When it comes to choosing between the AWS and Azure security engineer certification, many professionals don’t seem to get around choosing between these two. Both of these certifications cater to the same technical ailments; whether it is for the Azure or AWS systems, the only difference arises between the infrastructure as both AWS and Azure systems have different technicalities. Both host data on their own infrastructure and that is where the significant difference occurs. Other than that both offer the same knowledge such as managing, implementing, and designing the architecture of the cloud but in accordance with their respective cloud architecture.
AWS vs Azure security: A General Comparison
Both of these platforms deal with different aspects of cloud security in accordance with the customized services they provide according to the technicalities of their respective platform. Following are some of the element regarding which both AWS and Azure security can be compared with each other;
Identity and access management
This is a relatively important aspect of cloud security seen from a customer's perspective, but both these cloud computing systems offer a little different approach to identity and access management. As far as Azure is concerned, it comes with three different paid tiers regarding identity and access management, but you can always use the free tier for the time being.
On the other hand, AWS offers a cloud-centric identity and access management, and it is free from additional charges as well. This very IAM supports the rapid management of cloud environments.
Start a 30-day FREE TRIAL with InfoSecAcademy.io and get a rewarding career.
Key-based data encryption
The key-based data encryption regarding both the AWS and Azure systems bring the AWS KMS and Azure key vault into the question. Data encryption is offered both in transit and in rest too; both these tools also have a dedicated option for key management, it means that you can add/remove and change the keys whenever required. But it is better if you get total control over the encryption and management keys in some cases such as if you want to hold onto the sensitive corporate data.
A hardware security module can better help you do that, in the case of the Azure systems, you can find the HSM within the Key vault. However, in the case of the AWS systems, both the KMS service and the cloud HSM services happen to be separate. A thrilling aspect here is that the pricing for both of these is almost the same which means that you won’t have any problem choosing one over the other due to price.
Encryption or storage of the data
Another critical aspect that needs to be accounted for when choosing the right certification is the encryption and storage of the data. It means that object-oriented encryption is something that must be brought to attention because it is an extremely critical aspect when choosing a certain cloud-based platform. S3, which is the simple storage service on Amazon and Blob on the Azure systems provides practical support regarding the encryption of the data with proper keys.
AWS provides the customers to be in charge of their keys such as managing them and securing them, this is a far more appreciable feature as this way you can customize the whole key vault on AWS systems according to your discreet requirements. On the other hand, Azure doesn't have such a feature onboard just yet and it is going to take some time before it gets introduced as well. AWS wins the round here as it provides better customization support to the customers when it comes to managing their data or taking care of their encryption keys.
VPN
VPN or virtual proxy network is an important factor to consider, especially when you are aiming to connect with the private cloud systems and transferring data between the public cloud and a data center. AWS provides its customers with rigid access to the VPN services so that the security of the data can be ensured when in transit and also when it has been transferred.
On the other hand, Azure provides the same feature but a general difference arises while understanding the security architecture for both of these; such as AWS offers a dedicated VPN connection that has two distinct layers of security while Azure provides a VPN service that has 3 different security layers, to begin with. It means that it is more secure and more apparent to be used for secured data transfer.
Monitoring
Monitoring and effective oversight prove to be an essential tool for enforcing security to the cloud. CloudWatch is the monitoring service provided by the AWS systems that means you will be able to monitor incoming and outgoing traffic to ensure the security of the network remains intact as well as making sure that all the data that is being stored or transferred is using the best encrypting definition at all times.
On the other hand, when it comes to Azure, it provides service monitoring and application monitoring separately. The service monitoring side can monitor each and every service, but the application monitoring can only take care of the running applications. The features that are offered in terms of AWS and Azure are nearly similar and only have a little to no difference whatsoever.
So, these are the technical elements that you will have to deal with regarding your choice for the AWS systems. Make sure that you understand the technical elements from both dedicated cloud providers, can you manage the Azure systems more profoundly or the AWS security architecture sounds more amusing? This is something that you have to decide for yourself before you can make up your mind to go with either of these. The Microsoft Azure Security training can help you in passing the examination and thus securing a consistent and highly paid job in this regard.
Talk to our experts and get more information on which certification should you take to start or advance your information security career.