Cloud Security Testing Explained!

Over the last decade, cloud computing has radically evolved how its services are delivered. Low maintenance cost and easy setup are the two major factors leading to the global adoption of cloud-based services. All those security issues are continuing to be a hurdle. Cloud security testing has developed a lot as a new Service model, whereas security as service providers perform on-demand application and security testing exercises in the cloud controls. It is an essential process that allows an organization to cut costs while also allowing the organization to maintain a secure application.

With the number of applications being designed in today’s world increasing exponentially at least time to market and application, security testing is also gradually developing in its consequence. The traditional software development models could ignore security testing or at least consider it as the last phase. Still, at the same time, it is not the case with modern-day applications. Today applications have become easily accessible for genuine users as well as attackers. Hence an organization is required of a strong application security strategy to minimize the chances of an attack and maximize the security of the application. 

An ideal application security testing activity should also have considered relevant hardware, software, and procedures are supporting the background of the application. The traditional network had no measures for ensuring that servers have full protection. The servers are required to protect themselves from a threat. With Cloud security testing, security traffic gets into the cloud instead of being routed to the service directly to stop the crowd analyses the traffic and allows only the legitimate users to access it. Any traffic that is not approved by the cloud controls is blocked from getting to the server.

There is a real possibility that an organization at all applications are hosted on cloud penetration testing. In such scenarios, the security team could face challenges in insurance accessibility of the applications, exploring scalability, and analyzing the usefulness of hosting the security testing tools on the cloud for cloud testing based applications. Nevertheless, the last challenge could be effectively addressed by utilizing Cloud security testing like breech lock cloud platform. With the popularity of CI and CD environments and DevOps, decision-makers have a difficult decision to make by focusing on the application security and the time taken to perform the test. It is estimated that Cloud security testing security codes address time-related constraints while at the same time making testing hassle-free and flawless.

Cloud-Based Application Security Testing Strategy and Critical Factors

When we opt for conducting cloud penetration testing, there are majorly two possible ways to be explored by an organization: hiring a vendor service or building an in-house facility. Suppose we are planning on building cloud-based security testing capability internally.  In this case, there would be multiple challenges that we will be required to address and set the baselines for building disturbing computing capabilities, the standard edition of processes and procedures, ensuring the security of applications hosted on the cloud, accessibility of data stored in the cloud and many more. For medium and small-sized businesses hiring a vendor, service is considered to be cost-effective. Irrespective of whether we are building in house capability for hiring an external vendor, below mentioned are a few factors that we might consider while considering cloud-based application security testing:

• Speed: Cloud-based application testing should increase the turnaround time for the security testing exercise. A cloud-based total testing tool should also be capable of running parallel scans on multiple locations.
• Scalability: The cloud-based application security testing tool must be scalable. It should also cater to the organizational needs irrespective of whether the device is built in house or by a vendor.
• Accessibility: The cloud-based security testing tool must be accessible all the time from the majority of locations so that if there are teams who are working from multiple locations, they could easily coordinate, and the pace of development does not get hampered. The tool must have a centralized dashboard so the teams would collaborate seamlessly in security testing.

Also Read: 11 Top Open Source Security Testing Tools

• Cost-effective: For any organization, the cost-effectiveness of a process is the desired outcome. Has the cloud-based application security testing tool be able to decrease security testing cost and bring a higher return on investment for the business.
• Quality: The results given by the cloud-based application security testing tool should be precise so that they could be interpreted easily for conducting appropriate scans in the future, contextual reporting and resolving issues, tracking bugs and vulnerabilities, and using test cases along with different types of parameters.
• Minimum risk: The primary goal behind any information related to security is minimizing the risks and preventing threats and vulnerabilities from being received by the attackers. Nevertheless, an organization should always define parameters related to risks to ensure that nothing is missed and all the rest are listed and covered under the security testing strategy.

The most essential and important aspect of cloud-based security is cloud service provider is responsible for securing that only authorized personnel are allowed to access the cloud. The responsibility of securing the cloud lies with the customer and the service provider. The customer must take protective measures for protecting the application by entering a password and limiting people who can have access to the sensitive data. The service provider should ensure the customer’s database and system applications are all safe from unwarranted access.

Cloud-based applications are very convenient for different types of businesses as they enable secure data management, analysis, and access from anywhere. Cloud services also allow users to get information in real-time and create a location on a platform to interact with premises. 

Nevertheless, many security concerns could put cloud applications, systems, and data at risk. Security always includes data breaches, hijacking of accounts, authorized personnel access, and data abuse by employees who produced information in doing fraud with the company. Cloud service provider is responsible for securing work for the company to secure their database and take care of the risks mentioned above.

Also Read: 7 Cloud Testing Tools Used in Software Testing

Conclusion

The main role of Cloud security testing is to ensure that the customer’s information is safe at all times. A cloud service filters pieces of information and restricts unwanted access. It also offers backup for clients’ information and offers data recovery in case of data loss. It provides the security of data by encryption and helps manage applications in a private cloud in case a client has sensitive information that requires maximum protection.