Cloud computing has brought radical changes in technology, making IT infrastructure safe and secure than before. With respect to information security, there are a lot of new concepts that need to be tested with the help of penetration testing. Penetration testing, also known as pen testing is a type of security testing where cyber-security expert tests and finds vulnerabilities in a computer system. The main purpose of this attack is to identify any weaknesses in a system’s defense where attackers can take advantage of the situation. Thus, it is necessary that a penetration testing company is hired for organizations to have their cloud computing work in the best interest of the business and achieve the business goals in due time.
It is extremely important to understand where and how to conduct penetration testing is important for organizations with respect to risk management. By performing a pen test for a cloud system on a regular basis, organizations identify key improvement areas in any security program. Well, all of this depends on a team’s available resources, since they conduct pen tests before any app goes live, over a live system or even during the design process.
Let’s have a look at some challenges and as well as benefits of cloud penetration testing:
Cloud penetration testing is a bit different from the routine pen-testing. A simple difference between the two mainly depends on the specific scope of the cloud, and also includes the coordination with the underlying hosting provider. If a pen-test identifies a vulnerability in the hosting provider, the organization may have to prevent it from performing it further. This can also reduce the overall impact on other customers and notify the provider about the findings. Thus, in a large organization, the team works with pen-tests for identifying all the groups and coordinate the security processes with them.
Following are a few benefits of cloud penetration testing:
Pen tests are easier for shared responsibility model – According to this model, these tests are carried out to check the influence of how these operations could work in the cloud system of an organization. Although you may have your own team responsible for all the networks and IT infrastructure, yet there are cloud security measures that organizations should be taking for improving the cyber-security. A pen test may also help in identifying the gaps in the coordination and technical security controls implemented.
Pen tests also provide intelligent solutions to manage all the system vulnerabilities. it is a testing type that helps in avoiding the cost of network downtime. Pen testers also meet all the regulatory requirements to avoid any fines related to the security breach. Overall, pen testing is carried out to preserve the corporate image and customer loyalty. Thus, a good penetration testing company can be the best solution for organizations that have moved to the cloud, or have moved to cloud long back and now working on improving their cloud security and performance as well.
