Title: AWS re:Inforce 2024 - Manual versus automated penetration testing on AWS (COM225)

Insights:

• Purpose of the Discussion: The speaker addresses the ongoing debate between manual and automated penetration testing, emphasizing the importance of both methods in achieving security.
• Risk Management: Security is fundamentally about risk management, aiming to reduce the chances of attackers exploiting vulnerabilities.
• Benefits of Automated Testing:
  • Speed: Automated testing can process inputs and outputs much faster than humans.
  • Efficiency: Automation is effective in identifying common security issues quickly.
  • Cloud Integration: Automation is particularly beneficial in cloud environments, allowing for streamlined processes.
• Limitations of Automated Testing:
  • Missed Vulnerabilities: Automated tools can miss certain issues, such as authentication failures or complex logic errors.
  • False Positives: Automated scans can produce numerous false positives that require manual verification.
• Benefits of Manual Testing:
  • Complex Logic Handling: Manual testing is better suited for applications with complex logic that automated tools might not understand.
  • Nuanced Vulnerabilities: Certain vulnerabilities, especially those related to AI or dynamically generated content, are more likely to be identified through manual testing.
  • Detailed Impact Analysis: Manual testing allows for a deeper analysis of the impact of vulnerabilities, providing more context-specific insights.
• Combining Both Methods: The speaker advocates for a hybrid approach, leveraging the strengths of both automated and manual testing to achieve comprehensive security assessments.
• Automated Reporting:
  • Efficiency: Automating the report generation process saves time and reduces manual errors.
  • Customization: Automated tools can be used to format reports while still allowing for manual input and detailed analysis.
• Common Misconceptions:
  • Automated Reports: Not all automated reports are inadequate; they can be valuable if combined with manual insights.
  • Security Reviews: Despite the availability of automated tools, security reviews and manual assessments remain crucial.

Quotes:

• "The point is security, right? We're trying to get security, and both of these methods are trying to tell you if you have security problems in your environment."
• "Automated testing can go a lot faster than a human. And so if you have something where you know the inputs and you can produce common outputs and you can evaluate that in an automated fashion, it's going to go way faster than a human can go."
• "The scanners are great when they're working, but you still need someone to go in and make sure they are fully working."
• "If you have an application with logic, it's hard for that scanner to figure out that logic and to understand how that application works and find those errors."
• "Raise your hand and promise me that you will never give a customer an automated penetration test report."
• "My take on automation versus manual is let's get the best of both worlds."
• "There are some things that are really good for automation to do because it's repetitive, it's taking your time, the automation can find it faster, and there are some things that are really better for a manual approach."
• "If you see an automated report, it may not be all that bad."