Traditional penetration testing methodologies focus only on processes related to on-premises environments and are not adequate for testing the security of your workforces and resources in the cloud. Cloud penetration testing is a method that examines the security of cloud-specific configurations, cloud system passwords, cloud applications and encryption, APIs, databases, and storage access. Cloud penetration testing is also influenced by the Shared Responsibility Model, which defines who is responsible for components within the cloud infrastructure, platform, or software.
Cloud penetration testing under the shared responsibility model involves examining the security in the cloud rather than the security of the cloud. As shown in the figure below, the security of certain cloud components falls within the scope of the customer, while the security of other components remains within the control and management of the cloud service provider (CSP).
Within the scope of the Cloud Services Security Analysis that we offer asat ADEO, we perform the necessary analysis to determine if the components, for which our customers are responsible as cloud users, are configured securely and whether they can be misused.
Cloud penetration testing is different from standard penetration testing and requires special expertise. As ADEO, in addition to the consultancy services we have been providing to our customers in Azure, AWS, and GCP infrastructures for many years, we have the competencies to perform security tests of workloads in these environments.
With the help of cloud penetration testing, we help prevent the types of threats listed below, which we can classify as the most common cloud security threats.
- Misconfigurations
- Data Breaches
- Malware/Ransomware
- Security Vulnerabilities
- Advanced Persistent Threats (APT)
- Supply Chain Breaches
- Internal Threats
- Weak Credentials and Credential Information
- Weak Access Control
- Insecure Interfaces and APIs
- Inappropriate or Malicious Use of Cloud Services
- Shared Services/Technology Risks
Most Common Vulnerability Examples in Cloud Environment
The details of some vulnerabilities that may occur in your workloads in cloud environments and in the components you use over the cloud can be summarized as follows:
Insecure APIs
APIs are widely used in cloud services to share information between various applications. However, insecure APIs can also lead to large-scale data leakage. Improper use of HTTP methods such as PUT, POST, DELETE in APIs can allow hackers to install malware on your server, steal, or delete data. Improper access control and input validation are among the main reasons why APIs are compromised.
Misconfigured Servers
The most common vulnerability in cloud services today is misconfiguration of components, such as misconfigured S3 Buckets, which can result in improperly configured permissions and unencrypted storage of data.
Weak Credentials
Using commonly used or easy-to-guess passwords can make your cloud accounts vulnerable to brute force attacks. Attackers can use automated tools to guess and log into your account using these credentials, potentially resulting in a complete compromise of your account. This type of attack is common as people often reuse passwords and choose easily remembered ones. As part of cloud penetration testing, ADEO verifies this vulnerability by carefully selecting previously leaked username/password pairs and using them in brute force attack simulations.
Outdated Software
Using outdated software in your cloud infrastructure may contain critical vulnerabilities that can compromise your cloud services, leading to a compromise of your entire cloud infrastructure. Attackers can exploit remote code execution vulnerabilities through outdated web applications to compromise your server and obtain the authentication tokens required to access the control panel in the cloud environment, which results in gaining fully authorized access to the cloud environment.
Security Vulnerabilities in Application Software
Many businesses prioritize cost-cutting when building cloud infrastructure, which can result in weak coding practices and vulnerabilities such as SQL injection, cross-site scripting, cross-site request forgery, and other OWASP-identified vulnerabilities. These vulnerabilities are often the primary cause of compromised cloud web services.
