# ScoutSuite — Multi-Cloud Security Auditing Tool

> ScoutSuite is an open-source multi-cloud security auditing tool that collects configuration data from AWS, Azure, GCP, and other providers to identify security risks through automated rule-based analysis.

## Install

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# ScoutSuite — Multi-Cloud Security Auditing Tool

## Quick Use
```bash
# Install ScoutSuite
pip install scoutsuite

# Scan your AWS environment
scout aws

# Scan Azure with specific credentials
scout azure --cli

# Open the generated HTML report
open scoutsuite-report/report.html
```

## Introduction
ScoutSuite is a security auditing tool created by NCC Group that performs automated configuration reviews of cloud environments. It gathers data from cloud provider APIs and evaluates it against a comprehensive set of security rules, generating an interactive HTML report that highlights misconfigurations, overly permissive policies, and security gaps across your infrastructure.

## What ScoutSuite Does
- Scans AWS, Azure, GCP, Alibaba Cloud, Oracle Cloud, and Kubernetes configurations
- Evaluates hundreds of security rules covering IAM, networking, storage, logging, and encryption
- Generates an interactive HTML report with findings categorized by severity
- Supports custom rule definitions for organization-specific compliance requirements
- Runs without requiring any agents or infrastructure changes in target environments

## Architecture Overview
ScoutSuite is written in Python and interacts with cloud provider APIs using read-only credentials. During a scan, it enumerates resources across configured services and regions, building a JSON data model of the environment. The rule engine then evaluates this data against a library of predefined rules written in JSON. Results are compiled into a self-contained HTML report using JavaScript for interactive filtering and drill-down. The entire scan runs locally on the operator's machine.

## Self-Hosting & Configuration
- Install via pip in a virtualenv: `pip install scoutsuite`
- Configure cloud credentials using each provider's standard authentication (AWS profiles, Azure CLI, GCP service accounts)
- Limit scan scope with `--regions` and `--services` flags to reduce runtime
- Export results as JSON for integration with SIEM or ticketing systems
- Schedule periodic scans via cron or CI pipelines for continuous monitoring

## Key Features
- Supports six major cloud providers plus Kubernetes from a single tool
- Hundreds of built-in security rules mapped to CIS benchmarks and provider best practices
- Offline HTML report requiring no server for viewing and sharing
- Custom rule engine allowing organization-specific security policies
- Read-only scanning that never modifies target environments

## Comparison with Similar Tools
- **Prowler** — AWS and Azure focused with CLI-first output; ScoutSuite covers more providers with richer HTML reports
- **CloudSploit** — similar multi-cloud scanner, now part of Aqua Security's commercial offering
- **Steampipe** — SQL-based cloud querying tool for ad-hoc analysis rather than rule-based auditing
- **Checkov** — focuses on Infrastructure-as-Code scanning rather than live environment auditing
- **AWS Security Hub** — AWS-only managed service with native integration but vendor lock-in

## FAQ
**Q: Does ScoutSuite need write permissions to scan?**
A: No. ScoutSuite only requires read-only API access. It never creates, modifies, or deletes any cloud resources during a scan.

**Q: How long does a full AWS scan take?**
A: Scan time depends on the number of resources and services. A typical medium-sized AWS account completes in 10-30 minutes.

**Q: Can I run ScoutSuite in CI/CD?**
A: Yes. ScoutSuite can run headlessly and output JSON results for automated compliance gates in CI pipelines.

**Q: Does it support custom compliance frameworks?**
A: Yes. You can define custom rulesets in JSON format to match your organization's security policies and compliance requirements.

## Sources
- https://github.com/nccgroup/ScoutSuite
- https://github.com/nccgroup/ScoutSuite/wiki

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Source: https://tokrepo.com/en/workflows/92addfb9-3cf6-11f1-9bc6-00163e2b0d79
Author: AI Open Source