Cloud Vulnerability Assessment

Identify your AWS, Azure, and GCP vulnerabilities

Pinpoint the weak links before they become breach points

A cloud vulnerability assessment is a structured review of cloud infrastructure, identity controls, and service configurations using automated scanning and manual validation to identify vulnerabilities without exploitation. It differs from a cloud penetration test, which exploits confirmed findings, and from a cloud configuration review, which benchmarks implemented settings against hardening standards. In practice, a configuration review checks whether your cloud settings align to hardening baselines, while a cloud vulnerability assessment looks for exposed resources, weak access paths, and misconfigurations that could lead to compromise. Swarmnetics delivers this service with Offensive Security Certified Professional (OSCP) and CREST Registered Penetration Tester (CRT)-certified consultants based in Singapore.

Cloud misconfiguration can expose critical data

Turning inspection into insight you can act on

In 2024, Twilio notified customers that IdentifyMobile, a downstream carrier, had made an AWS S3 bucket public from May 10 to May 15, 2024. The exposed bucket contained message-related data sent between January 1 and May 15, 2024, with the exposure persisting for more than four months. Many data breaches in cloud platforms still begin with human error in access-control or storage settings. A cloud vulnerability assessment of IdentifyMobile’s AWS environment would have identified the misconfigured bucket before the data was exposed.

Cloud vulnerability management is a practical control to identify and address material cloud security weaknesses, reducing compliance and breach risk across sectors.

Cloud vulnerability assessment beyond native tooling

Because clarity beats chaos in cloud security

AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud each provide native security tooling, but those tools stop at the provider side of the shared responsibility model. The decisions on your side — access management, cloud-native configurations, and architectural choices — are often where common cloud vulnerabilities persist. A cloud vulnerability assessment helps security teams improve security posture by identifying vulnerabilities that native tooling can miss. In cloud computing environments, that often means exposed cloud services and weaknesses in IAM relationships, management interfaces, and trust paths spread across a distributed cloud environment. It also helps distinguish between low-priority findings and combinations of weaknesses that create a realistic path to compromise.

Swarmnetics assesses cloud technologies using a combination of automated scanning using Prowler and ScoutSuite with manual validation aligned to the CSA Cloud Controls Matrix and CIS Benchmarks. That manual validation is important because native tools and CSPM dashboards may surface individual issues, but often do not show whether a finding is reachable, materially exposed, or dangerous when combined with other weaknesses. Our consultants then confirm the valid findings, assign risk scores using the Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS), and report them in priority based on business impact.

Yes, we are CREST accredited

Our core team is based in Singapore and consists of CREST certified penetration testers who are also Offensive Security Certified Professional (OSCP) certified. The team has delivered numerous penetration testing projects for customers in Singapore and other locations, from large multinational enterprises to small and medium business, and across various industries.

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Inside the cloud infrastructure attack surface

What gets assessed

A cloud vulnerability assessment covers the following scope:

IAM misconfigurations — over-permissioned roles, unused access keys, and insecure trust policies
Publicly accessible storage — S3 buckets, Azure Blob containers, and GCP storage buckets
Internet-exposed services and management interfaces that expand the external attack surface
Network security group rules permitting unrestricted inbound access to a critical cloud resource
Unencrypted sensitive data at rest in object storage, databases, and snapshots
Exposed credentials in environment variables, IaC templates, and instance metadata
Container and serverless security: execution role permissions and registry access
Logging and monitoring gaps that can delay the detection of unauthorized access
Privilege escalation paths via Lambda functions, EC2 roles, or federated identities

FAQ

A cloud vulnerability assessment identifies and prioritises weaknesses in cloud configurations, identities, and exposed resources without exploiting them. A cloud penetration test goes further by exploiting confirmed findings to measure impact. Run the assessment first when you need a broad view of cloud weaknesses.

Every engagement examines IAM configurations, network controls, storage exposure, encryption settings, secrets handling, container and serverless security, and logging coverage. Swarmnetics maps findings against the CSA Cloud Controls Matrix and CIS Benchmarks, covering misconfigured access controls, overprivileged identities, and exposed storage services.

Grey-box suits most engagements because cloud console access lets our consultants review policies, service configurations, and internal controls that are invisible externally. A black-box approach simulates an external attacker and is useful when your main concern is publicly exposed cloud attack surface.

Attackers can pivot from a public storage bucket or over-permissioned IAM role to broader compromise. That can expose data, enable privilege escalation, and provide credentials for downstream systems. Where logging and monitoring gaps exist, those actions may continue longer before your team detects them.

A cloud vulnerability assessment from Swarmnetics produces a draft report for your review, followed by a final report upon acceptance. Both reports include an executive summary for non-technical stakeholders and a detailed technical section listing every identified vulnerability with its CVSS severity rating, evidence, and specific remediation guidance. After you have addressed the findings, we conduct a follow-up cloud security reassessment and vulnerability remediation validation to confirm that vulnerabilities have been adequately remediated.

Any organisation operating cloud infrastructure on AWS, Azure, or GCP can benefit from a cloud vulnerability assessment. It is particularly relevant for organisations subject to regulatory, contractual, or industry security requirements, which requires regular vulnerability assessments, and for those that have recently made significant changes to their cloud environment. Swarmnetics has delivered cloud vulnerability assessments across all sectors since 2015.

The duration of a cloud vulnerability assessment depends on the size and complexity of the cloud environment in scope. A typical engagement takes three to seven business days for the assessment phase, followed by an initial report within five business days for your review.

A cloud vulnerability assessment is often required for compliance with applicable regulatory, contractual, or industry security obligations where organisations must identify and address cloud configuration and infrastructure vulnerabilities on a regular basis. Swarmnetics recommends conducting a cloud vulnerability assessment at least annually, after significant changes, and before launching new cloud infrastructure into production.

Every cloud vulnerability assessment follows a three-phase process. In the planning phase, Swarmnetics agrees the scope, engagement parameters, and schedule with your team. In the assessment phase, our OSCP and CREST-certified consultants conduct the cloud infrastructure vulnerability scan and configuration review and validate findings using manual techniques. In the reporting phase, we deliver a draft report for your review and a final report upon acceptance, with detailed remediation guidance for every finding.

All Swarmnetics vulnerability assessments are conducted by our Singapore-based team of security consultants holding the Offensive Security Certified Professional (OSCP) and CREST Registered Penetration Tester (CRT) credentials. Swarmnetics has been delivering technical security assessments to organisations across Singapore since 2015 and serves as a trusted VAPT partner for leading enterprises across technology, telecommunications, and professional services.

The security assessment report includes specific, actionable remediation guidance for every finding — not generic advice. For each vulnerability, we describe the fix, its priority based on CVSS severity, and any dependencies between remediation steps. Once your team has addressed the findings, Swarmnetics conducts a follow-up retest to verify that each vulnerability has been adequately remediated. The final report confirms closure and provides documented evidence of remediation.