What is cloud penetration testing?
Cloud penetration testing is a tactic an organization uses to evaluate the effectiveness of cloud security by attempting to evade its own defenses. Through penetration testing, a security team can assess their security posture at a given point in time and identify vulnerabilities that others may exploit.
Historically, organizations owned and operated their own systems and networks, which made penetration testing fairly straightforward. As an organization's IT assets become more widely distributed, it is necessary to reevaluate penetration testing.
Cloud penetration testing is much more complex than traditional penetration testing. These challenges arise from the dynamic environments created by software-defined networks, the blurred boundaries resulting from the shared responsibility model, and the distributed nature of the cloud. Piecing the data together into a coherent story requires strong formatting skills by the analyst; However, once the test is complete, the analyst has key insights into threat hunting.
Penetration testing vs. cloud penetration testing
A simple penetration test covers a discrete, well-defined area. Reports generated by hosts in the same physical location require some basic analysis and formatting.
In contrast, cloud penetration testing involves a distributed physical area. It must take into account both the global cloud infrastructure and the underlying hypervisors, also known as virtual machine monitors (VMMs). The various findings must be harmonized and harmonized into a final and coherent report.
Why is cloud penetration testing important?
An organization that relies on cloud services implicitly outsources part of its cloud security management to the service provider. Keep in mind that in the penetration testing hierarchy, the enterprise domain (or virtual network) exists above the infrastructure and platform. Therefore, even if a virtual network contains network devices, these devices have limited views of actual vulnerabilities.
For example, a virtual machine may appear to have no vulnerabilities, but a vulnerability could exist in the underlying infrastructure configuration. The virtual machine has no logs of any activity, let alone suspicious activity, making the activity invisible. Attackers exploit this invisibility and configure virtual machines in ways so that their activities are not logged.
The most dangerous instances of this type of attack are those in libraries used by both operating systems (OSes) and virtual machines. In this case, both environments are vulnerable to the same issue, but are managed by different entities. If an organization makes patches before the cloud service provider does (a possible but unlikely scenario), the organization will remain at risk until the service provider activates the patch. For a cloud customer to be protected from a vulnerability on both sites, the vulnerability must be patched at the same time or by the service provider first.
Key Benefits of Cloud Penetration Testing
Cloud penetration testing should be factored into your cloud security strategy. When done correctly, it can provide important benefits, including the following:
A complete picture of the organization's security posture. A well-organized cloud penetration test can reveal potential flaws in the end-to-end remediation pipeline. Check the cloud provider's security claims and stance. The service provider and customer will define security expectations in the cloud SLA, but cloud penetration testing will actually verify the vendor's claims. Check the security of the hotspot. Connection points are the meeting points where one party's coverage ends and another party's coverage begins. One such place is between the enterprise and the cloud service provider.
Types of cloud penetration tests
Three common types of cloud penetration testing are black box, white box, and gray box.
In black box testing, the tester has no view of the network. The blind approach may seem like the most realistic and therefore preferable approach, but it is not. Penetration testing relies heavily on automated tools, while a real, coordinated attack occurs over time using OSINT (Open Systems Intelligence), HUMINT (Human Intelligence), and SIGINT (Signals Intelligence). Penetration testing is based on OSINT; The other two are not usually part of the penetration testing package.
A white box approach involves IT and security teams sharing all information, including schemas, configurations, and other relevant information (including source code where applicable) that might be useful to the pen testing team. This approach should yield the most accurate results.
In a gray box scenario, the tester may be aware of the VM and VMM information but not the additional touchpoints or SLA details. The results may lack the format that paints the full picture of the network.
Common challenges in cloud penetration testing
Although cloud hacking is useful, it is not an easy process to perform. Be aware of the following challenges:
Service level agreement details. SLAs make it difficult to perform tests using a one-size-fits-all approach. Although penetration testers are supposed to create unique reports, the tools tend to be fairly standard. work area. Here comes the challenge when the work is limited to virtual machines or when the testing is specifically on a black box. The scope will vary according to customer needs and service provider rules. Coordination. It's not always easy to distinguish between a benign anomaly, an indicator of compromise or a full-blown attack – even with full access. This is because attackers do not always log in at the same IP address, with the same username, or via the same port. A sophisticated attack may use a combination of IP addresses, several stolen credentials, and other techniques. Tracking depends in part on understanding threat intelligence data. This doesn't necessarily mean following a cybersecurity kill chain, but rather understanding the cloud environment and identifying assets that may be valuable to specific adversaries.
Best practices for cloud penetration testing
To successfully test cloud penetration, consider the following steps:
Define white box test. Understand the shared responsibility model, including at touchpoints. Work with an experienced provider. Identify vulnerabilities where they exist and instantly share results with owners. Set realistic expectations and timelines. Keep results private. Have a rapid incident response effort.
The big three cloud providers (Amazon Web Services, Azure, and Google Cloud) allow tenants to run penetration tests in their own cloud environments and against their own dedicated infrastructure. Service providers have rules for penetration testing; Clients need to stay within those boundaries. Tests that could affect the working environment are strictly prohibited. Contractors must obtain express permission before commencing any pen testing.
