Implementing the Top 10 AWS Security Best Practices

Copyright © 2016 evident.io1
IMPLEMENTING THE TOP 10 AWS
SECURITY BEST PRACTICES
Justin Lundy, Co-Founder / CTO
Sebastian Taphanel CISSP-ISSEP, Federal Solutions Architect
6 April 2016

When we gave developers the power to
create infrastructure, security became
their responsibility, too.
Security *IS* a Shared Responsibility

AWS Shared Security Responsibility Model

Top 10 AWS Security Best Practices
1. Disable root API access key and secret key
2. Enable MFA tokens everywhere
3. Reduce number of IAM users with Admin rights
4. Use Roles for EC2
5. Least privilege: limit what IAM entities can do with
strong/explicit policies
6. Rotate all the keys regularly
7. Use IAM roles with STS AssumeRole where
possible
8. Dampen DDoS with Complementary Servcies
9. Do not allow 0.0.0.0/0 in any EC2/ELB security
group unless you mean it
10. Watch world-readable/listable S3 bucket policies
0. Enable CloudTrail Logging & Encryption
http://blog.evident.io/blog/2016/2/10/implementing-the-top-10-aws-security-best-practices

• Do this first
• You can’t get a log file if you don’t turn it on
• Consolidate logs
• Set up S3 Lifecycle
• Only enable one global region
• Encrypt everywhere
• S3
• EBS
• SSL
• Rest
• Flight
• Not only at night…
#0 - ENABLE CLOUDTRAIL LOGGING & ENCRYPTION

• “Root” account has no restrictions
• Create administrative IAM users
• Use Roles for EC2 (#4)
• Make sure billing and contact questions are filled out
• Bonus: Set up MFA on root and throw away the key!
#1 - DISABLE ROOT ACCOUNT API ACCESS KEY

#2 - ENABLE MFA TOKENS EVERYWHERE
• Provide an additional factor to the authentication step
• MFA is assigned to root account and IAM users
• Can be assigned to roles
• Physical or virtual
• Virtual has choices (Google Authenticator, Authy, etc.)

• How many people have the keys to your kingdom?
• Not just people - apps
• Review IAM policies on Users, Groups and Roles
• Remember #1
• Consider Identity Federation
#3 - REDUCE NUMBER OF IAM USERS WITH ADMIN

• Do your EC2 instances need to contact other AWS
Services?
• AWS SDKs and aws-cli support EC2 Roles
• Reduced attack surface area
• Secure DevOps on EC2
• Create an EC2 specific role
• Assign a specific policy to that role
• Launch an EC2 instance with that role
• Easy to test with aws-cli on EC2
#4 - USE ROLES FOR EC2

• Programs should operate using the least amount of privilege
to get the job done
• IAM can get very granular
• Works in tandem with #4 on EC2
• Should be applied to all automated workflows, too
• Very specific IAM policies - only allow what you mean
• IAM managed policies make this easier
• Use the IAM policy generator and policy simulator to help
#5 - LEAST PRIVILEGE

• Compromised access keys are very annoying and can cost
your business dearly
• IAM users should have keys rotated every 90 days minimum
• Mostly useful for when Roles for EC2 won’t work in automated
workflows
• Sample process:
• Track age of Access Keys
• Create new key
• Supply key to automation process
• Test
• Deactivate old key
#6 - ROTATE ALL THE KEYS REGULARLY

• Similar to EC2 Roles
• Can be used in place of privileged IAM user
Access Keys
• Temporary credentials
• Allows for 3rd parties such as Evident.io to
access your AWS accounts more securely
• Extended version of AssumeRole allows for
Identity Federation
#7 - USE IAM ROLES WITH STS ASSUME ROLE
temporary
security
credential

• AutoScaling allows you to increase number of EC2
instances automatically
• More instances means site stays up
• Small price to pay for site reliability
• You may need a temporary increase in EC2 limits
• You may need to temporarily increase desired number of
instances in ASG
• Work with AWS, they may be able to help you on the
network edge
• Add CloudFront Content Distribution
• Add WAF Rate Blacklisting w/Lambda
#8 - DAMPEN DDOS WITH COMPLEMENTARY SERVICES

• Unless you really mean it
• Like leaving the door wide open
• EC2 IP address range is a favorite for scanners
• Monitor Security Groups regularly (HINT:
Evident.io can help)
• Affects not just EC2 instances, but:
• ELBs
• RDS Database Servers
• ElastiCache Clusters
• EMR Nodes
• and others…
#9 - DO NOT ALLOW ALL IN SECURITY GROUPS

• Open S3 buckets a favorite for trolling for API
Access Keys
• Check your Bucket ACLs regularly
• Watch for all grantees, including
AuthenticatedUsers
• Check your Bucket Policies regularly
#10 - WATCH READABLE AND LISTABLE S3 BUCKETS
For more content on AWS security and compliance best
practices check out the Evident.io blog at blog.evident.io

EVIDENT SECURITY PLATFORM (ESP) FOR AWS
A cloud-native solution that automates key cloud security processes and enables consistent
enforcement of security policies, best practices and compliance requirements across an
organization’s AWS cloud infrastructure.
Continuous Visibility and Monitoring
24x7 monitoring, configuration checking & risk-based
threat analysis of all AWS Accounts, Services &
Regions.
Actionable Intelligence
Rapid response and guided remediation of security
alerts detected by ESP.
Security Automation & Integration
Manage compliance and automate security policy
enforcement across the entire AWS infrastructure.

How It Works

Closing Thoughts:
• Compliance ≠ Secure
• Think about Residual Risk!
• Keep up! Your opposition is..
• Fail Early. Fail Often.
• Embrace change
• Cloud Security is a full contact (TEAM) sport!
• A wise person seeks the counsel of many…
• Shoutout to Justin Lundy / John Martinez / John Robel

Online CloudSec Resources
http://blog.evident.io/blog/2016/2/10/implementing-the-top-10-aws-security-best-practices
https://d0.awsstatic.com/whitepapers/compliance/AWS_CIS_Foundations_Benchmark.pdf
https://d0.awsstatic.com/whitepapers/aws-security-whitepaper.pdf
https://cloudsecurityalliance.org/download/cloud-controls-matrix-v3-0-1/
https://acloud.guru/learn/aws-certified-solutions-architect-associate
https://www.isc2.org/ccsp/default.aspx
https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/topics/security/
https://cloud.google.com/security/
…?

Q & A - ANY QUESTIONS?

THANKS FOR PARTICIPATING!
SEBASTIAN TAPHANEL: SEBASTIAN@EVIDENT.IO
HTTPS://WWW.LINKEDIN.COM/IN/SEBASTIANTAPHANEL

Implementing the Top 10 AWS Security Best Practices

More Related Content

Similar to Implementing the Top 10 AWS Security Best Practices

Recently uploaded

Implementing the Top 10 AWS Security Best Practices