As I’m wrapping on an AWS cloud and utility penetration take a look at…
I’ve talked about this earlier than however when you’re a type of firms that will get a penetration take a look at in This fall yearly, you would possibly wish to think about transferring your penetration take a look at up 1 / 4. If you happen to’re simply embarking in your journey to turn into SOC compliant or have another motive to get a penetration take a look at and are fascinated about doing that by the top of the yr right here’s why you would possibly wish to leap on it now.
Though I’m busy (ending a pentest now and never out there till August), this is likely one of the slower instances of yr, as is the very starting of the yr, in my expertise as a penetration tester. Then again, I get so many requests on the finish of the yr I find yourself getting an excessive amount of work and must refer some away and am working 24 x 7 to attempt to get everybody’s reviews finished in time.
Only a reminder that 2nd Sight Lab focuses on cloud and utility safety, not on-premises penetration testing or social engineering. We deal with protection, not stealth. We wish to discover as many potential assaults and safety gaps as potential, not take a look at your SOC's capability to identify a breach. In case you are on the lookout for one thing completely different, I can present referrals for these different varieties of checks when you want one, to organizations run by folks I do know personally.
I don’t know everybody’s expertise who has a penetration take a look at firm however I’ve heard different organizations categorical related sentiment — everybody in cybersecurity is absolutely busy in This fall. Fairly than wait till everyone seems to be overloaded, get a leap on that penetration take a look at and get in your take a look at firm’s schedule now! Additionally, if that is your first penetration take a look at, it would take a bit longer to get arrange or to know the method. Alternatively, wait till January to get extra consideration in your take a look at. The very starting of the yr is mostly a sluggish time as effectively, in my expertise.
If you happen to’re doing a cloud penetration take a look at with 2nd Sight Lab, we ask for sure roles to be arrange with MFA in your account when testing on AWS to evaluate your safety. We may also clarify what credentials to supply and the best way to ship them over securely in an encrypted message. Penetration take a look at setup and the switch or an upfront fee tends to delay begin instances in my expertise previous the anticipated begin date.
In case your penetration take a look at firm isn’t asking for MFA on AWS with a cross-account function, then you definitely would possibly wish to think about that function and the potential assault vector. On different clouds, issues aren’t all the time so easy so we don’t all the time ask for MFA however we’re engaged on it and have requests out to cloud distributors in some circumstances.
After I began penetration testing AWS warned me that many penetration testers get compromised so we attempt to take precautions for safety and to restrict the blast radius ought to something be compromised by organising a very new account and new hosts once we begin a penetration take a look at.
We will additionally used mounted IP addresses if a buyer wants us to, although it’s a bit extra actual world to simulate testing from diverse IP addresses — and we are able to go sooner and get extra protection. In some circumstances, AWS blocks recognized penetration testing IP addresses as I’ve talked about on Twitter, and sure domains. I figured this out whereas testing sure assaults they usually labored from sure addresses, however not others.
As we transfer into the latter months of the yr, I additionally get requests to subcontract on penetration checks for different firms. Everyone seems to be overloaded. If you happen to’re doing all of your penetration take a look at on the finish of the yr when everyone seems to be overloaded, you may not be getting the perfect folks or the perfect protection. I’ve heard purchasers complain on consulting calls about penetration testers from different massive title firms — however simply since you employed a giant title doesn’t imply you’re getting the highest folks which might be behind that massive title. You’ll wish to make clear that once you join your take a look at.
In our case at 2nd Sight Lab, I tackle as many checks as I will be concerned with in the mean time, use quite a lot of automation, and sometimes a contractor who’s vetted appropriately (that I do know who lives domestically, so please don’t contact me and ask for a job) to do among the easy duties related to the take a look at: primary scanning, proof studying reviews, and so forth. Previously, it was usually one among my nieces or nephews. We could develop over time however for now I’m coping with some workplace house points and in no hurry to increase. That will change as soon as a number of initiatives get accomplished round right here.
This fall is quick approaching — that point when everyone seems to be busy with holidays and a few individuals are at AWS re:Invent (undecided if I’m going this yr; final yr I used to be too busy) so that you would possibly wish to take into consideration beginning your penetration take a look at prior to later! If you happen to’re eager about a cloud penetration take a look at and/or utility safety penetration take a look at from 2nd Sight Lab, you possibly can attain out to me on LinkedIn under. We particularly like AWS and GCP penetration checks — although I did simply train a whole Azure safety class and may do these as effectively. We will additionally carry out cloud safety assessments when you’re not prepared for cloud and utility a penetration take a look at.
Teri Radichel
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