June 18, 2025
What are 5 Stages of Penetration Testing?
What are 5 Stages of Penetration Testing?
Fiza Nadeem
New Update: Our new blog is updated.
Free download
Many companies are quickly shifting from traditional on-premise and data center setups to hybrid systems that include cloud services like Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS). The main reason for this change is the many benefits the cloud offers.
These benefits include the ability to access data anytime and from anywhere. Cloud can help reduce costs, especially when comparing capital expenses (CAPEX) to operational expenses (OPEX), and offers pay-as-you-go options for serverless computing.
It also offers a unified platform for managing and monitoring all systems. Many cloud services come with built-in security features like Azure Sentinel, which further protects business data.
Cloud penetration testing is a method organizations use to check how strong their cloud security is by trying to bypass their own security measures. This process helps the security team evaluate their current security status and find any weaknesses that could be exploited by attackers.
In the past, companies owned and managed their own systems and networks. It was easier to perform penetration testing. However, as more IT assets spread across different locations and cloud environments, it has become important to rethink and update how penetration testing is done.
Cloud penetration testing is much more difficult than traditional testing. This is because cloud environments are more dynamic due to the shared responsibility model, which blurs the boundaries between different parts of the system.
Gathering data can be challenging and requires good coordination skills from the analyst. However, once the testing is done, the analyst gains important insights that can help in threat detection and security.
Simple penetration testing focuses on a specific, clearly defined area. When reports are created by systems in the same physical location, they usually need some basic analysis and formatting.
Cloud penetration testing, on the other hand, covers a distributed physical space. It needs to take into account both the overall cloud infrastructure and the underlying hypervisors, also called virtual machine monitors (VMMs). The different test results must be coordinated and organized to create a clear and complete final report.
When an organization uses cloud services, it automatically shares some of its security management with the service provider. It's important to remember that in the structure of penetration testing, the enterprise or virtual network sits above the infrastructure and platform. This means that even if the virtual network has network devices, these devices only see a limited view of the actual vulnerabilities.
For example, a virtual machine (VM) might seem to have no security issues, but there could be vulnerabilities in the setup of the underlying infrastructure. The VM may not have any logs of activity, especially suspicious activity. Attackers take advantage of this invisibility by setting up VMs in ways that their actions are not recorded in logs.
The most serious cases of this type of attack often involve security issues in the libraries used by both operating systems (OS) and virtual machines (VMs). In such cases, both environments are at risk from the same problem, but they are managed by different organizations.
If the organization applies a security patch before the cloud provider does, the enterprise still remains vulnerable until the provider applies the patch. To fully protect the cloud customer from vulnerabilities in both places, the issues need to be fixed at the same time or by the service provider first.
The first important step in cloud penetration testing is Inventory Mapping. To do this, find and list all the cloud resources in the target environment. The goal is to understand the full attack surface and make sure no key parts are overlooked during testing.
You can use tools designed for cloud environments or third-party solutions to help with detailed discovery. During this step, you should record all separate compute resources, storage systems, databases, network components, and identity and access management entities.
A key part of a cloud penetration test is to find misconfigurations that could be exploited. This step is known as the cloud configuration review.
During this phase, it is important to have a good understanding of all the services used in the cloud setup and to be familiar with the best practices for each cloud provider.
Let’s break this down for the three biggest cloud providers: AWS, GCP, and Azure.
How to Pentest AWS Cloud?
Penetration testing in the AWS Penetration Testing Service requires thorough scanning each service and its settings. Start with the AWS Command Line Interface (CLI) to gather initial information and conduct reconnaissance. Afterwards, use specialized tools to focus on the most critical areas of the environment.
How to Pentest GCP Cloud?
GCP penetration testing needs a good understanding of Google Cloud Services and their security systems. The process involves both Google’s own tools and third-party solutions to identify potential security issues in the GCP environment.
How to Pentest Azure Cloud?
Azure penetration testing is a security assessment of the Microsoft Azure cloud. It finds weaknesses in Azure services such as virtual machines, storage accounts, virtual networks, and other components.
In this stage, you identify different types of vulnerabilities and attempt to exploit them to help the organization improve its security. This process combines automated scanning, mentioned earlier, with manual testing methods to thoroughly check the security of the cloud environment.
Start with cloud-native tools and third-party solutions that can automatically scan for vulnerabilities.
Large cloud providers offer their own security assessment tools, such as AWS Inspector, Azure Security Center, and Google Cloud Security Command Centre. These tools help you quickly find misconfigurations and common vulnerabilities in each cloud platform.
The reporting phase explains technical findings in clear, simple language for the client. A good report should include visual aids that show the findings, what can be exploited, and how to fix the issues.
Organize your results by listing each vulnerability, explaining the problem and its possible impact, and showing how to reproduce it. Use a widely recognized system like CVSS to help prioritize the issues.
Make sure to include an executive summary for non-technical readers and a detailed technical section. The report should also provide clear instructions for developers on how to fix each vulnerability.
This stage focuses on addressing the results of the penetration test to improve the overall security of the environment. It is important that this process is carried out jointly by the penetration testing team and the client’s development teams to ensure effective implementation.
The final step in cloud penetration testing is to verify that the solutions have effectively fixed the vulnerabilities found earlier. For more complex issues or major changes to the cloud setup, these retests may be more thorough and detailed.
Focus on critical vulnerabilities first. These may require more in-depth testing to ensure they are fully resolved.
For example, if there were issues with poorly configured IAM permissions, the retest should confirm that the new setup follows the principle of least privilege and does not allow unauthorized access.
Our Cloud Penetration Testing services go beyond surface-level scans to uncover blind spots in your hybrid infrastructure. We start with comprehensive inventory mapping, followed by targeted vulnerability assessments, configuration reviews, and controlled exploitation that aligns with your cloud provider's guidelines.
Our experts bring years of experience testing cloud-native architectures, containers, serverless platforms, and IAM frameworks. We deliver reports with clear remediation guidance and offer follow-up verification to ensure your fixes are effective.
ioSENTRIX helps you build a security posture that’s proactive, compliant, and resilient.
Talk to an ioSENTRIX expert today and schedule your Cloud Penetration Test.
It is similar to a controlled test where ethical hackers try to find weaknesses in your cloud environment. They can discover these vulnerabilities early, so they can be fixed before cybercriminals have a chance to exploit them.
Cloud testing is a way to check software applications and services using cloud computing. It involves using cloud-based systems, platforms, and tools to test how well the software works, how it performs, and how secure it is.
Both penetration testing and cloud penetration testing find security weaknesses. However, cloud penetration testing specifically focuses on cloud-based systems and services. It considers the unique security challenges of the cloud and the shared responsibility model between the provider and the user.
