The modern enterprises are based on interdependent computer systems to save data, enable remote working, and organize the daily business processes. Nevertheless, the interrelated environments also introduce new gaps that can be used by hackers. To protect the data and ensure compliance, organizations have to invest in both internal network penetration testing and cloud penetration testing. The two processes enhance a profound insight into the internal and cloud-based vulnerabilities of an organization prior to its being assaulted by attackers.
Internal Network Penetration Testing
Internal network penetration testing is aimed to incite a simulation of an attack by one or more networks of own company. This may be a dissatisfied staff member, a data breach-prone device or a hacker who already had access to it via phishing or malware.
In the assessment, the ethical hackers aim to gain access to other parts of the network, progress privileges, and get access to sensitive files.
This helps reveal:
- Weak password and weaknesses of authentication
- Weak division of departments or servers
- Unreliable systems and software
- Absence of monitoring or intrusion detection
- Poorly set up internal firewalls/access controls
Internal testing enhances the company security measures against insider threats and compromised endpoints by exposing the vulnerabilities.
The purpose of cloud penetration testing
Since organizations are moving slowly but surely to AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud, cloud penetration testing has become a very important requirement. The realities of virtual machines, storage buckets, APIs, and containerized services are beyond the ability of traditional network testing to handle.
The cloud penetration testing is an assessment of the safety of cloud settings, access control, and interfaces.
Vulnerabilities are common with:
- Storage containers (e.g. open S3 buckets) that have not been configured properly
- Insecure APIs or endpoints
- Excessive roles and policies in cloud IAM
- Exposed virtual machines
- Weak encryption practices
Such misconfigurations can get you sensitive information easily or even can get attackers to dig further into your environment.
How Both Tests Work Together
Internal network and cloud penetration testing bring about an integrated defense plan. As an example, a hacker with gained access to the internal environment can use incorrectly configured cloud credentials to access databases or shared environments hosted. On the other hand, a hacker that has used a cloud API may use it to penetrate your system.
Giving each setting a test is the assurance that none of the weak points can go unnoticed to develop a holistic security solution across the hybrid infrastructures.
Key Benefits for Businesses
- Full Visibility: Know your entire attack surface, both on-premise and virtual servers.
- Regulatory Compliance: Meet ISO 27001, PCI DSS, HIPAA and GDPR security requirements.
- Operational Continuity: It helps to avoid business disruption due to ransomware or loss of data.
- Customer Confidence: Build a brand image as a safe and trustworthy company.
- Less exposure to Risk: Significantly, detect the weak points before they can be abused by bad people.
The Experience of Aardwolf Security
We will focus on internal network penetration testing and cloud penetration testing at Aardwolf Security. To expose the more concealed vulnerabilities, our certified ethical hackers would emulate the actual advanced attacks using both manual and automated tools. Each interaction will contain a detailed report of risk ratings, proof-of-concept results, and guidance on how it should be remedied. The methodology of Aardwolf is compliant with the global standards, such as OWASP, NIST, and CREST. This guarantees the clients industry-grade testing at the accuracy and verifiability of the tests.
Conclusion
Cybersecurity is not merely about evading attacks it is about getting to know your own vulnerabilities before the others. When used together with internal network penetration testing and cloud penetration testing, organizations have the overall picture of their digital resilience. By having Aardwolf Security as your reliable partner, you will be able to secure the most valuable assets and keep the internal systems and cloud platforms safe, compliant and attack-ready.
