AWS Security Best Practices 2019
There are countless benefits of the Amazon Web Services cloud platform. The versatility of AWS’s IaaS and PaaS services helps businesses to make their cloud infrastructure more flexible so that they can adapt to new technological changes and advancements. The AWS cloud platform offers many benefits to its users, such as high efficiency and speed. However, it is still advisable for businesses to learn different ways to secure their AWS workloads and resources to reduce the negative effects of data breaches and security thefts.
Best AWS Security Practices
Following are some of the best practices for securing your organization's AWS environment through AWS solution architect training online:
1. Securing Aws Root Accounts
Security is a major concern for AWS platforms since most consumers are concerned about switching costs that relate to the security of their data. Your AWS root account needs to be secured in order to prevent unauthorized users from accessing it. Online hackers can easily access your AWS root account if your root API (Application Programming Interface) access is not disabled.
You can secure your AWS root account through enabling MFA (multi-factor authentication). For using MFA, users are required to create an authentication user code through an MFA device or a virtual multi-factor authentication gadget. It is also advisable not to frequently share your AWS root account with other users in order to prevent security risks.
2. Controlling Access With IAM Service
Another important issue relates to the control of access to data stored on the system. The data is the most important asset for any company and is often the chief source of its competitive strength. It also reflects the trust that users and customers place in the company’s ability to use their data responsibly.
AWS's IAM service helps businesses to control the access of resources for different groups and users in an AWS cloud environment. Through IAM, you can easily assign or grant access to users. To ensure the security of your resources, make sure to change your IAM access periodically to protect your accounts from potential data thefts. Frequent changing of credentials makes it difficult for hackers to access your confidential data stored in the cloud.
3. Ensuring Optimum Security With AWS Cloudtrail
Security is a critical factor in today’s environment, especially for companies operating in a cloud-based environment. The risk of intrusion and data theft is ever-present and organizations are under increased pressure from the law and customer expectations to be vigilant about securing their systems and data. It is important for businesses to screen their account activities to prevent any potential security threats and vulnerabilities.
In cloud computing, there is a high risk for cyberattacks as authorized users can easily make modifications to the system. In order to maintain the security of your AWS account, all activities need to be monitored and recorded to detect potential cyberattacks. Through appropriate AWS solution architect training online tools and resources, you can easily monitor and keep track of all user activities.
AWS CloudTrail is one such online service that helps to maintain transparency regarding all user activities of your AWS account by maintaining a record of your API calls and other online user activities. This ensures that any unauthorized access can be detected and thwarted. CloudTrail saves information that can be later used to find out about any undesirable changes made to the AWS account and helps to fix any security risks.
4. Unnecessary Access of AWS Resources to Users
As mentioned above, IAM can be used to control all user accounts and groups through safe and secure user access policies. At times, IT managers grant unnecessary access to AWS resources to users. This makes the system more vulnerable to cyberattacks as users, or potential hackers can easily make any inappropriate modifications or changes into the system. Therefore, to ensure protection of resources, users need to be given limited access.
5. Limited Visibility
Most of the cloud resources appear visible online only for a limited period of time. The limited visibility makes it hard for businesses to maintain a record of the resources. Such resources mostly remain online only for a couple of hours. Also, many businesses tend to use multiple online accounts for different regions. This further restricts the visibility making it hard for businesses to detect security risks.
To avoid any potential security risks, make sure to opt for such security options that provide visibility and a complete overview of multiple accounts in a single frame.
6. Inbound and Outbound Traffic
Security groups allow businesses to keep track of traffic within their AWS platform. These groups control inbound and outbound traffic for businesses. At times, cloud administrators assign broad IP ranges to security groups. Moreover, more than 80% of the resources linked with such groups do not control outbound traffic.
Therefore, it is important to control the IP ranges for security groups and limit outbound traffic to prevent security risks.
Many business organizations tend to overlook the importance of network security and fail to follow effective network security practices.
7. Unsecured Passwords
Lost or unsecured passwords are one of the main causes of online data thefts. With advanced technological tools and practices, it has become quite easy for hackers to easily access passwords of public cloud platforms. Therefore, it is crucial for businesses to take appropriate security measures to prevent such online security attacks. Business organizations can prevent security risks by creating effective credential policies. Also, multi-factor authentication must be implemented to improve cloud security in the form of access codes sent via email or mobile phone. It is advisable to enable multi-factor authentication for all online accounts that contain console passwords.
Final Word
In recent times, Amazon has introduced a number of effective security applications that can help both small and large business organizations to benefit from it. Some of the most popular security solutions offered by Amazon Web Services include the AWS CloudTrail and IAM services. Apart from these online security services offered by Amazon, business organizations also need to develop new and effective ways to determine and prevent potential online risks and maintain the security of their data in the cloud.