What is cloud penetration testing and why is it important?

In the ever-evolving cybersecurity landscape, cloud security has become a critical concern for organizations around the world. However, it is sometimes misunderstood or underestimated. The widespread adoption of cloud computing has resulted in businesses storing a vast amount of sensitive information and data online in the cloud and facing the challenge of protecting their data from a variety of threats. One effective method of safeguarding an organization’s cloud infrastructure is through penetration testing.

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In this article, we discuss what penetration testing is, how it works, and some critical cloud threats that businesses need to be aware of.

Why is cloud penetration testing important?

Cloud computing involves storing, processing, and managing data and applications on remote servers, often provided by third-party service providers. These applications can range from a simple email service to something as robust as cloud-based identity and access management services.

SEE: Vulnerability Scanning vs. Penetration Testing: What’s the Difference? (Republic Technology)

Unfortunately, this remote setup presents unique challenges. Vulnerabilities such as unauthorized access, cloud cyberattacks, and data breaches are just some of the risks involved with cloud computing.

This is where penetration testing comes into play, serving as proactive approach to identify and address these weaknesses. This ensures that your cloud infrastructure is secure and protected before any threat actor attempts to exploit or attack it.

What is cloud penetration testing?

Cloud penetration testing, or cloud pentesting, is a licensed simulation of a real attack on a cloud system. It is typically performed by independent security experts or professional pentesters, with the primary goal of identifying weaknesses in a cloud environment and reporting them to the requesting entity.

The data from these tests is then used to strengthen the security posture of the cloud network, further improving its ability to protect against future attacks or breach attempts.

How does cloud penetration testing work?

Cloud penetration testing is typically performed using one of two methods:

• Black box testing: Where pentesters have no prior knowledge of the cloud infrastructure and must figure everything out on their own, similar to how an external threat actor would attack.
• White box testing: Where pentesters have insider knowledge of the cloud infrastructure, they typically have access to complete system information and other important data about the network.

All cloud components are tested: network infrastructure, authentication and access controls, data storage, possible virtual machines, application programming interfaces, and application security.

These penetration tests are performed following the guidelines of cloud service providers. Any vulnerabilities or weaknesses detected are repaired or patched as soon as possible before an attacker finds them and decides to exploit them.

During the process, data breaches and other potential threats may also be found and reported, and active steps will need to be taken to increase the organization's cloud security.

What are the most common cloud threats for businesses?

Insecure APIs

Application programming interfaces, or APIs, enable interaction between different software components and services, and are sometimes insecure. These APIs may have been developed without security concerns in mind and therefore pose a threat. Other APIs may also have been poorly designed. Insecure APIs can be exploited by attackers to gain unauthorized access or manipulate data.

Insufficient access controls

Poorly implemented access controls can result in unauthorized users gaining access to sensitive information or resources. This includes inadequate management of user permissions, weak password policies, and improper handling of user roles.

Outdated software

Software that runs in the cloud and is not regularly updated is a threat to your organization as it may contain serious vulnerabilities that can be exploited to gain unauthorized access or manipulate corporate data.

Account hijacking

Techniques such as phishing, social engineering, or brute force or password guessing can allow an attacker to steal users’ credentials and compromise their accounts. Once a user account is hijacked, a hacker can control cloud resources and manipulate or exfiltrate data.

Vulnerabilities of shared technologies

Cloud environments often rely on shared infrastructure and platforms. If a vulnerability is discovered in the underlying technology, it can impact multiple customers and lead to security breaches.

Malware

Malicious software, such as Trojans or backdoors, can be introduced into cloud environments through the exploitation of vulnerabilities or social engineering. Data and application security can be compromised, and attackers can use malware to gain access to other parts of the corporate infrastructure or infect additional users, including website visitors.

Data breaches and data loss

Unauthorized access to sensitive data stored in the cloud is a major concern for businesses. It can occur due to weak authentication mechanisms, compromised credentials, vulnerabilities, or even misconfiguration in the cloud infrastructure.

What are the most common tools used in cloud penetration testing?

Penetration testers can use a variety of tools, depending on the target specifications, cloud platforms, and technologies involved. It also depends on the tester's experience.

Complete Penetration Testing Frameworks

In cloud penetration testing, comprehensive frameworks such as Metasploit or Cobalt Strike are often used. They include many options, exploits, payloads, and auxiliary modules to assess security in a cloud infrastructure. Experienced testers using these tools can save a significant amount of time on testing, compared to using several different tools.

Scanners

Vulnerability scanners such as Nessus or its open source version, OpenVAS, are used to identify security flaws in cloud environments, offering extensive vulnerability detection and reporting capabilities.

Scanning tools like Nmap are also popular for scanning and discovering hosts in an infrastructure and looking for weaknesses or vulnerabilities.

More specific scanners can also be used, such as sqlmap, a powerful tool often used to detect and exploit SQL injection vulnerabilities in cloud-hosted applications.

Network Tools

Network sniffers and analysis tools such as Wireshark or Burp Suite are used to find vulnerabilities or weaknesses in network communications between a tester and the cloud infrastructure. They also help detect unencrypted communications or suspicious network behavior in cloud environments.

Password crackers

Password crackers are used by penetration testers once they have their hands on an encrypted user password. If the password is weak enough, the tester can quickly obtain it. As a striking example, a seven-character password with letters, numbers, and symbols can be cracked in less than a minute. Tools such as Hydra or Hashcat can be used to crack this.

Going forward

As cloud adoption increases, the importance of penetration testing in cloud security cannot be overstated. By performing comprehensive assessments of various cloud components, organizations can proactively identify vulnerabilities, address weaknesses, and harden their cloud infrastructure against potential attacks. Regular penetration testing serves as a vital tool in ensuring the security and resilience of cloud environments. By prioritizing penetration testing, organizations can effectively protect their data, applications, and reputation in the changing cloud computing landscape.

This article was originally written by Cedric Pernet and later updated by Luis Millares. As a disclaimer, Pernet works for Trend Micro, but the opinions expressed in the original version of this article are his own.