Book Image

Building and Automating Penetration Testing Labs in the Cloud

By : Joshua Arvin Lat
Book Image

Building and Automating Penetration Testing Labs in the Cloud

By: Joshua Arvin Lat

Overview of this book

The significant increase in the number of cloud-related threats and issues has led to a surge in the demand for cloud security professionals. This book will help you set up vulnerable-by-design environments in the cloud to minimize the risks involved while learning all about cloud penetration testing and ethical hacking. This step-by-step guide begins by helping you design and build penetration testing labs that mimic modern cloud environments running on AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud Platform (GCP). Next, you’ll find out how to use infrastructure as code (IaC) solutions to manage a variety of lab environments in the cloud. As you advance, you’ll discover how generative AI tools, such as ChatGPT, can be leveraged to accelerate the preparation of IaC templates and configurations. You’ll also learn how to validate vulnerabilities by exploiting misconfigurations and vulnerabilities using various penetration testing tools and techniques. Finally, you’ll explore several practical strategies for managing the complexity, cost, and risks involved when dealing with penetration testing lab environments in the cloud. By the end of this penetration testing book, you’ll be able to design and build cost-effective vulnerable cloud lab environments where you can experiment and practice different types of attacks and penetration testing techniques.
Table of Contents (15 chapters)
1
Part 1: A Gentle Introduction to Vulnerable-by-Design Environments
5
Part 2: Setting Up Isolated Penetration Testing Lab Environments in the Cloud
9
Part 3: Exploring Advanced Strategies and Best Practices in Lab Environment Design

Part 1: A Gentle Introduction to Vulnerable-by-Design Environments

In this part, you will be introduced to the key concepts around how to build and automate penetration testing labs in the cloud.

This part contains the following chapters:

  • Chapter 1, Getting Started with Penetration Testing Labs in the Cloud
  • Chapter 2, Preparing Our First Vulnerable Cloud Lab Environment
  • Chapter 3, Succeeding with Infrastructure as Code Tools and Strategies