DigitalOcean Security Review
A DigitalOcean account is a set of team roles, tokens, firewalls and storage buckets, and one left open is the way in. We test what your team actually configured, not DigitalOcean’s platform. CREST-certified testers, fixed price from £2,320 for a 2-day single-estate scope, quoted within 24 hours.
- Unlimited retesting
- Unlimited pre-retesting
- No hidden fees
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DigitalOcean teams ship six predefined roles, from Owner down to Resource Viewer, and each one reaches shared resources, billing and team settings differently.
A DigitalOcean account is only as secure as the roles, tokens and firewalls your team has configured
DigitalOcean documents six predefined team roles, Owner, Biller, Billing Viewer, Member, Modifier and Resource Viewer, each carrying a different combination of access to shared resources such as Droplets and databases, to billing information, and to the team settings page itself. Which roles your team actually assigned, how many accounts hold Owner, and whether a Modifier can reach further than full access except delete should allow is a decision your organisation made, not a DigitalOcean default.
Outside the control panel, a personal access token can be issued with Read Only or Full Access, or built from custom scopes down to a single create, read, update or delete permission on one resource type, and DigitalOcean is explicit that a Cloud Firewall accepts no traffic at all, inbound or outbound, until a rule permits it, though its own suggested rules open SSH from anywhere and allow all outbound traffic to make first setup easier. That breadth is the difficulty: a token scoped years ago, a firewall rule left over from a quick setup, or a database trusted source nobody has reviewed since all sit outside the parts of the account anyone checks day to day.
We test the account you actually run: the team roles and tokens issued, the Droplets, Cloud Firewalls and managed database trusted sources configured, the Spaces buckets and access keys in use, and the App Platform and DOKS deployments built on top of them. We never test DigitalOcean’s own infrastructure, in the same way we test client configuration on Heroku apps rather than Heroku’s platform.
SCOPE
What we review in a DigitalOcean account
Team Access and Roles
DigitalOcean teams ship six predefined roles, Owner, Biller, Billing Viewer, Member, Modifier and Resource Viewer, each carrying a different combination of access to shared resources such as Droplets and databases, to billing information, and to the team settings page itself, with a Modifier reaching every shared resource except deleting it and a Resource Viewer restricted to read-only throughout. We test how many accounts hold Owner, whether a Modifier or Member account can reach further than its role should allow, and whether a Resource Viewer login still exposes more than the read-only access it is meant to have.
Two-Factor Authentication and Secure Sign-In
Secure sign-in is a setting an Owner switches on for the whole team rather than something enabled automatically, and once it is on, a member can only reach the team by logging in with Google, GitHub, or a DigitalOcean account that has two-factor authentication turned on. We test whether secure sign-in is actually enabled for your team, and if it is not, whether every account holding Owner or Modifier is genuinely protected by 2FA rather than a password alone.
Personal Access Tokens and API Scopes
A personal access token can still be issued with Read Only or Full Access, granting read, or full read and write, access to every resource your team role reaches, or built from custom scopes down to a single create, read, update or delete permission on one resource type such as database:create or droplet:update, and a custom-scoped token keeps its original scopes even if an owner later expands your team role. We test which scope every live token actually holds against the access it was issued for, how many tokens still carry Full Access, and whether an old or unused token is still valid.
Droplets: SSH Keys and Cloud Firewalls
DigitalOcean recommends SSH key pairs over password logins for every Droplet, uploaded to the team once and then added to new or existing Droplets from there, while a Cloud Firewall accepts no traffic at all, inbound or outbound, until a rule permits it. The Control Panel’s own suggested rules open SSH on port 22 from anywhere and permit all outbound traffic to any destination, both there purely to make first setup easier. We test which Droplets still allow password authentication, whether that suggested SSH-from-anywhere rule was ever narrowed to known IP ranges, and what a Cloud Firewall actually permits against what the workload needs.
Managed Databases: Trusted Sources
A managed database cluster’s trusted sources list defines exactly which Droplets, Kubernetes clusters or external IP addresses are allowed to open a connection to its nodes, and DigitalOcean’s own guidance is that typically only application servers should be on that list rather than the public-facing site itself. We test what the trusted sources list actually contains against what genuinely needs direct database access, and whether a development machine, a decommissioned server or a wide IP range is still sitting on a production cluster’s trusted sources.
Spaces Object Storage: Listing, Permissions and Access Keys
Every file in a Space carries its own Private or Public permission, and separately the bucket itself can be switched to a public-read ACL through an S3-compatible tool so its contents can be listed by anyone with the URL. Access keys add a second layer: a Limited access key is scoped to specific buckets with Read or Read/Write/Delete permissions, a Full access key can create and configure any bucket including its policies and public listing, and DigitalOcean will not let a bucket carry both a policy and a limited access key at the same time. We test which buckets allow public listing, which individual files are set to Public inside a bucket meant to stay private, and what a Full access key can reach beyond the one integration it was issued for.
App Platform: Environment Variables and Secrets
App Platform can store a sensitive value, a password, API key or similar, as an encrypted environment variable, but DigitalOcean is explicit that the encryption only protects it from build, deployment and application logs: once the app is running, anyone with console access, or anyone who can change the app’s code or configuration, can still read or export the decrypted value. We test who actually holds console access to each app, whether an encrypted variable is really only reachable by the people who need it, and whether a build or deploy log has ever exposed a value that was meant to stay encrypted.
DOKS: DigitalOcean Kubernetes Clusters
DigitalOcean gives every DOKS user administrator access and full Kubernetes API access with no restriction on which objects they can create, so access control lives in the RBAC you configure yourself rather than anything DigitalOcean limits by default, and each cluster gets two automatically managed Cloud Firewalls, one between your VPC and the worker nodes and one between the worker nodes and the public internet, opening NodePort range 30000 to 32767 as services are added. We test the RBAC roles and service accounts configured inside the cluster, and whether any NodePort service is exposed to the public internet that should have been kept reachable over the VPC only.
VPC Networking
A VPC network keeps traffic between the Droplets, load balancers, managed databases and Kubernetes clusters added to it off the public internet entirely, invisible to any other VPC network and free of the bandwidth charges public traffic incurs, and a VPC peering connection can link two VPC networks together when resources need to reach across them. We test what is actually reachable over the VPC against what should only be reachable that way, whether a resource that should sit inside the VPC is still bound to a public interface, and what a peering connection genuinely exposes between the two networks it joins.
Backups and Snapshots Access
Backups are automatic, system-level Droplet images taken at whichever interval you enable, from every 4 hours up to weekly, while a Snapshot is a manual, on-demand image DigitalOcean recommends taking only after powering the Droplet off, since capturing one while it keeps running can degrade performance and compromise data consistency. Neither a backup nor a snapshot can be downloaded directly, so the data only ever leaves the platform through a restore or a third-party tool. We test who can actually restore, convert to a snapshot, or delete a backup against the team role they hold, and whether an old snapshot still holds data from a system whose access controls have since changed.
OUR PROCESS
DigitalOcean Cloud Security Review: From Scope to Attestation
Scope and Access
We agree which DigitalOcean team, Droplets, databases, Spaces buckets and App Platform apps are in scope, plus at least one login for each distinct team role you use.
Configuration and Role Mapping
We map every team role, personal access token and Cloud Firewall against what it actually grants, alongside your current Spaces, managed database and VPC configuration.
Manual Testing
A CREST-certified tester manually tests Droplet firewall rules, database trusted sources, Spaces bucket permissions and App Platform secrets, chaining findings where they compound.
Attestation and Retest
You get a technical report with CVSS scores and reproduction steps, a walkthrough call, a free retest once fixes are deployed, and an attestation letter for auditors.
CREDENTIALS
Verified Accreditations Auditors Accept
Every credential below is independently verifiable. UK procurement teams, FCA supervisors, ISO 27001 / SOC 2 auditors, and cyber insurance underwriters all recognise these standards.
GET YOUR QUOTE
Get a CREST DigitalOcean pen test quote in 24 hours
A fixed-price quote back in one business day, from a named CREST assessor. No sales pipeline, no chasing.
- CREST and IASME accredited. Testing your auditors and clients already recognise.
- Fast-track testing within 24 hours where required. Free retest of every fix included.
- Live findings via your client portal, not a four-week PDF.
- Fixed price from £3,500 for a single-role, single-app scope, agreed up front. Most engagements run £5,000 and up. No day-rate surprises.
Dan WilcocksonFounder, CelloriUnder NDA Further named references available on a scoping call.
- We reply within one business day with a fixed-price quote from a named CREST assessor.
- You approve the scope and we book a start date, usually within 24 hours.
- Live findings land in your client portal as we test, with a free retest of every fix.
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COMPLIANCE READY
Reports Mapped to Every Framework
Findings are written so your team can reference the report against each framework without translation work.
ISO 27001:2022
Annex A.8.8 management of technical vulnerabilities plus A.5.15-5.18 and A.8.2-8.5 access control validation.
SOC 2 Type I & II
CC6 logical access, CC7 system operations, CC8 change management evidence.
PCI DSS
Requirement 11.4 application penetration testing across cardholder data environments, including ecommerce penetration testing for online retail platforms.
FCA SYSC
SYSC 4.1.1R, 6.1.1R, 13 mapped to each finding for FCA-regulated firms.
UK GDPR
Article 32 effectiveness testing, customer-data security controls, ICO-acceptable evidence.
Cyber Essentials Plus
Direct certification through our IASME body status, single-vendor delivery.
PRICING
Transparent DigitalOcean Cloud Security Review Pricing
Pricing depends on the number of roles, integrations and environments in scope. See our pricing page for how we quote.
2 to 3 testing days
Single user role, basic CRUD application, marketing website with auth. Around 5 working days from kickoff to report.
Get a fixed quote3 to 4 testing days
Multi-role SaaS, business application with payment integration. Around 8 to 12 working days from kickoff to report.
Get a fixed quote4 to 6 testing days
Multi-tenant platform, complex authorisation matrix, integration-heavy applications. Around 15 to 20 working days from kickoff to report.
Get a fixed quoteSECTORS
Sectors We Test DigitalOcean For
Sector-specific scoping for regulated UK organisations.
Fintech & FCA-Regulated
FCA SYSC, Open Banking FAPI 1.0, PSD2 SCA, payment-flow scrutiny, KYC/AML testing.
Fintech sector pageSaaS Companies
SOC 2 Type I & II evidence, multi-tenant boundaries, role escalation, customer-tenant isolation.
SaaS sector pageLaw Firms
SRA Cyber Standard, privileged data, conveyancing fraud defence, partner-tier procurement.
Law firm sector pageHealthcare
NHS DTAC, DSP Toolkit v6, UK GDPR Article 32, EHR systems, telehealth platforms.
Healthcare sector pageInsurance
FCA / PRA Operational Resilience, cyber underwriting, claims data, broker portals.
Insurance sector pagePublic Sector
CCS / G-Cloud framework, NCSC-aligned, citizen-facing services, PSN-compliance scrutiny.
Public sector pageWHY EJN LABS
What You Get From DigitalOcean Cloud Security Review
Six concrete differentiators competitors don’t all match.
CREST-Certified Testers, Verifiable
Every test by a CREST-certified pen tester (CRT, CCT APP, CCT INF where applicable). Verify our company status at crest-approved.org.
24-Hour Startup, Where Required
From signed scope to active testing in a single business day for incident response, audit deadlines, or regulator-driven timelines.
Live Findings, Not 4-Week PDFs
Critical issues reported during testing through your client portal. Your team remediates while testing continues.
Audit-Ready Reports
Executive summary plus full technical report with CVSS scores and explicit framework mappings (ISO 27001, SOC 2, PCI DSS, FCA SYSC).
Free Retests, Standard
Verify remediation of every finding before close-out. Letter of attestation for audit submission included. Most competitors charge £1,500-£3,000 per retest.
UK-Based CREST Testers
Every engagement performed by vetted, UK-based CREST-certified testers, matched to your needs, security clearance, and compliance scope.
FAQ
Frequently Asked
What access do you need to test our DigitalOcean account?
We need at least one login for each team role in use, ideally an Owner or Modifier account rather than a Biller, plus read access to your current Droplets, Cloud Firewalls, managed database trusted sources and Spaces buckets. A personal access token scoped to the resources in play speeds up several checks but is not required to start.
Will testing touch our live data?
Testing focuses on team roles, tokens, firewall rules, database trusted sources, Spaces permissions and App Platform configuration, rather than the content of your databases or the files stored in Spaces. Where proving a finding needs a test record or a sample file, we agree the exact scope with you first and remove anything we create once testing is complete.
Is this hosted on our infrastructure or DigitalOcean’s?
Your Droplets, managed databases, Spaces buckets and DOKS clusters all run on DigitalOcean’s infrastructure, so there is nothing separate for you to host. The review is scoped to the account configuration you control, team roles, tokens, firewalls and storage permissions, not to DigitalOcean’s own platform.
How long does a DigitalOcean security review take?
A single account with a typical number of Droplets, one managed database and a handful of Spaces buckets sits in our 2-day single-estate scope, with a report usually landing around 5 working days after kickoff. An account running several managed databases, DOKS clusters or a large number of App Platform apps extends that scope.
What is out of scope for a single-estate review?
Testing DigitalOcean’s own infrastructure, hypervisors or shared platform is never in scope, and we do not run denial-of-service testing against any DigitalOcean service. The application code running inside a Droplet or an App Platform app is scoped and quoted separately from the account and infrastructure review.
Does DigitalOcean have a customer penetration-testing policy we need to follow?
DigitalOcean does not publish a dedicated penetration-testing policy setting out rules of engagement in the way some other cloud providers do. Its Acceptable Use Policy prohibits accessing or probing a system without permission, so we confirm DigitalOcean’s current terms and any account-specific conditions during scoping before testing begins.
Do you need our source code or admin access?
No. We test with the team role accounts and access you provide, and we do not need standing Owner access beyond what is needed to verify a specific finding during the engagement. Source code for anything you deploy is only needed if you commission the application itself as a separate assessment.
Are your testers CREST certified?
Yes. Every DigitalOcean engagement is carried out by UK-based, CREST-certified testers, and your report and attestation letter are recognised by auditors and insurers accordingly.
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Web, mobile, API, cloud, AI, infrastructure, red team. Pick the test that fits your environment.
Get a fixed price for your DigitalOcean account
A DigitalOcean account is a set of team roles, tokens, firewalls and storage buckets, and one left open is the way in. We test what your team actually configured, not DigitalOcean’s platform. CREST-certified testers, fixed price from £2,320 for a 2-day single-estate scope, quoted within 24 hours.
