Ethical Hacking Cloud Security Syllabus

Cloud Security syllabus — full chapter and topic list

Expand any chapter to see its topics and sub-topics. This is the whole examinable outline for Cloud Security in Ethical Hacking, not a summary of it.

1. 1

   Cloud Computing Concepts

   3 topics

   • What is Cloud Computing?
   • Cloud Service Models
   • Cloud Deployment Models
2. 2

   Cloud Security Challenges

   3 topics

   • Data Breaches
   • Insider Threats
   • Insecure APIs
3. 3

   Cloud Security Best Practices

   3 topics

   • Identity and Access Management
   • Data Encryption
   • Security Monitoring
4. 4

   Cloud Security Tools

   3 topics

   • Cloud Access Security Brokers (CASBs)
   • Cloud Security Posture Management (CSPM)
   • Cloud Workload Protection Platforms (CWPP)

Cloud Security flashcards for Ethical Hacking

25 of 51 cards from the Cloud Security deck — real questions with worked answers.

1. What is cloud computing?

   The on-demand delivery of IT resources (compute, storage, databases, networking, software) over the internet, with pay-as-you-go pricing, instead of owning and maintaining physical data centers and servers.

2. What are the five essential characteristics of cloud computing per NIST?

   On-demand self-service, broad network access, resource pooling, rapid elasticity, and measured service.

3. Name the three main cloud service models.

   IaaS (Infrastructure as a Service), PaaS (Platform as a Service), and SaaS (Software as a Service).

4. What does IaaS provide and give an example?

   IaaS provides virtualized computing infrastructure (virtual machines, storage, networks) that the customer manages the OS and above on. Examples: Amazon EC2, Google Compute Engine, Microsoft Azure VMs.

5. What does PaaS provide and give an example?

   PaaS provides a managed platform (runtime, middleware, OS) so developers can build and deploy applications without managing the underlying infrastructure. Examples: Google App Engine, Heroku, AWS Elastic Beanstalk.

6. What does SaaS provide and give an example?

   SaaS delivers fully managed, ready-to-use software applications over the internet, with the provider managing everything. Examples: Gmail, Salesforce, Microsoft 365, Dropbox.

7. In the IaaS, PaaS, and SaaS models, which gives the customer the most control over the stack?

   IaaS gives the most customer control (customer manages OS, runtime, apps, data); SaaS gives the least (provider manages nearly everything, customer manages only data/access).

8. What are the four main cloud deployment models?

   Public cloud, private cloud, hybrid cloud, and community cloud.

9. What is a public cloud?

   Cloud infrastructure owned and operated by a third-party provider and shared among multiple tenants over the public internet (e.g., AWS, Azure, GCP).

10. What is a private cloud?

    Cloud infrastructure dedicated to a single organization, hosted on-premises or by a third party, offering greater control and security but higher cost.

11. What is a hybrid cloud?

    A combination of public and private clouds connected so that data and applications can move between them, balancing scalability with control over sensitive workloads.

12. What is a community cloud?

    Cloud infrastructure shared by several organizations with common concerns (e.g., compliance, mission, security requirements), such as government or healthcare consortiums.

13. What is the shared responsibility model in cloud security?

    A framework dividing security duties: the provider secures the cloud (physical infrastructure, hypervisor), while the customer secures what is in the cloud (data, identities, configurations, applications).

14. How does responsibility for the operating system differ between IaaS and SaaS?

    In IaaS the customer is responsible for securing and patching the OS; in SaaS the provider handles the OS entirely and the customer is responsible only for data and access management.

15. What is a data breach in the cloud context?

    An incident where sensitive, protected, or confidential data is accessed, disclosed, or stolen by an unauthorized party from a cloud environment.

16. What are common causes of cloud data breaches?

    Misconfigured storage (e.g., open S3 buckets), weak or stolen credentials, insecure APIs, insufficient encryption, insider threats, and unpatched vulnerabilities.

17. What is the difference between data at rest, data in transit, and data in use?

    Data at rest is stored data (disks, databases); data in transit is data moving across networks; data in use is data actively being processed in memory. Each requires different protection strategies.

18. What is an insider threat?

    A security risk originating from within the organization—employees, contractors, or partners—who misuse authorized access, either maliciously or accidentally, to harm data or systems.

19. What are the main categories of insider threats?

    Malicious insiders (intentional harm/theft), negligent insiders (careless mistakes, mishandling data), and compromised insiders (legitimate accounts hijacked by external attackers).

20. What is the principle of least privilege and why does it mitigate insider threats?

    It grants users only the minimum access needed to do their job, limiting the damage an insider (or compromised account) can cause by reducing the scope of accessible resources.

21. What is an insecure API in cloud security?

    An application programming interface with weak authentication, authorization, encryption, or input validation that attackers can exploit to access data or manipulate cloud services.

22. Name common API security weaknesses attackers exploit.

    Broken authentication, lack of rate limiting, excessive data exposure, missing input validation/injection flaws, broken object-level authorization (BOLA), and unencrypted endpoints.

23. What API practices help secure cloud APIs?

    Strong authentication (OAuth 2.0/tokens), authorization checks, TLS encryption, input validation, rate limiting/throttling, and regular security testing.

24. What is Identity and Access Management (IAM)?

    A framework of policies, processes, and technologies that ensures the right individuals and services have the appropriate access to resources, controlling authentication and authorization.

25. What is the difference between authentication and authorization?

    Authentication verifies who you are (identity); authorization determines what you are allowed to do (permissions) once authenticated.

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