There are five pillars that make up a well-built framework, starting with operational excellence, which is how you develop and run the infrastructure; then we move onto security. As experts in DevOps, we’ve seen customers benefit from the advantages of using a well architected framework. Like being able to build and deploy faster by reducing firefighting capacity management, using automation to experiment and release value more often, lowering, or mitigating risks, and understanding the origin of risks in their architecture and addressing them before they impact their business.
Before you create any workload, you need practices that build security. While operational excellence and a well-architected framework may offer benefits such as faster deployment and risk mitigation, it is important to note that AWS security should be prioritized from the start to prevent potential breaches or data leaks. It’s important to control who can do what. In addition, you want to be able to identify security incidents, protect your systems and services, and maintain the confidentiality and integrity of data through data protection.
How do you implement these best practices in security? Well, AWS has come up with best practices for DevOps professionals:

Identity and Access Management:
You wouldn’t give the keys to your house to everyone in the building, would you? The AWS IAM (identity and access management) provides role management. Identity and access management means implementing a strong identity foundation, It enables traceability, which is logging and monitoring, and applies security on all layers, which is a defense.
IAM security plays a crucial role in securing your AWS resources. It enables you to manage user identities and their access to AWS services. To ensure a robust security posture, follow these best practices:
- Implement the principle of least privilege, granting users only the necessary permissions to perform their tasks.
- Regularly review and rotate access keys and credentials.
- Enable multi-factor authentication (MFA) for enhanced security.
- Utilize IAM roles to grant permissions to AWS services rather than using root credentials.
Secure Network Configuration
Secure network configuration is another important aspect of managing user identities and their access to AWS services. This includes setting up proper network segmentation, using firewalls and security groups to control inbound and outbound traffic, and regularly monitoring network activity for any suspicious behaviour. Additionally, it is crucial to encrypt data in transit and at rest to protect sensitive information from unauthorized access. Consider the following recommendations:
- Set up secure and private subnets using Virtual Private Cloud (VPC).
- Employ network access control lists (ACLs) and security groups to control inbound and outbound traffic.
- Implement secure remote access methods such as Virtual Private Network (VPN) or AWS Direct Connect.
- Regularly monitor and log network traffic to detect and respond to any potential security breaches promptly.
Detective controls:
Detective controls are designed to help you identify and respond to security threats. AWS security services include a range of detective controls, including CloudTrail, which provides a record of all AWS API calls and allows you to monitor activity in your AWS account. There are four most important steps to implement detective controls:
- Regularly review and analyze logs from various sources, including operating systems, applications, and network devices. Tools like Amazon CloudWatch Logs Insights can help you gain valuable insights from log data and detect anomalies.
- Implement intrusion detection and prevention systems (IDS/IPS) within your VPC to monitor network traffic and identify potential threats or attacks.
- Implement AWS Config to monitor and assess the configuration of your AWS resources continuously. Config can detect changes to configurations, flag non-compliant resources, and provide insights into potential security risks.
- Amazon GuardDuty is another detective control that uses machine learning to identify suspicious activity in your AWS account.
Encryption:
Encryption is a crucial component of a robust security strategy, ensuring that your data remains confidential and protected from unauthorized access. Here’s how you can incorporate encryption best practices into your AWS environment:
- Utilize the AWS Key Management Service (KMS) to manage encryption keys securely. KMS allows you to create, rotate, and disable encryption keys, providing you with granular control over data encryption.
- Encrypt data at rest using AWS services such as Amazon S3, Amazon EBS, and Amazon RDS. By enabling encryption at the storage level, you add an extra layer of protection to your sensitive information.
- Implement SSL/TLS encryption for data in transit. Securely transmit data between your applications and AWS services by leveraging HTTPS endpoints and SSL/TLS certificates.
- Consider client-side encryption, where you encrypt data before sending it to AWS. This provides an additional layer of security, as only authorized parties possessing the encryption keys can decrypt and access the data.
Infrastructure Protection
Infrastructure protection involves implementing security controls to protect your infrastructure from attacks. AWS provides several infrastructure protection services, including Amazon Virtual Private Cloud (VPC), which allows you to create a private network in the cloud, and AWS Shield, which provides DDoS (Distributed Denial of Service) protection for your applications running on AWS. Here are some steps you can take to add infrastructure protection:
- Regularly update and patch operating systems, software, and applications to address known vulnerabilities.
- Implement strong network segregation and security controls between different components of your infrastructure.
- Utilize AWS Trusted Advisor to continuously monitor your infrastructure’s security and make necessary optimizations.
- Enable automated backups and implement disaster recovery strategies to mitigate potential risks.
Data Protection
AWS Data protection is critical to ensuring the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of your data. AWS offers a range of data protection services, including AWS Key Management Service (KMS), which allows you to create and manage encryption keys to protect your data, and S3 Security is ensured by built-in encryption options to secure your data at rest. Here are some additional data protection measures you can consider implementing:
- Encrypt sensitive data at rest using AWS Key Management Service (KMS) or other suitable encryption mechanisms.
- Enable encryption for data in transit by leveraging Secure Sockets Layer (SSL)/Transport Layer Security (TLS) protocols.
- Regularly back up your data and test the restore process to ensure recoverability.
- Implement fine-grained access controls to prevent unauthorized access to sensitive data.
Incident Response
Incident response involves the processes and procedures that you put in place to respond to security incidents. AWS provides several incident response services, including AWS Config, which allows you to monitor and record changes to your AWS resources, and AWS CloudFormation, which allows you to create and manage a collection of AWS resources as a single unit. Note these initiatives which will help you set up incident response flow:
- Implement a centralized logging and monitoring system, such as AWS CloudTrail and Amazon CloudWatch, to detect and analyze security events.
- Set up alerts and notifications to promptly respond to security incidents.
- Establish an incident response plan with clear roles, responsibilities, and procedures.
- Regularly conduct security assessments, penetration testing, and vulnerability scanning to identify and address potential weaknesses.
Compliance
Compliance refers to the regulatory requirements and standards that your organization must adhere to. AWS offers a range of compliance services, including AWS Artifact, which provides on-demand access to AWS compliance reports and other documentation, and AWS Config Rules, which helps you ensure that your AWS resources comply with your organization’s policies and standards. Here are some measures you can keep in mind to be complaint:
- Stay informed about relevant security best practices, regulatory requirements, and compliance frameworks.
- Implement access controls and monitoring mechanisms to ensure compliance with data protection regulations.
- Regularly audit and review your security controls to identify and address any compliance gaps. Getting a compliance certificate like aws ISO 27001 for businesses is also recommended.
- Leverage AWS services like AWS Config and AWS CloudFormation to enforce and automate compliance policies.
Conclusion
Cyber security is a critical component of any cloud computing solution, and AWS recognizes this by providing a comprehensive security solution that is built on the six pillars of security. By implementing the necessary security controls and utilizing the security services and features provided by AWS, businesses can rest assured that their data and systems are secure. The AWS Security Pillar is just one of the six pillars that make up the foundation of AWS’s security strategy. Using the above-mentioned practices, you can ensure cybersecurity in AWS. In subsequent articles, we will explore the other pillars in more detail. You can read more about DevOps and related topics on our Medium blog.