AWS Security Services

AWS provides a wide range of security services to help protect workloads, detect threats, manage identity, and ensure compliance. Understanding how these services work together is critical for designing a secure AWS environment.

✅ Why Use AWS Security Services? ✔ Protect sensitive data from unauthorized access. ✔ Monitor and detect threats across AWS resources. ✔ Ensure compliance with security standards (PCI DSS, HIPAA, ISO 27001). ✔ Automate security controls to reduce risks.

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📌 AWS Security Services & Their Use Cases

Category	Service	Purpose
Identity & Access Management	AWS IAM (Identity & Access Management)	Manages users, groups, roles, and policies for access control.
	AWS IAM Identity Center (SSO)	Provides centralized user authentication & role-based access.
	AWS KMS (Key Management Service)	Encrypts data at rest and in transit with cryptographic keys.
	AWS Secrets Manager	Securely stores API keys, credentials, and database passwords.
	AWS Certificate Manager (ACM)	Manages TLS/SSL certificates for secure communications.
Threat Detection & Monitoring	Amazon GuardDuty	Detects anomalies and threats using AI-based analysis.
	AWS Security Hub	Provides a centralized view of security findings from multiple AWS services.
	Amazon Macie	Identifies sensitive data exposure in Amazon S3.
	AWS Config	Tracks configuration changes and detects non-compliance.
	AWS CloudTrail	Logs all API activity and user actions for auditing.
Network & Application Security	AWS WAF (Web Application Firewall)	Protects web applications from common attacks (SQL injection, XSS).
	AWS Shield	Defends against DDoS attacks on AWS resources.
	AWS Network Firewall	Provides deep packet inspection and firewall policies.
	Amazon VPC Security (SGs & NACLs)	Restricts inbound/outbound network traffic.
	AWS Firewall Manager	Centrally manages WAF, Shield, and security policies across multiple accounts.
Compliance & Security Governance	AWS Organizations	Manages multi-account security policies via Service Control Policies (SCPs).
	AWS Artifact	Provides compliance reports and audit documentation.
	AWS Inspector	Scans EC2 instances and container workloads for vulnerabilities.
Data Protection & Encryption	AWS Backup	Automates backup and restore for AWS resources.
	AWS S3 Security Features	Includes bucket policies, encryption, MFA delete, and VPC endpoints.
	AWS Data Loss Prevention (DLP)	Ensures sensitive data is not exposed in public AWS environments.

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📌 Detailed Feature Breakdown by Category

Each section explains how SecureCart applies these services to secure its e-commerce platform.

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1️⃣ Identity & Access Management

🔹 Use Case: SecureCart implements IAM Roles instead of IAM users for its applications and enforces multi-factor authentication (MFA) for admin access.

✅ Best Practices:

• Follow least privilege access principles.

• Use IAM Identity Center (SSO) for multi-account management.

• Rotate credentials regularly using Secrets Manager.

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2️⃣ Threat Detection & Monitoring

✔ Amazon GuardDuty detects unauthorized API calls and unusual data access patterns. ✔ AWS Security Hub aggregates security alerts for real-time visibility.

🔹 Use Case: SecureCart detects suspicious login attempts from unknown locations and alerts security admins.

✅ Best Practices:

• Enable GuardDuty and CloudTrail to monitor AWS activity.

• Regularly review Security Hub findings and take remediation actions.

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3️⃣ Network & Application Security

✔ AWS WAF protects SecureCart’s APIs from injection attacks. ✔ AWS Shield mitigates DDoS threats on SecureCart’s ALB and CloudFront distribution.

🔹 Use Case: SecureCart blocks malicious bot traffic using AWS WAF rate limiting rules.

✅ Best Practices:

• Implement AWS Shield Advanced for critical applications.

• Apply strict security group rules to limit EC2 exposure.

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4️⃣ Compliance & Security Governance

✔ AWS Organizations and SCPs restrict unauthorized IAM changes. ✔ AWS Config tracks security configuration drift.

🔹 Use Case: SecureCart ensures all S3 buckets have encryption enabled using AWS Config rules.

✅ Best Practices:

• Enable AWS Config to monitor compliance continuously.

• Use AWS Artifact to download compliance reports for audits.

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5️⃣ Data Protection & Encryption

✔ AWS KMS encrypts SecureCart’s RDS database and S3 objects. ✔ AWS Backup ensures daily snapshots of production data.

🔹 Use Case: SecureCart uses CMKs (Customer Managed Keys) for critical transactions to enforce strict access control.

✅ Best Practices:

• Encrypt all storage volumes (EBS, S3, RDS, DynamoDB).

• Use MFA Delete to prevent accidental data loss.

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📌 Common Security Mistakes & How to Avoid Them

⚠ Overly permissive IAM policies → Always apply least privilege principles. ⚠ Not enabling GuardDuty or CloudTrail → Results in poor visibility into security events. ⚠ Leaving security groups open to 0.0.0.0/0 → Can lead to unauthorized access. ⚠ Not encrypting sensitive data → Use KMS & Secrets Manager for secure storage. ⚠ Not enforcing multi-factor authentication (MFA) → Increases risk of account compromise.

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🚀 Summary

✔ AWS Security Services provide multiple layers of protection for workloads. ✔ SecureCart uses IAM, GuardDuty, WAF, Shield, KMS, and Config to ensure strong security. ✔ Best practices include encryption, continuous monitoring, and least privilege access.