The transition to the Cloud has always been a priority, but the recent acceleration caused by COVID-19 has brought new challenges. As more companies adopt a Cloud-first strategy, the threat landscape has shifted, and there is a shortage of cloud security experts. This has resulted in a rise in cloud exploitation cases and attacks on cloud environments.
Security teams are struggling to adapt to the unique challenges of securing the Cloud. They have lost visibility and control over their assets, with changes happening outside of their purview. Many companies lack clear insight into the applications, systems, and data running in the cloud, and the complexity of managing security settings across multiple cloud environments is overwhelming. Additionally, the rise of Shadow IT adds another layer of complexity.
Vulnerabilities in the cloud go beyond misconfigurations and open buckets. Security teams need to consider sensitive data movement, access misuse, insecure interfaces/APIs, external sharing, hijacking, and malicious insiders. Different organizations have different approaches to assessing cloud security, but these approaches often provide incomplete visibility and understanding of the situation.
The most forward-looking organizations are focusing on understanding how cloud assets can be compromised and identifying the paths that represent real business risks. Penetration testing is a crucial tool in assessing cloud vulnerability, as it simulates real-world attacks and identifies actual weaknesses.
Traditional methods of assessing cloud security, such as infrastructure testing and posture reviews, have limitations. They may not fully understand interconnections and interdependencies and often fail to validate actual exposure. Penetration testing, on the other hand, focuses on exploitable findings and provides actionable recommendations to improve security.
The shift towards cloud-based applications being the responsibility of development teams instead of IT and security teams raises concerns. By 2025, the majority of new digital workloads will be deployed on cloud-native platforms, which increases the attack surface. It is essential for organizations to have a comprehensive view and approach to security that considers both applications and cloud infrastructure and acknowledges the coordinated tactics of attackers.
In summary, the rapid adoption of the cloud has brought new challenges for security teams. The lack of visibility, complexity of managing security settings, and increasing attack surface require a comprehensive and proactive approach to cloud security. Penetration testing is an essential tool in identifying vulnerabilities and improving overall security.
