Cloud penetration testing
Why choose Citation Cyber?
Expert support
Manual testing led by certified consultants.
Every sector
SMEs, public sector, care providers, early years, education, professional services.
What is cloud penetration testing?
Cloud penetration testing is a manual, consultant-led assessment of your public cloud environment. It tests how your cloud services, identity model and permissions could be abused by an attacker to gain access or escalate privileges.
The goal is to find the identity and configuration weaknesses that let an attacker move through your cloud environment and fix them before they’re exploited.
What are the benefits of cloud penetration testing?
Cloud environments run on identity and configuration rather than a fixed network edge. A single overly permissive role or exposed service can give an attacker a route to your data.
Regular cloud penetration testing means you can:
- Find identity and access weaknesses before they’re exploited
- Spot overly permissive roles and exposed services
- Get assurance after a cloud migration or major architecture change
- Meet client, regulator or insurer-driven testing requirements
What’s included in our cloud penetration testing services
Manual review of your identity and access management model
Real-world exploitation attempts where safe and appropriate
Assessment of permissions, roles and privilege escalation paths
Assessment of attack paths specific to your cloud environment
Testing of exposed services and insecure configurations
Prioritised list of risks with practical fixes
Our cloud penetration testing process
Secure your cloud environment in five simple steps. Here’s what you can expect from our AWS, Azure and Google Cloud penetration testing service.
Discovery phase: We learn about your cloud environment, its architecture, and your goals.
Pre-testing: You have a kick off call and send across what we need for testing.
Testing: Our consultants manually assess your environment across the areas above.
Reporting in Atlas: You’ll receive a clear breakdown of our findings and fixes in Atlas.
Review: We walk you through the results and answer any questions.
Cloud penetration testing vs configuration review
Not every cloud environment needs the same depth of testing straight away.
Cloud penetration testing
A manual-focused process where consultants use automated tools for cloud-based penetration testing services that actively tests whether identified weaknesses can be exploited. Best for organisations with complex cloud identity models, assurance after a migration, or client and regulator-driven testing requirements.
Cloud configuration review
A consultant-led audit that checks your Azure, AWS or GCP configuration against recognised best practice and vendor guidance, without active exploitation. Best for baseline validation, early-stage cloud security programmes, or governance assurance.
Many clients start with a configuration review, then bring in penetration testing to confirm whether the issues found can be exploited.
What happens next?
After your cloud penetration testing, you’ll get a clear, actionable report that shows what’s vulnerable, how serious it is, and what to fix first, in our all-in-one platform, Atlas.
In your report, you’ll see:
- High-level executive summary
- Technical and remediation summaries
- Vulnerabilities with clear risk ratings (Citation Score & CvSS Score)
- Description, impact, evidence for each vulnerability
- Short- and long-term remediation guidance
- Technical detail for your IT team or cloud tea
Citation Cyber’s penetration testing services
Network Infrastructure
Spot the gaps in your routers, switches and firewalls with simulated attacks that show exactly where you’re exposed.
VoIP
Check your VoIP setup for weaknesses hackers look for, from call recordings to unsecured phone systems.
Web Application
Test your website and web apps for the coding and configuration flaws attackers use to break in and steal data.
Database
Find out if your databases are properly locked down, with testing that checks access controls and data integrity.
WiFi Network
Put your wireless network through its paces, checking the encryption, authentication and configurations that keep attackers out.
Mobile App and Devices
Test your mobile apps and devices for weaknesses in code, data storage and communication that could expose your data.
Cloud
Check your cloud environment for misconfigurations, weak access controls and gaps in data protection before they’re exploited.
UK breaches 2026
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Average significant attack cost per business
Total business breaches
Businesses reported a breach or attack
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Clare BaldwinWe were really appreciative of Citation Cyber’s Responsiveness to us as our penetration testing needed to be completed very quickly and were able to accommodate this. Communication from the team was really good and the report was comprehensive and easy to follow for us and our developers.
Common questions
Cloud penetration testing is a manual, consultant-led assessment that simulates real-world attacks on your public cloud environment. Citation Cyber’s cloud penetration testing services test identity and access management, permissions and cloud service configuration to find weaknesses an attacker could exploit.
Our cloud penetration testing covers AWS, Azure and Google Cloud Platform, tailored to your environment’s architecture.
Cloud penetration testing is a cloud-based penetration testing service that actively tries to exploit identified weaknesses. A configuration review checks your setup against best practice and vendor guidance without active exploitation. Many organisations use a configuration review for baseline assurance, then bring in penetration testing to test real-world exploitability.
No, cloud penetration testing focuses on identity, permissions and cloud service configuration rather than a traditional network perimeter, since most cloud risk comes from how access and services are set up rather than network-level exposure. Learn about how we can help with network penetration testing here.
No, we work with you to agree scope and timing before we start so testing causes minimal disruption to live services. If we spot an attack path that could cause disruption, we discuss it with you before doing anything further.
How often should we run cloud penetration testing? environments already in production.