AWS Penetration Testing and Cloud Security Assessment
AWS penetration testing looks for the misconfigurations and privilege paths that lead to cloud breaches: over-permissive IAM roles, public S3 buckets, exposed keys, weak network controls and vulnerable workloads. Scantra Security tests AWS, Azure and GCP environments in line with each provider's published testing policy, and reports findings with clear, prioritised fixes.
Last reviewed 2026-09-28 by the Scantra Security testing team
What we test in AWS
- IAM users, roles, policies and privilege escalation paths
- S3, EBS and RDS exposure and encryption
- VPC, security groups and network segmentation
- EC2, ECS, EKS and Lambda workloads
- Secrets management and access keys
- CloudTrail, GuardDuty and logging coverage
Azure and GCP penetration testing
The same approach applies to Azure (Entra ID, storage accounts, AKS, Key Vault) and GCP (IAM, Cloud Storage, GKE, service accounts). Multi-cloud environments are tested with a single, consistent report.
Configuration review plus attack simulation
A cloud assessment has two parts. A configuration review checks your accounts against benchmarks such as CIS. Attack simulation starts from a realistic foothold, such as a leaked key or compromised workload, and shows how far an attacker could move. The second part is what turns a long checklist into a clear story of risk.
Process
1. Read-only access
You grant a read-only audit role; no changes are made to your accounts.
2. Configuration review
Benchmark checks across all in-scope accounts and regions.
3. Attack path analysis
Privilege escalation and lateral movement from agreed starting points.
4. Report and free retest
CVSS-rated findings with evidence and fixes, then a free retest and updated report once your team has remediated.
Do I need AWS permission to pentest?
AWS allows testing of many services without prior approval, within its published policy. Some activities, such as simulated DDoS, are prohibited or need approval. We plan testing within those rules.
Frequently asked questions
Is cloud pentesting different from network pentesting?
Yes. Cloud risks come mainly from identity and configuration, not just open ports.
Do you need admin access?
No. A read-only audit role is usually enough for the configuration review.
Do you test Kubernetes?
Yes, including EKS, AKS and GKE clusters.