A cloud hosting vendor assessment program is a process of evaluating the security, compliance, and performance of a cloud service provider (CSP) that hosts an organization's data or applications. A cloud hosting vendor assessment program typically includes the following components123:
* Reviewing the entity's image snapshot approval and management process: This component involves verifying how the CSP creates, approves, stores, and deletes image snapshots of the virtual machines or containers that run the organization's workloads. Image snapshots can contain sensitive data or configuration settings that need to be protected from unauthorized access or modification.
* Requiring security services documentation and audit attestation reports: This component involves requesting and reviewing the CSP's documentation and reports that demonstrate the security controls and practices that the CSP implements to protect the organization's data and applications. These may include service level agreements (SLAs), security policies and procedures, security certifications and standards, vulnerability scanning and patching reports, incident response and disaster recovery plans, and independent audit reports such as SOC 2 or ISO 27001.
* Requiring compliance evidence that provides the definition of patching responsibilities: This component involves asking and verifying how the CSP handles the patching of the operating systems, applications, and libraries that run on the cloud infrastructure. Patching is a critical activity to prevent security breaches and ensure compliance with regulatory requirements. The organization needs to understand the roles and responsibilities of the CSP and the organization in patching the cloud environment, and the frequency and scope of patching activities.
The component that is typically NOT part of a cloud hosting vendor assessment program is conducting customer performed penetration tests. Penetration testing is a method of simulating a cyberattack on a system or network to identify and exploit vulnerabilities and weaknesses. While penetration testing can be a valuable tool to assess the security posture of a CSP, it is not usually included in a cloud hosting vendor assessment program for the following reasons :
* Penetration testing may violate the CSP's terms of service or acceptable use policy, which may prohibit or restrict the customer from performing any unauthorized or disruptive activities on the cloud infrastructure. The customer may face legal or contractual consequences if they conduct penetration testing without the CSP's consent or knowledge.
* Penetration testing may interfere with the CSP's normal operations or affect the availability and performance of the cloud services for other customers. The customer may cause unintended damage or disruption to the CSP's systems or networks, or trigger false alarms or alerts that may divert the CSP's resources or attention.
* Penetration testing may not provide a comprehensive or accurate assessment of the CSP's security, as the customer may have limited visibility or access to the CSP's internal systems or networks, or may encounter security mechanisms or countermeasures that prevent or limit the penetration testing activities. The customer may also face ethical or legal issues if they access or compromise the data or systems of other customers or the CSP.
Therefore, the verified answer to the question is D. Conducting customer performed penetration tests.
References:
* Four Important Best Practices for Assessing Cloud Vendors
* Top 11 Questionnaires for IT Vendor Assessment in 2024
* Cloud Vendor Assessments | Done The Right Way
* [Penetration Testing in the Cloud: What You Need to Know]
* [Cloud Penetration Testing: Challenges and Best Practices]