Cloud Environments Aren’t Invincible: Why Pen Testing Matters - RedBear - Cloud Services RedBear

The promise of cloud computing lies in streamlining operations and providing room for boundless scalability. Yet, nestled within these promises is a dangerous myth: the notion that running applications in the cloud means that you are inherently secure. This misconception can lead to neglect and a lapse in security practices across any organisation. Without proactive measures, cloud environments can be susceptible to numerous threats.

The Annual Cyber Threat Report 2023-2024 noted a 12% increase in cyber incident reports, now handling an average of 100 calls daily. For small businesses, the cost per incident rose by 8% to an average of $49,600. These increasing figures highlight the ongoing risks associated with cyber threats. One crucial security strategy is penetration testing (pen testing), which remains indispensable in identifying vulnerabilities and protecting cloud infrastructure.

In 2023-24, small businesses faced increased costs with an:

Source: ACSC

Why Cloud Environments Need Penetration Testing

Cloud-hosted applications aren’t immune to cyber threats of any size, from configuration errors to data breaches. The shared responsibility model places the onus on the business side to secure their applications and data in accordance with Australian standards. Cloud penetration testing operates in tandem with your Application penetration testing. It simulates real-world attacks against your cloud environment, pinpointing security gaps and protecting the cloud environment from evolving threats while upholding standards.

Misconfigurations Remain a Leading Threat

Misconfigurations are a common and dangerous weakness in cloud environments. On platforms like AWS, vendors frequently face risks through access permissions, leaked secrets, or privilege escalation paths that enable attackers to assume greater control. Penetration testing helps identify and remediate these weaknesses, reducing the risk of a breach becoming a major security incident.

Dynamic Threat Landscape

The cloud ecosystem is dynamic, evolving with new services and integration options. This development speed is mirrored by the pace at which cyber threats evolve. APIs, container orchestration platforms and serverless functions introduce new risks. Static security scans quickly become obsolete, failing to represent the current security posture. Penetration testing, particularly when tailored for AWS and similar platforms, provides timely detection of vulnerabilities.

Debunking the Illusion of Inherent Security

Cloud services often project a strong sense of security. However, assuming that default configurations provide sufficient built-in protections can create costly blind spots for your environments. Penetration testing provides the necessary validation, confirming that control settings work as intended rather than just appearing secure. By distinguishing between assumed safety and verified resilience, pen tests uncover hidden gaps and ensure that cloud environments deliver absolute, measurable protection against threats.

Protecting Critical Assets

Cloud infrastructure stores critical business data and applications. If a malicious actor compromises these, the impact can be devastating, from intellectual property theft to severe reputational damage. Pen testing replicates potential attack scenarios, such as database breaches or privilege escalation, providing early warning of security gaps and enabling pre-emptive action.

5 Benefits of Cloud Pen Testing

Finding Vulnerabilities Before Attackers Do

Unlike automated scans, manual, cloud-focused penetration tests delve deeper into cloud-specific vulnerabilities. Attackers are looking for misconfigured IAM roles, exposed storage buckets, insecure APIs, excessive permissions, privileged identity escalation paths, and hard-coded or exposed secrets. By mimicking the approach of a cybercriminal, pen testers identify these issues, enabling remediation before vulnerabilities are exploited.

Preventing Costly Breaches

The financial implications of data breaches extend beyond immediate recovery costs and include regulatory fines, loss of customer trust, and service disruptions. Pen testing exposes weaknesses such as public S3 buckets or excessive permissions, providing a cost-effective measure to prevent potentially crippling breaches.

Ensuring Compliance

Many industries operate under stringent regulatory frameworks requiring evidence of due diligence in data protection. Pen testing helps organisations align with standards such as ISO 27001 and NIST, ensuring compliance through comprehensive evaluations. This proactive posture can be crucial in avoiding punitive measures from regulators.

Maintaining Business Continuity

By identifying vulnerabilities early, pen testing reduces the risk of outages, minimises disruption, and safeguards customer satisfaction and operational stability.

Demonstrating Due Diligence

Organisations demonstrate their commitment to security by engaging in regular pen testing. This action-oriented approach provides peace of mind to stakeholders and clients, building a transparent relationship with regulators that showcases the rigorous measurement and continuous improvement of security.

Key Aspects of Effective Cloud Pen Testing

Cloud-Specific Methodologies

Effective pen testing will need to utilise techniques unique to cloud environments. Manual testing methodology reveals vulnerabilities such as exposed secrets, insecure APIs, overly permissive security groups, and tenant isolation bugs, which are often not detected by automated scans. This holistic approach is necessary to prevent the enemy from identifying such vulnerabilities.

Simulating Real-World Attacks

Penetration testing approximates real-world threats to deliver real-world actionable insights. It simulates escalation paths, privilege abuse, lateral movement across cloud tenants, and exposures of servers, buckets, or misconfigured resources. This provides a realistic view of potential security lapses, enabling the development of precise mitigation strategies.

AI-Enhanced Pen Testing and Professional Remediation

Incorporating AI-driven tools can enhance pen testing by enabling faster detection and more accurate threat modelling. Automated reconnaissance, anomaly detection, and simulations of lateral movement are particularly valuable in cloud-native environments. Combining AI with human expertise ensures quality insights and a well-rounded security approach.

Conclusion

Cloud environments, such as AWS, reduce the burden of securing your application environments by managing the underlying infrastructure. Despite these enormous advantages, cloud environments can still be susceptible to threats, much like any other environment where businesses house their data assets. Penetration testing helps organisations discover vulnerabilities ahead of hackers and transform risk into resilience. A defence-in-depth strategy can anticipate current and future vulnerabilities by working on cloud-specific threats and utilising AI-driven tools. Pen testing ensures compliance and continuity of business by identifying vulnerabilities early and reducing service downtime.

Partner With the Pen Test Experts at RedBear

Strengthen your cloud security with regular, expert-led penetration testing from RedBear. With deep AWS expertise and cloud-native methodologies, RedBear combines AI-driven tools with human insight to uncover and remediate vulnerabilities. Our history as a trusted MSSP reflects a security-first approach, giving you confidence that your environment is resilient, compliant, and ready to withstand evolving threats. Visit our Cloud Penetration Testing page to learn more and get in touch.