DETROIT – AWS offers a number of security features out-of-the-box but it is important to be aware that these mitigations are not impenetrable. There will always be security flaws, especially when your infrastructure grows and the more integrations you have with third-party services. It is essential that you conduct penetration tests on your AWS infrastructure on a regular basis in order to find the vulnerabilities before someone else does.
How Will Penetration Testing AWS be Different?
The techniques for penetration testing a traditional security architecture and the AWS cloud infrastructure differ considerably. AWS resources are still under the ownership of Amazon, conventional ethical hacking methods could possibly violate the AWS Acceptable Use Policy. When penetration testing AWS, maintain your focus on the assets you own and seek relevant permission from Amazon well in advance.
What is Permitted for Testing and What’s Not?
The services you’re utilising in AWS, as well as the permissions granted by the customer agreement, will have a significant impact on your penetration test. Not all services are permitted for testing.
Below is a list of services that can be assessed for vulnerabilities:
Permitted Services:
● Amazon CloudFront
● Amazon Lightsail resources
● Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (Amazon EC2) instances
● Amazon Aurora
● Amazon API Gateways
● Amazon Elastic Beanstalk environments
● AWS Lambda and Lambda Edge functions
● Amazon RDS
Prohibited Activities:
The following activities are generally not permitted:
● Accessing or altering data not owned by you
● DNS zone walking
● Port flooding
● Request flooding such as login requests and API requests
● Attacking or penetrating the infrastructure of another AWS customer or a third party
● Protocol flooding
● Attempting to circumvent security measures or access data that does not belong to you
● Introducing malware into AWS
● Perform Denial of Service attacks (DoS) or Simulate one
● Perform Distributed Denial of Service attacks (DDoS) or Simulate one
● Use of automated tools, scripts, or other methods that could potentially automate prohibited activities in the testing process
Tools for Penetration Testing AWS
When it comes to online penetration testing the list of tools could be endless. To help you get started we’ll go on to name a few of the essential tools you ought to have.
● Astra Pentest – Astra Security provides you with a web application security scanner that may be used to find flaws in your AWS infrastructure. It can identify over 3000+ known vulnerabilities and go on to provide you with recommendations to address each vulnerability.
● Prowler – Prowler is a tool that may be used to check the security of AWS environments. It includes elements such as reconnaissance, scanning, and exploitation.
● CloudMapper – CloudMapper is the tool you want to use for mapping out your AWS environment. It uses the configuration items found in CloudTrail logs and correlates them to the AWS infrastructure. It also does an assessment of how your resources are linked, revealing potential security concerns.
● AWS Security Monkey – This tool is used to keep track of your AWS environment and detect changes and security concerns. Unauthorized activity, breaches, and compliance issues may all be detected with it.
● Pacu – Pacu is a tool that can help you by assessing your security controls in AWS. It does well to identify misconfigurations and vulnerabilities.
● AWS PWN – This tool can be used to test Amazon EC-series instances. Web application exploits, operating system flaws, and database exploits are included.
AWS Penetration Testing Model
If you don’t have a roadmap planned out for penetration testing your AWS infrastructure, we’ve got you covered. We recommend following the order below:
1. Planning and scope of the test – A good software testing process must start with an understanding of the organization’s business objectives, a clear picture of the systems that will be tested, and the selection of appropriate tools.
2. Reconnaissance on target systems – This entails obtaining information about the target systems before hunting for vulnerabilities.
3. Scanning for vulnerabilities – This will involve running a variety of security tools and performing manual tests in order to detect flaws, examine network traffic, identify open ports, and misconfiguration concerns.
4. Attacking the targets – This is where you attempt to exploit the vulnerabilities you found in the previous step. Test all aspects of your AWS infrastructure including but not limited to – web applications, network systems, firewall, databases, etc.
5. Gaining access to systems – This is the stage where you attempt to gain administrative privileges by exploiting vulnerabilities in order to perform activities that would otherwise be prohibited.
6. Maintaining access – Once you have gained access, it is important to ensure that your foothold is not easily lost. This stage usually includes setting up backdoors and installing malware to maintain access to the target system.
7. Reporting – After you’re done with all the various tests, document your findings in a precise and detailed report. Rank the vulnerabilities based on their risk level ranging from “low risk” to “critical”. Also, include your recommendations for steps to be taken to improve the security.
You can also utilize automated tools for performing tasks like configuration compliance examinations and vulnerability assessments on a regular basis. These tools are useful for monitoring your AWS environment for changes and security concerns.
What to Include in Your Penetration Testing Report?
Providing a detailed report is essential to the penetration testing process as this allows you to demonstrate your findings and recommendations effectively.
The following components should be included in a report:
1. Scope of The Penetration Test – This should include a description of the systems that were tested, what was found, and what was not tested.
2. Methodology – This section should describe the tools and techniques that were used during the testing process.
3. Findings – This should list all the vulnerabilities that were discovered along with their severity ratings and examples of proof-of-concept attacks.
4. Recommendations – This section should include suggestions for improving the security posture and reducing vulnerabilities in your AWS environment.
You should also include a summary of the penetration testing process – steps taken, tools used etc. in this section to help your AWS clients understand the test in detail. The tone of your report should be professional and friendly to ensure that your clients are able to understand the findings without any difficulty.
Conclusion
Penetration testing is an important process for assessing the security of your AWS environment. By following the steps outlined in this article, you can ensure that your infrastructure is well protected against possible attacks. Remember to document all your findings in a detailed report and provide recommendations for improving the security posture of your organization.
Kanishk Tagade is a Marketing Manager at Astra Security. Having a hawk-eyed view on the cybersecurity threat landscape, market-shifts, and hacktivism activities, Kanishk is a community member of the Nasscom and corporate contributor at many technology magazines and security awareness platforms. Editor-in-Chief at “QuickCyber.news”, his work is published in more than 50+ news platforms. He is also a social micro-influencer for the latest cybersecurity defense mechanisms, Digital Transformation, Machine Learning, AI and IoT products.
