With organisations around the world increasingly adopting cloud services for critical business functions, cyber skills platform Hack The Box has introduced an innovative cybersecurity hands-on upskilling product focused on cloud technologies.
BlackSky: Cloud Labs from Hack The Box provides businesses with a dedicated space for professionals to develop their cloud security and pentesting skills in a fun and interactive format. The gamified platform is specifically designed to encourage continuous learning within organisations, and features a variety of regularly updated real world scenarios for players to sharpen their skills across Amazon Web Services (AWS), Google Cloud Platform (GCP), and Microsoft Azure environments.
The flexibility afforded with cloud is one of the drivers powering the acceleration to hybrid cloud architectures, which means that organisations are relying on these services more than ever. Business expenditure on cloud is set to grow by a quarter this year to reach $330 billion, according to Gartner.
As the shift to cloud accelerates, so too does the demand for cloud security skills in an industry that is already struggling to plug a nearly 3 million global cybersecurity talent shortfall.
It is critical that system administrators, penetration testers, security engineers and IT staff are given the knowledge to build, assess and defend these new environments in a safe and engaging way, away from production workloads. Workloads in the cloud rely on a shared responsibility model, and often organisations can be caught out, thinking that they can lift-and-shift their applications, services and data to the cloud, and it will be secure by default.
Ian Austin, Head of Innovation at Hack The Box, comments:
“With increasing numbers of companies transitioning their infrastructure to the cloud, an understanding of possible cloud hacking vectors and how to defend against them is critical.
“That’s why we’re launching the breakthrough BlackSky labs, featuring Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud Platform (GCP) environments. Cybersecurity red and blue teams can familiarise themselves with a variety of cloud exploitation and hardening techniques in these environments, the knowledge of which can be used to protect their business.”
BlackSky enables professionals to build a stronger security posture for their organisation. Employees will learn how to perform reconnaissance, infiltration, situational awareness, privilege escalation, lateral movement and exfiltration, and will understand how to mitigate these vectors in multiple cloud platforms. The platform can be securely accessed through a VPN, either using pwnbox or an attack platform.
Depending on the cloud platform in use by an organisation, professionals can engage with either of the Blizzard, Cyclone or Hailstorm labs (based on GCP, Azure and AWS technologies respectively). The platform is suited to both red and blue teams, which also offers a combination of exploratory and guided learning methods.
BlackSky sits alongside the Dedicated Labs, Professional Labs, Academy for Business and Talent Search solutions in the new Hack The Box Enterprise from Hack The Box. The platform streamlines access and measurement capabilities for businesses, making it easier than ever for organisations to assess and provide continuous learning for their teams.
For more information, and to get started on the journey to being cloud-ready, see the BlackSky landing page.
About Hack The Box
Hack The Box is a global hacking playground and cybersecurity community. Growing to over 850,000 members in less than four years, the platform allows individuals, businesses, and universities to level up their security skills in the most practical and gamified way possible. From hundreds of constantly updated virtual hacking labs to the plethora of interactive cybersecurity courses at HTB Academy, Hack The Box is on a mission to upscale the cybersecurity capabilities of every professional and organisation in the world. For more information, visit hackthebox.com.
For more information, contact: pr@hackthebox.com
