down your account.
Every cloud provider usually checks for any abnormalities in their infrastructure. Moreover, in many instances, the cloud service has automated systems to shut down the system without any warning if it perceives a DDoS attack.
Moreover, your penetration test can eat up a lot of resources, so it can affect others on the cloud. Public clouds are multitenant. And therefore, all resources between the tenants should be managed appropriately. Hence, if your pen-testing is affecting the other users on the cloud, you might receive some form of backlash. Therefore, you have to understand the policies of the public cloud provider thoroughly and align with SaaS security best practices before conducting any such procedures.
2) Create a plan for Penetration testing-
A SaaS application penetration testing plan must include the following parameters:
a) User interfaces: Identify and include user interfaces in the specific application
b) Network access: Examine how well the network safeguards the application and data
c) Data: Check how the testers will test the data as it passes through the application and into the database
d) Virtualization: Determine how well virtual machines can separate your workload
e) Automation: Select automated tools
f) Regulation: Know the laws and regulations you need to adhere to within the application or database
g) Approach: Decide if the inclusion of the application admins is necessary or not.
3) Selecting the best pen-test tools-
An abundance of penetration testing tools are available in the testing market. It is common to use tools you have on your campus, but now testing tools based on cloud services are also cloud-enabled. These cloud-based testing tools are more cost-efficient and easily available for portable access and use. Moreover, these cloud-enabled testing tools do not require a huge amount of hardware. So it can directly be used for its main purpose, i.e., to imitate a real-time, actual cyber-attack.
4) Notice and plan according to the response-
While executing penetration testing, observe the following parameters:
a) Human response- Don’t inform the admin and users about the test. Then, observe their response to the test. This way, the response will be more interesting and insightful. Many may react by just shutting the system down, while others may diagnose the issue first, before identifying and elevating the threat.
b) Security system’s automated response- Observe how the security systems of the cloud respond to the penetration test. The actions of the security system should be varied. From merely blocking the IP address of the pen-test origin to shutting the entire application down: every action will have its significance in the protection from possible future attacks.
Therefore, observing the human and automated responses is a must. This way, you can get a clearer image of the security loopholes and defects in the cloud system.
5) Eliminating the security vulnerabilities-
Vulnerabilities found while pen testing cloud-based applications are mostly from the following:
a) XXXXX API based access to application
b) API access after 8-12 attempts
c) Improper isolation of workload by VM
d) Automated password generation cracking the app passwords
e) DNS disabling enables VPN access to the cloud
f) Incompliance of encryption with new regulations and more.
Therefore, look for clear indications of security issues and document and solve them ASAP!
Conclusion
Finally, we end our blog for the SaaS application penetration testing guide. We sincerely hope that we were useful to you in understanding this topic! We at QualySec conduct penetration testing for mobile applications, SaaS applications, and many more, with our expert teams and state-of-the-art pen-testing tools. With QualySec, you can achieve all the above-mentioned benefits and much more. QualySec is India’s best cybersecurity and pen-testing service provider.
