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Offensive Security in the Cloud Era: Adapting Security Testing for Modern Infrastructure

Offensive Security in the Cloud Era: Adapting Security Testing for Modern Infrastructure

Cloud environments aren’t just changing infrastructure. They’re changing how attacks happen.

Most offensive security teams are still operating with playbooks built for on-prem networks, while real-world attacks now focus on identity, misconfigurations, and interconnected systems across hybrid environments.

Get the breakdown on how cloud pentesting actually works today, what teams are getting wrong, and how to build the skills needed to uncover real risk before attackers do.

Executive summary

This paper shows how offensive security teams can operate effectively in cloud environments.

It introduces a practical approach to cloud pentesting, including how to think about recon, identity abuse, and misconfigurations across modern infrastructure. It also examines the challenges teams face when moving from traditional environments to the cloud, and what it takes to build the skills needed to test these systems with confidence.

Offensive Security in the Cloud Era: Adapting Security Testing for Modern Infrastructure

Rethink how offensive security operates in cloud environments

  • Understand how cloud changes the attack surface, from identity and permissions to misconfigurations

  • Apply a practical mental model for cloud pentesting that goes beyond ports and vulnerabilities

  • See how hybrid environments expand risk and introduce new attack paths

  • Identify where traditional offensive approaches fall short in cloud systems

  • Build cloud-native offensive skills through hands-on training

Adapt offensive security to how cloud environments actually behave

Shift from infrastructure to identity-first attacks

Understand how identity, permissions, and access paths replace network boundaries as the primary attack surface in cloud environments

Test cloud systems through architecture, not just exposure

Move beyond scanning for open ports and start evaluating how services are designed, connected, and misconfigured across the environment

Build teams that can operate across hybrid environments

Develop the ability to navigate and exploit trust relationships between cloud and on-prem systems, where modern attack paths often emerge