Lab 03 — Registry Security Assessment

Mission Information

Property	Value
Lab Name	Registry Security Assessment
Module	Module 06 — Container Security
Lab Number	Lab 03
Difficulty	Intermediate
Estimated Time	90–120 Minutes
Cloud Provider	AWS / Azure / Google Cloud / Local
Environment	Amazon ECR / Azure Container Registry / Google Artifact Registry / Harbor
Prerequisites	Complete Lessons 01–10
Tools Used	Docker CLI, AWS CLI, Azure CLI, gcloud CLI, Trivy, Docker Scout

Mission Brief

CloudNova Technologies has been hired by MedSecure Global to assess the security of the organization’s enterprise container registries.

The organization stores thousands of production container images across Amazon Elastic Container Registry (ECR), Azure Container Registry (ACR), and Google Artifact Registry (GAR). Executive management wants assurance that registry access is secure, only trusted images are deployed, and the software supply chain is protected.

You have been assigned as the Lead Cloud Penetration Tester responsible for evaluating registry security, identifying weaknesses, and providing remediation recommendations.

Learning Objectives

By completing this lab you will learn how to:

Assess enterprise container registries.
Review authentication and authorization.
Evaluate repository permissions.
Validate image signing.
Assess vulnerability scanning.
Review registry governance.
Evaluate image lifecycle management.
Produce a professional assessment report.

Enterprise Scenario

During this engagement you will assess:

Amazon ECR
Azure Container Registry
Google Artifact Registry
Repository Configuration
Authentication
Authorization
Vulnerability Scanning
Image Governance

Lab Architecture

Cloud Penetration Tester

↓

Enterprise Container Registry

├── Private Repositories
├── Public Repositories
├── Images
├── Tags
├── Policies
├── Image Scanning
├── Image Signing

↓

Kubernetes / ECS / AKS / GKE

↓

Assessment Report

Lab Tasks

Task 01 — Inventory Container Registries

Review:

Available registries
Repository names
Registry locations
Repository ownership
Registry configuration

Expected Outcome:

Develop a complete inventory of enterprise container registries.

Task 02 — Review Authentication

Assess:

Identity providers
Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA)
Service Accounts
API Tokens
Authentication methods

Expected Outcome:

Verify that only trusted identities can access enterprise registries.

Task 03 — Assess Authorization

Review:

Repository permissions
Administrative roles
Push permissions
Pull permissions
Least Privilege implementation

Expected Outcome:

Identify excessive permissions that increase organizational risk.

Task 04 — Review Repository Configuration

Assess:

Private repositories
Public repositories
Repository policies
Immutable image tags
Repository lifecycle policies

Expected Outcome:

Determine whether repositories follow enterprise security standards.

Task 05 — Validate Vulnerability Scanning

Review:

Automatic image scanning
Scan frequency
Vulnerability reports
Critical findings
Security alerts

Expected Outcome:

Ensure production images are continuously assessed for known vulnerabilities.

Task 06 — Validate Image Signing

Review:

Digital signatures
Trusted publishers
Signature verification
Image provenance
Integrity validation

Expected Outcome:

Confirm only trusted images are promoted into production.

Task 07 — Review Registry Logging

Assess:

Authentication logs
Repository changes
Image uploads
Image downloads
Administrative actions
Permission changes

Expected Outcome:

Verify complete audit logging and accountability.

Task 08 — Assess Governance & Supply Chain Controls

Review:

Repository ownership
Image approval process
Change management
Lifecycle management
CI/CD integration
Software supply chain controls

Expected Outcome:

Evaluate the maturity of enterprise registry governance.

Task 09 — Prioritize Security Findings

Classify findings as:

Critical
High
Medium
Low
Informational

Prioritize remediation according to technical and business impact.

Task 10 — Produce Executive Assessment Report

Prepare:

Executive Summary
Technical Findings
Risk Register
Registry Security Scorecard
Remediation Roadmap
Final Assessment Report

Expected Deliverables

At the end of this lab you should produce:

Registry Security Assessment Report
Registry Inventory
Repository Permission Review
Vulnerability Assessment
Risk Register
Executive Summary
Evidence Screenshots

Success Criteria

You have successfully completed this lab when you can:

Assess enterprise container registries.
Review authentication and authorization controls.
Evaluate repository governance.
Validate vulnerability scanning and image signing.
Identify registry security risks.
Prioritize findings.
Produce professional consulting documentation.

Real-World Skills Gained

After completing this lab you will be able to perform tasks expected of:

Cloud Penetration Tester
Container Security Engineer
DevSecOps Security Engineer
Software Supply Chain Security Consultant
Cloud Security Consultant
Enterprise Security Assessor

Lab Summary

In this lab, you performed an enterprise container registry security assessment using the GoHackersCloud Enterprise Container Security Assessment Framework.

You evaluated authentication, authorization, repository governance, image signing, vulnerability scanning, lifecycle management, and software supply chain controls before documenting technical findings and business risks in a professional consulting report.

Next Lab

➡️ Lab 04 — Runtime Security Validation

In the next lab, you will assess enterprise container runtime security by validating workload isolation, Linux security controls, runtime monitoring, container hardening, detection capabilities, and operational security controls using the GoHackersCloud Enterprise Container Security Assessment Framework.