Security Testing Essentials of Cloud-based Application

An IDC survey states that 87.5% of IT cloud computing businesses are concerned about Security Issues.

Let’s start with some greatest Cloud Security Breach instances!!!

1. Anthem’s Breach and the Ubiquity of Compromised Credentials
2. Amazon Cloud Horror – The demise of Code Spaces
3. Apple iCloud suffered the largest high-profile cloud security breach
4. Target security breach compromised up to 70 million customers’ credit card information during the holiday season
5. Home Depot suffered a similar fate with more than 56 million credit or debit cards and 53 million emails compromised

Cloud application Security testing services is very much crucial to assess the security level of the system hosted in the cloud. This requires ensuring ongoing defensive security controls and proactive regular assessments to check the apps ability to withstand the data breach threats.

The cloud security testing team should ensure if the cloud deployment is secure and should give actionable remediation information when it is not complying with security standards.

The team should proactively conduct, real-world security tests using the techniques used by hackers seeking to breach the data in cloud-based systems and applications.

The Five Cloud Security Testing Essentials for Consideration

Listed are the five essentials to be considered while adopting security testing strategy for cloud-based applications:

1. Scalability – The testing solution should be rapidly scalable with respect to the application while developing business needs without causing configuration and performance issues.
2. Availability – Availability of security testing teams working around the clock. This calls for strong test management via access to centralized test dashboards with features of effortless collaboration.
3. Speedy – Testing should be fast with short turnaround times and should have the ability to run parallel testing. This is required especially when most of the organizations are adopting agile methodologies.
4. Quality – The most important factor is that the testing should be able to make triaging of false positives and false negatives simple and fast. The reporting should include contextual, actionable guidance, empowering development team to resolve identified issues.
5. Cost – Agile methodologies not only require rapid testing but also require multiple iterations of security testing. These iterations should not incur undue incremental costs.

Cloud Security Testing Approach

1. Proactively verify the security aspects of the cloud-based systems and applications against current security hack techniques
2. Safely identify and validate critical cloud service vulnerabilities
3. Measure the susceptibility to SQL injection, cross-site scripting, and other web application attacks
4. Get actionable security information necessary to apply to the patches and code fixes
5. Verify security posture of systems and networks

Cloud testing activities do hold some challenges; your organization can overcome these hurdles. It’s imperious that the right software testing service provider would be able to ensure cloud security around applications, services, and data.