Cloud Threat Actor Simulation

Simulate real-world attacks before they happen

In the ever-evolving landscape of cloud computing, understanding how a genuine breach could impact your organisation is crucial. Our Cloud-Based Threat Actor Simulation puts your defences to the test by emulating real-world attack scenarios using the same tools, tactics, and procedures employed by threat actors.

Our team has deep experience across AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud, ensuring that no matter your cloud provider, we can deliver targeted insights and recommendations. We also specialise in securing hybrid and multi-cloud environments.

Leveraging our expertise in cloud environments, we tailor each simulation to your unique infrastructure and deployment practices. This isn’t a one-size-fits-all approach; we delve into every facet of your cloud infrastructure, supporting technologies, and processes—including automated deployment pipelines—to uncover vulnerabilities before the bad guys do.

What we cover in a Threat Actor Simulation

We go beyond traditional configuration reviews. Our cloud security testing service emulates genuine threat actors to uncover vulnerabilities that static checks and dashboards might miss. By adopting the mindset and techniques of attackers, we:

• Map attack paths: Explore how compromised resources can serve as entry points or pivot opportunities to access critical assets.
• Identify real-world risks: Simulate active exploitation scenarios to assess the practical impact of vulnerabilities.
• Evaluate blast radius: Understand the potential scope and consequences of a compromise to prioritise remediations.

This approach delivers actionable insights that empower organisations to strengthen their defences and mitigate risks effectively.

Common examples

Whilst scenarios will be tailored to your environment, the following examples show common scenarios.

Zero Knowledge Outsider

Can an outsider breach your defences without any inside information?

In this scenario, we step into the shoes of an external attacker with zero prior knowledge of your systems. Our consultants attempt to identify security issues in your external-facing services, much like a real-world adversary would.

This may include external infrastructure testing, to identify issues in exposed services, as well as Open-Source Intelligence (OSINT) gathering to find publicly available information about your company from third-party sources.

The objective of this scenario is to determine how much an attacker can learn and exploit from publicly available information and exposed services.

Rogue Knowledgeable Insider

What if a standard employee goes rogue?

Here, we simulate an internal threat by assuming the role of a standard domain account—just like the one you’d give to a new starter or typical employee.

We use this level of access to assess if the user can elevate their privileges without authorisation.

This could include assessing shared services such as file shares, team chats, intranets, and internal applications.

The objective is to evaluate the risk posed by internal users and ensure that your access controls can prevent insider threats.

Compromised Developer

Could a compromised developer account lead to a full-scale breach?

In this scenario, we simulate an attack where a developer’s account is compromised.

Developers will often have access to the codebase for critical infrastructure.

We inspect your codebase and build logs for sensitive information that could be exploited and look for hard-coded secrets or credentials stored within repositories. We would also assess if a standard user can modify pipeline actions to perform malicious activities.

This is carried out to identify weaknesses in your development processes that could be exploited if a developer’s credentials are compromised.

Compromised Resource

What happens if an attacker gains control of an external service?

This scenario examines the impact of a compromised externally facing resource, such as a web service.

In this scenario we would start with the level of access that a genuine attacker would have if a resource were compromised.

We would review the environment from this perspective to see if we can move between cloud-based resources or use trust relationships to gain access to connected networks.

Another key test in this scenario would be to identify how easily sensitive data could be exfiltrated from the environment.

This type of scenario aims to understand the extent of access and the potential impact an attacker could have after compromising an external resource.

Evaluate your defences under real attack conditions

Our service doesn’t just highlight vulnerabilities—it also tests the effectiveness of your defensive measures, such as Cloud Security Posture Management tools. By simulating real-world attacks, we can assess whether malicious activities are detected and prevented, providing you with a clear picture of your security posture.

Collaborative and customised testing

Working closely with your team, we define and execute scenarios tailored to your unique environment. This collaborative approach ensures that we thoroughly test the real-world security of your cloud resources. The result? A deeper understanding of the potential impact of worst-case scenarios, empowering you to bolster your defences where it matters most.