Penetration Testing Methodologies for Cloud Applications

Application security testing is a crucial component of secure application development, particularly in cloud application contexts. The need for cloud application security testing has significantly increased in response to the growing popularity of cloud technologies, as hosting network, web, and mobile applications in (or migrating them to) cloud environments can expose them to a wide range of cyberthreats. Thus, developing an application and ensuring the integrity of its security presents unique challenges in cloud settings. The current paper discusses cloud applications and the issues they face from an information security perspective, proposing penetration testing as an important process that should be mandated at the final stage of the software development life cycle for cloud-based applications. Specifically, this article provides a detailed review of existing penetration testing approaches and examines their implementation in the cloud applications context, stressing the necessity and importance of penetration tests during the application security testing process.