👉 Overview
👀 What ?
GCP (Google Cloud Platform) Workspace Pivoting is a technique used in cloud computing for facilitating efficient data management and process operations. It involves the transition of data and services between Google's cloud-based workspace and other platforms or services. Pivoting is fundamentally a process of redirecting traffic through a compromised system to gain access to another system. It is a significant aspect of post-exploitation in a penetration testing scenario.
🧐 Why ?
Understanding GCP Workspace Pivoting is crucial for both offensive and defensive cybersecurity. For cybersecurity professionals, it's important to understand how attackers might leverage this technique to gain unauthorized access to sensitive systems or data from a compromised system. This knowledge can also aid in the detection and prevention of such attacks. For attackers or penetration testers, this technique provides an additional layer of obfuscation and helps in gaining more extensive access to the target network.
⛏️ How ?
To use GCP Workspace pivoting, the attacker first needs to compromise a system that has the necessary permissions to access the GCP Workspace. Once this system is compromised, the attacker can use it as a 'pivot' point to gain access to the GCP Workspace. This can be achieved through various methods such as SSH tunneling, SOCKS proxying, or even using Google's own cloud APIs. The exact method would depend on the specifics of the compromised system and the target network.
⏳ When ?
The concept of pivoting has been used in cybersecurity for many years, but its application in the context of cloud platforms like GCP is more recent, becoming more prevalent as more organizations migrate their infrastructure to the cloud.
⚙️ Technical Explanations
In a GCP Workspace Pivoting scenario, the attacker uses a compromised system as a stepping stone to access other systems or networks. This is typically achieved by using the compromised system to establish network connections with the target systems. These connections can be established in various ways, such as through SSH tunnels, VPNs, or even using cloud-specific methods like Google's own APIs. Once this connection is established, the attacker can then use it to send and receive network traffic to and from the target systems. This allows the attacker to interact with the target systems as though they were directly connected to them. This technique is especially useful in situations where the target systems are not directly accessible from the attacker's original location, such as when they are behind a firewall or in a different network segment.