For those of you who are unfamiliar with AWS (Amazon Web Services), their enterprise platform is designed to make developers' lives easier. It enables seamless integration between various cloud applications and services, reducing the time and cost to build innovative applications.
AWS provides a comprehensive set of tools to help keep your data and applications secure in the cloud. In this article, we will highlight some of the best AWS security tools available.
How to get started with AWS security tools and services?
An AWS account is a container for all your AWS services. It's used to hold and manage resources such as Amazon EC2 instances, Amazon S3 buckets, and IAM users.
AWS provides a shared responsibility model when it comes to security. This means that AWS is responsible for the security of the cloud, and you are responsible for the security in the cloud.
To get started with AWS, you need an IAM (Identity and Access Management) user. IAM is a management service that helps you control access to AWS resources. You can create IAM users and groups and grant them permissions to access AWS resources.
IAM also provides you with a secure way to access the AWS Management Console. The console is a web-based interface that you can use to manage your AWS resources.
Other AWS security tools to provide your data and applications in the cloud
AWS security services protect sensitive information and ensure compliance by enforcing best practice guidelines. (Amazon Web Services offer a complete suite of security services to help you protect your cloud infrastructure.) Below is a list of the most common services:
1. Amazon Inspector
Amazon Inspector is an automated security assessment service that helps you identify vulnerabilities in your Amazon EC2 instances and make recommendations to remediate them. Amazon Inspector assesses your instances for potential security issues and produces a detailed report with findings and recommendations.
2. Amazon GuardDuty
Amazon GuardDuty is a threat detection service that analyzes your AWS environment and accounts for malicious or unauthorized activity. GuardDuty uses machine learning and anomaly detection to identify suspicious activity, such as unexpected behavior from an IAM user or a malicious IP address.
3. Amazon Macie
Amazon Macie is a security service that uses machine learning to automatically discover, classify, and protect sensitive data in your AWS environment. Macie uses pattern matching and anomaly detection to identify sensitive data, such as credit card numbers and personally identifiable information (PII). Macie then alerts you to potential risks, such as unauthorized access or data leakage.
4. Amazon S3 Glacier
Amazon S3 Glacier is a storage service that helps you securely store your data in the cloud. S3 Glacier uses server-side encryption to protect your data at rest. S3 Glacier also supports versioning, which allows you to restore previous versions of your data.
5. AWS Config
AWS Config is a service that helps you track changes to your AWS resources and assess the compliance of your resource configurations. Config uses a rules engine to evaluate your resources against desired configurations. You can use Config to audit changes to your resources and compliance status, and to generate reports.
6. AWS CloudTrail
AWS CloudTrail is a service that helps you track changes to your AWS resources. CloudTrail records API calls made in your AWS account and delivers the log files to an Amazon S3 bucket. CloudTrail also provides event history, which gives you a record of changes made to your AWS resources.
7. AWS Key Management Service
AWS Key Management Service (KMS) is a service that helps you manage encryption keys for your data in the cloud. KMS provides a centralized location to store and manage your keys and allows you to control access to them. KMS also provides auditing and logging to help you track who is accessing your keys and when.
8. AWS Identity and Access Management
AWS Identity and Access Management (IAM) is a service that helps you manage access to your AWS resources. IAM allows you to create users and groups and grant them permissions to access AWS resources. IAM also provides a secure way to access the AWS Management Console.
9. AWS CloudHSM
AWS CloudHSM is a service that helps you manage your encryption keys in the cloud. CloudHSM provides a physical hardware device that is used to generate, store, and manage your keys. CloudHSM also provides an auditing and logging service to help you track key usage and activity.
10. Amazon Simple Storage Service
Amazon Simple Storage Service (Amazon S3) is a storage service that helps you securely store your data in the cloud. Amazon S3 uses server-side encryption to protect your data at rest. Amazon S3 also supports versioning, which allows you to restore previous versions of your data.
11. Amazon CloudFront
Amazon CloudFront is a content delivery service that helps you deliver your content to users with low latency and high throughput. CloudFront uses a global network of edge locations to cache your content and deliver it to users with low latency. CloudFront also supports signed URLs and cookies, which allow you to restrict access to your content.
12. AWS Cert Manager
AWS Certificate Manager (ACM) is a service that helps you provision, manage, and deploy SSL/TLS certificates for your AWS resources. ACM provides a central location to store your certificates and allows you to deploy them across your AWS resources. ACM also supports certificate validation, which helps you ensure that your certificates are valid and up to date.
13. AWS STS
AWS Security Token Service (STS) is a service that helps you manage your AWS access keys. STS provides a central location to store and rotate your access keys, and allows you to control access to them. STS also provides a way to validate your access keys, which helps you ensure that they are valid and up to date.
14. AWS Security Groups
AWS Security Groups is a service that helps you manage your AWS firewall rules. Security Groups allow you to create and manage your firewall rules in a central location. Security Groups also support integration with other AWS services, which allows you to use your firewall rules to control access to other resources.
15. AWS WAF
AWS WAF is a service that helps you protect your web applications from attacks. WAF allows you to create rules that block or allow traffic based on conditions that you specify. WAF also provides a way to monitor and log activity so that you can track and investigate attacks.
16. AWS Control Tower
AWS Control Tower is a service that helps you set up and manage your AWS environment. Control Tower provides a central location to provision and configure your AWS resources. Control Tower also enforces best practices for security and compliance, which helps you keep your AWS environment safe and compliant.
17. Amazon Detective
Amazon Detective is a service that helps you investigate activity in your AWS environment. Detective allows you to collect data from multiple AWS accounts and services, and then uses machine learning to identify and prioritize investigations. Detective also provides a way to share investigations with other users, which helps you collaborate on investigations.
18. Amazon Shield
Amazon Shield is a service that helps you protect your web applications from attacks. Shield provides a managed DDoS protection service that helps you mitigate attacks. Shield also provides a real-time monitoring and logging service so that you can track and investigate attacks.
Conclusion:
AWS provides a variety of services to help you secure your data and infrastructure. These services can be used to control access to your AWS resources, encrypt your data, and monitor and log activity in your AWS environment. We only listed a fraction of what is made available to secure AWS environments, be sure to check out the AWS website for a full list of services.
If you are looking for more information on how to secure your AWS environment, we recommend checking out the AWS Security Best Practices whitepaper. This whitepaper provides guidance on how to secure your AWS environment and includes recommendations for identity and access management, data security, network security, and incident response.
We also recommend checking out the AWS Certified Security Specialty exam guide. This exam guide covers the topics covered in the AWS Certified Security Specialty exam and includes practice questions and study tips. BeCloud has certified Security Specialist on staff that can provide more personalized security guidance if needed.