Top AWS Security Tools to Establish Robust Defense Mechanisms Against Cyber Threats

Aug 1, 2024 | Articles

The frequency of cyber threats present significant risks to organizations of all sizes. As an AWS Advanced Tier Consulting Partner, Aligned Technology Group is dedicated to strengthening your cloud environment against these evolving threats. AWS offers a comprehensive suite of security tools designed to bolster your defenses and safeguard your assets.  Here’s a look at the top AWS security tools that can serve as your arsenal against cyber threats.

1. AWS Identity and Access Management (IAM)

Securing your cloud begins with robust identity and access management. AWS IAM enables you to control user access to AWS services and resources securely. You can create and manage AWS users and groups, and use permissions to allow and deny their access to AWS resources. IAM is crucial for implementing least privilege and ensuring that individuals only have access to the resources they need for their job roles.

2. Amazon GuardDuty

Amazon GuardDuty is a threat detection service that continuously monitors for malicious or unauthorized behavior to help you protect your AWS accounts and workloads. It uses machine learning, anomaly detection, and integrated threat intelligence to identify and prioritize potential threats. GuardDuty can detect compromised instances, reconnaissance by attackers, account compromise behaviors, and more, providing detailed findings that help you take immediate remedial action.

3. AWS WAF – Web Application Firewall

AWS WAF helps protect your web applications from common web exploits that could affect application availability, compromise security, or consume excessive resources. AWS WAF gives you control over which traffic to allow or block to your web applications by defining customizable web security rules. You can protect your applications against bots, scrapers, SQL injection attacks, and cross-site scripting attacks among others.

4. Amazon Inspector

Amazon Inspector is an automated security assessment service that helps improve the security and compliance of applications deployed on AWS. Amazon Inspector automatically assesses applications for vulnerabilities or deviations from best practices. After performing an assessment, Inspector produces a detailed list of security findings prioritized by level of severity. This tool is invaluable for regular audits of your application’s security posture.

5. AWS Shield

AWS Shield is a managed Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) protection service that safeguards applications running on AWS. AWS Shield provides always-on detection and automatic inline mitigations that minimize application downtime and latency. There are two tiers available: Standard and Advanced. All AWS customers benefit from the automatic protections of AWS Shield Standard at no additional cost, while AWS Shield Advanced provides additional protection for internet-facing applications.

6. AWS Key Management Service (KMS)

AWS Key Management Service (KMS) is a managed service that makes it easy for you to create and control the encryption keys used to encrypt your data. The service uses hardware security modules (HSMs) that have been validated under FIPS 140-2, or are in the process of being validated, to protect the security of your keys. AWS KMS is integrated with other AWS services to help you protect the data you store with these services.

At Aligned Technology Group, we understand the importance of security in the cloud. Leveraging these top AWS security tools, we can help you build a comprehensive defense strategy that not only protects your infrastructure but also complies with regulatory requirements, ensuring that your data and applications are safe from cyber threats. 

Sign up today for ATG’s Catalyst program for a FREE Cloud Security Posture Assessment (CSPA) to identify misconfigurations, ensure compliance with security standards, and enforce best practices in cloud security.

For more information on how these tools can be integrated into your security strategy, contact us today. Let’s make your cloud journey safe and compliant.

 

Cost Optimization

Issue: Small AWS deployment with little management oversight and a lack of cloud skills internal to the organization moving from traditional infrastructure to SaaS and cloud based solutions.

 

What we did

  1. AWS Audit
  2. Cost Optimization Review
  3. Ongoing Monitoring

 

Result:

  • Eliminated unused storage volumes and the old application server no longer in use, the charges for AWS resulted in a savings of 51% per month.
  • We’ll continue to monitor AWS billing and finance to ensure maintenance of savings and identify other future changes.

Cost Optimization

Issue: Small AWS deployment with little management oversight and a lack of cloud skills internal to the organization moving from traditional infrastructure to SaaS and cloud based solutions.

 

What we did

  1. AWS Audit
  2. Cost Optimization Review
  3. Ongoing Monitoring

 

Result:

  • Eliminated unused storage volumes and the old application server no longer in use, the charges for AWS resulted in a savings of 51% per month.
  • We’ll continue to monitor AWS billing and finance to ensure maintenance of savings and identify other future changes.