Cloud Penetration Testing Archives - Page 2 of 3

Securing the Future: Emerging Trends in Cloud-Based Application Security Testing

[email protected] / December 22, 2023

Despite significant cybersecurity spending, 78% of senior IT and security professionals think their firms are not adequately prepared for a cyberattack, according to a new poll. Given that 50% or more of the enterprises surveyed in cloud-based application security testing report are concerned about cloud threats. It’s no surprise that organizations are focusing on strengthening their cloud security posture going forward. Several main cloud security techniques are emerging as the most popular and successful during this process. We evaluated the top cloud security trends and gave insights on methods that may help you apply them to help you make an informed choice on how to improve your organization’s security posture. Understanding Cloud Security Testing Cloud security testing refers to the strategies, technologies, laws, and safeguards used to protect data, applications, and infrastructure hosted or managed inside cloud ecosystems. These cloud ecosystems include public clouds such as Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud. What is the Purpose of Cloud Security Testing? The primary purpose of cloud security is to ensure the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of assets and data in cloud settings. It also seeks to reduce risks associated with potential security dangers and vulnerabilities. Furthermore, it detects security flaws in your cloud service before hackers do. Depending on the kind of cloud service and the provider, various manual approaches, cloud penetration testing methodologies, and cloud security testing tools may be utilized. “Also explore: – The purpose of penetration testing Why Cloud-Based Penetration Testing Become a Necessity? Cloud security, like cloud computing, grew in tandem as enterprises sought to protect all assets in the cloud environment. During the COVID-19 pandemic, cloud security hit a new high due to a rapid surge in cloud use. Within the first year of the pandemic, the cloud computing industry in the United States grew from $73.6 billion to $274.79 billion. Businesses began transitioning to the cloud since they could no longer rely entirely on local servers and in-house hardware, and these organizations needed to safeguard their cloud infrastructure and applications. Furthermore, the explosive expansion of cloud-based application security testing has led to a phenomenal increase in cybercrime. As a result, cloud security became the first line of protection, allowing enterprises to operate their operations seamlessly. As cloud security progressed, new technologies were introduced, strengthening the foundation of cloud security. How is Cloud Penetration Security Performed? Cloud pentesting requires some steps to be followed, such as: Information Gathering and Planning (Reconnaissance): Here the service provider gathers all the information about the cloud application and plans a checklist for the further process of testing. Automation Scanning: Here automated cloud-based pen testing tools are used to scan the surface-level vulnerabilities to exploit them before a real hacker does. Manual Testing: The pentesters in this step, go deep into the application manually and run tests to mitigate the vulnerabilities found. Reporting: In this phase, the pentesters prepare a comprehensive and development-friendly report which consists of every detail about the vulnerability found and how to fix it. Want to check what the pentest report looks like? Click here to download the sample report. Latest Penetration Testing Report Download Consultation: This phase refers to when the developer needs any kind of help in resolving the issue, the testers are ready for a consultation call. Retest: In this phase, testers again test the app if there are any flaws left after the remediation from the developer’s end. What are the Threats to Cloud-Based Application Security Testing? Understanding the hazards associated with cloud computing is a critical first step. The following are the top three security threats in cloud security: 1. DDoS The most prevalent type of cloud assault is exceedingly devastating. Furthermore, DDoS (Distributed Denial of Service) is a type of attack that includes denying legitimate users access to internet services by flooding them with fraudulent connection requests. How to Deal: Have too much bandwidth on your company’s internet connection. The more bandwidth you have, the more work hackers must put in to overwhelm your connection. Discover vulnerabilities in your system – use cloud security testing tools to scan your network and system for flaws that may be used to launch DDoS assaults. Maintain a backup internet connection – a backup connection with a distinct pool of IP addresses gives an alternate way if the primary circuit becomes overburdened. Configure WAF rules to block out malicious IP addresses – Create custom rules in your WAF firewall to monitor and filter traffic based on your needs. 2. Data Breaches and Leaks The loss of personal and sensitive information and data – both mistakenly and purposefully – is the most significant and crucial cloud computing hazard for enterprises today. Insider threats are another source of critical information leakage. Storing sensitive data and passwords in plain text files makes them vulnerable if attackers get access to them. How to Deal: Encrypt Data- Sensitive data should not be stored in the cloud unless it is encrypted. Change your password- Keep all of your passwords in a secure location. Make better password choices and enhance the frequency with which they are changed. Set Permissions- Not all workers require equal access to your important files. Assign permissions based on a ‘need to know’ basis to avoid unauthorized access. Educate your employees- Train your employees to avoid unwittingly releasing important information. 3. Unauthorized Data Access It is the most serious threat to cloud security. Furthermore, according to a recent cloud security spotlight research, 53% of respondents consider unauthorized access via faulty access restrictions and employee credential abuse to be the most serious cloud security concern. Unauthorized access occurs when people get unauthorized access to company data, networks, endpoints, devices, or applications. How to Deal: Create a structure for data governance for all user accounts. All user accounts should be directly connected to centralized directory services such as Active Directory, which may monitor and cancel access privileges. Third-party security technologies can be used to frequently get lists of users, privileges, groups, and roles from cloud service

Cloud Penetration Testing

Cloud Penetration Testing: A Comprehensive Guide for Secure Cloud Environments

[email protected] / December 7, 2023

Cloud penetration testing is an important procedure for finding potential security flaws in cloud-based apps and infrastructure. The transition to cloud computing has been a rising trend in business IT over the last decade, and all indications are that it will continue for the foreseeable future. In reality, the bulk of internet services today are cloud-native. 92% of firms utilize some type of cloud infrastructure, with more than half utilizing several public clouds; and 21% using three or more. Cloud infrastructure improves operational efficiency and productivity, resulting in higher productivity and cheaper costs than similar on-premises infrastructure. Given the significance of cloud systems and data, protecting cloud assets from internal and external attacks is critical. According to research, data breaches of cloud assets cost victims about $5 million to recoup on average. Furthermore, it’s no surprise that the worldwide cloud security industry is expected to reach over 29.26 billion USD in 2021, with predictions anticipating USD 106.02 billion by 2029, at an 18.1% CAGR. In this blog, we’ll cover cloud pentesting, its benefit, and its process. We’ll also uncover the common vulnerabilities found in cloud security and the challenges faced by testers. Keep reading to learn more! What is Cloud Penetration Testing? Cloud Penetration Testing simulates real-world cyber-attacks against a company’s cloud infrastructure, cloud-native services and apps, APIs, and corporate components. This includes Infrastructure as Code (IaC), serverless computing platforms, and federated login systems. Furthermore, Cloud pen testing is a unique approach designed to address the threats, vulnerabilities, and dangers associated with cloud infrastructure and cloud-native services. A Cloud penetration test generates a complete report, attack narrative, and vulnerability severity rating to aid in the interpretation of each conclusion. Furthermore, the tests only disclose actual positive vulnerabilities in your cloud infrastructure, which is a big advantage over traditional vulnerability scanning, which includes false positives. Cloud security testing’s ultimate purpose is to secure digital infrastructure against an ever-changing threat landscape. This also gives businesses the greatest level of IT security assurance to fulfill their risk criteria. Why is Cloud Security Testing Important? Cloud penetration testing enables enterprises to strengthen the security of their cloud environments, minimize unnecessary system breaches, and stay in compliance with their industry’s standards. Furthermore, here are some of the advantages of testing a cloud application: 1. Assists in the Detection of Weaknesses The identification of any vulnerabilities through penetration testing guarantees that they are quickly fixed. Even the most minor flaws can be detected by thorough scanners. This is critical since it aids in the prompt correction of the vulnerability before hackers exploit it. 2. Assists in Meeting Compliance Partners and customers are increasingly seeking firms that have a solid security posture through IT security compliance requirements to collaborate with. Furthermore, in certain circumstances, compliance is a requirement for partners, and it can help lower cyber insurance costs. 3. Assists in Defending Data Cloud pentesting helps repair flaws in your cloud infrastructure, keeping your sensitive data safe and secure. This decreases the chance of a huge data breach, which may damage your company and its consumers, as well as have reputational and legal ramifications. 4. Assists in Improving Dependability Conducting frequent cloud pen tests can assist in improving the dependability and trustworthiness of cloud providers. Because of the cloud provider’s security-conscious nature, this can bring in additional clients while keeping existing clients satisfied with the degree of protection offered for the data kept by them. Related Article: Comprehensive guide on Penetration Testing The Responsibility Models of Cloud-Based Penetration Testing? The responsibility model is a framework for compliance and security for CSPs and their consumers. It specifies both parties’ obligations for optimally securing all parts of their cloud infrastructure, including architecture, hardware, software, operating systems, endpoints, configurations, settings, access rights, and network restrictions. Services CSP’s Responsibility Customer’s Responsibility PaaS Security of Platform including Software and Hardware Security of applications created on the platform. Endpoints, workloads, user security, and network security are all important considerations. IaaS Security of Infrastructure Component Operating systems, programs, and middleware deployed on the developer’s infrastructure are all subject to application security. Endpoints, workloads, user security, network security, and data are all important considerations. SaaS Security of Application Endpoints, user security, and network security are all important considerations. Misconfigurations, workloads, and data are all issues. Certain parts of cloud security testing are managed and handled by the cloud provider under the terms of the Service Level Agreement (SLA) between the client and the cloud service provider, while the client is responsible for the others. For example, the cloud provider will not be held liable for security flaws relating to user identification. Similarly, the client is not responsible for the physical security of the cloud providers’ data facilities. This common concept of cloud security is referred to as “security in the cloud,” rather than “security of the cloud.” This common model determines the scope of the cloud pentest. How to Common Risks in Cloud Security Penetration Testing? Here are some of the most frequent vulnerabilities among the multiple attack paths that might lead to varied degrees of destructive breaches of your cloud services: 1. Insecure Coding Techniques Most firms attempt to build their cloud infrastructure as cheaply as feasible. As a result of bad development methods, such software frequently has problems such as SQL, XSS, and CSRF. The top ten are those that are the most prevalent among them. Furthermore, these vulnerabilities are at the heart of the bulk of cloud web service compromises. 2. Cloud Misconfigurations Misconfigurations in production cloud services are frequently caused by inexperience, a failure to follow IT security best practices, and a lack of static code reviews. The NSA also considers cloud misconfiguration to be a top IT security issue, and it provides low-hanging fruit for amateur attackers to exploit using automated tools. 3. Out-of-Date Software Outdated software has major security flaws that might jeopardize your cloud penetration testing services. Furthermore, most software manufacturers do not employ a simplified updating system, and consumers individually cancel automatic upgrades. This renders