Security Engineering on AWS

Overview

This course demonstrates how to efficiently use AWS security services to stay secure in the AWS Cloud. The course focuses on the security practices that AWS recommends for enhancing the security of your data and systems in the cloud. The course highlights the security features of AWS key services including compute, storage, networking, and database services. You will also learn how to leverage AWS services and tools for automation, continuous monitoring and logging, and responding to security incidents.

Target Audience

This course is intended for:

  • Security engineers
  • Security architects
  • Security operations
  • Information security

Hands-On Activity

This course allows you to test new skills and apply knowledge to your working environment through a variety of practical exercises.

 

Prerequisites

We recommend that attendees of this course have the following prerequisites:

  • AWS Cloud Practitioner Essentials
  • AWS Security Fundamentals
  • Architecting on AWS
  • Working knowledge of IT security practices and infrastructure concepts
  • Familiarity with cloud computing concepts

Learning Outcomes

In this course, you will learn how to:

  • Assimilate and leverage the AWS shared security responsibility model
  • Architect and build AWS application infrastructures that are protected against the most common security threats
  • Protect data at rest and in transit with encryption
  • Apply security checks and analyses in an automated and reproducible manner
  • Configure authentication for resources and applications in the AWS Cloud
  • Gain insight into events by capturing, monitoring, processing, and analyzing logs
  • Identify and mitigate incoming threats against applications and data
  • Perform security assessments to ensure that common vulnerabilities are patched and security best practices are applied

Course Outline

Intro

  • Welcome and introductions
  • Introduction to Security on AWS

Identifying entry points on AWS

  • Ways to access the platform
  • IAM policies
  • Securing entry points
  • Incident response

      Lab – cross-account authentication

 

Security Considerations – Web Applications

  • Security points in an AWS web application environment
  • Analyse a three-tier application model and identify common threats
  • Assess environments to improve security

Application Security

  • Securing EC2 instances
  • Assess vulnerabilities with Inspector
  • Apply security in an automated way using Systems Manager
  • Isolate a compromised instance

      Lab – Assessing Security with Inspector and Systems Manager

Securing Networking Communications – Part 1

  • Apply security best practices to VPC
  • Implement an ELB device as a protection point
  • Protect data in transit using certificates

 

Data Security

  • Protect data at rest using encryption and access controls
  • AWS services used to replicate data
  • Protect archived data

Security Considerations: Hybrid Environments

  • Security points outside of a VPC
  • Common DoS threats

Monitoring and Collecting Logs on AWS

  • Monitor events and collect logs with CloudWatch
  • Use Config to monitor resources
  • AWS-native services that generate and collect logs

      Lab – Server Log Analysis Part 1 – collect logs

 

Processing Logs on AWS

  • Stream and process logs for further analysis
  • AWS services used to process logs from S3 buckets

      Lab – Server Log Analysis Part 2 – analyse logs

 

Securing Networking Communications – Part 2

  • Identify AWS services used to connect on-premise to AWS
  • Data protection between on-premise and AWS
  • Securely access VPC resources in other accounts

Out-Of-Region Protection

  • Use Route 53 to isolate attacks
  • Implement WAF to protect applications
  • Use CloudFront to deliver content securely
  • Protect applications using Shield

Account Management on AWS

  • Manage multiple accounts
  • Use identity providers / brokers to acquire access to AWS services

      Lab – AWS Federated Authentication with ADFS

 

Security Considerations: Serverless Environments

  • How to secure data in a serverless environment
  • Use Cognito to authorize users
  • Control API access with API Gateway
  • Use AWS messaging services securely
  • Secure Lambda functions

      Lab – Monitor and Respond with Config and Lambda

 

Secrets Management on AWS

  • Manage key and data encryption with KMS
  • Describe how CloudHSM is used to generate and secure keys
  • Use Secrets Manager to authenticate applications

      Lab – Using KMS

 

Security Automation on AWS

  • Deploy security-oriented AWS environments in a reproducible manner
  • Provide management and control of IT services to end-users in a self-serve manner

      Lab – Security Automation on AWS with Service Catalog

 

Threat Detection and Sensitive Data Monitoring

  • Threat detection and monitoring for malicious or unauthorized behaviour
  • Leverage machine learning to gain visibility into how sensitive data is being managed in the AWS Cloud