Cloud-Native and Serverless Security Testing

Cloud-Native and Serverless Security Testing

The shift to cloud-native architectures fundamentally changes penetration testing approaches. Traditional network perimeters dissolve as applications span multiple cloud providers and regions. Serverless functions, container orchestration, and managed services create new attack surfaces requiring specialized knowledge. Penetration testers must understand cloud provider security models, identity and access management complexities, and cloud-specific vulnerabilities.

Infrastructure as Code (IaC) introduces new testing opportunities and requirements. Configuration files defining entire infrastructures become critical security artifacts requiring review. Penetration testers increasingly perform static analysis on Terraform, CloudFormation, or Kubernetes manifests before runtime testing. This shift-left approach identifies misconfigurations early but requires understanding both security principles and infrastructure automation tools.

API security has become paramount as microservices architectures dominate modern applications. Every service interaction potentially exposes attack surface, and traditional web application testing techniques require adaptation for API-centric architectures. GraphQL endpoints, gRPC services, and event-driven architectures present unique challenges. Penetration testers must master new tools and techniques specific to API testing while understanding the business logic flows across distributed systems.

Multi-cloud strategies complicate security testing further. Organizations distribute workloads across AWS, Azure, Google Cloud, and other providers for resilience and feature optimization. Each platform has unique services, security controls, and potential vulnerabilities. Penetration testers need expertise across multiple platforms while understanding how inter-cloud communications and data flows create additional attack vectors.