Securing your AWS account is critical to protect your resources and data from unauthorized access and malicious activity. In this article, we will explore best practices for securing your AWS account to help you keep your resources and data safe.
Before anything else
Use Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) for your root account
MFA is a simple but effective way to add an extra layer of security to your AWS root account. It requires users to provide a one-time code in addition to their username and password to gain access to the AWS Management Console.
You can enable MFA for your root account by going to the Security Credentials page of the AWS Management Console and selecting the “Activate MFA” button.
Create and use IAM users
Instead of using the root account credentials to access AWS, create IAM users and groups and assign them the necessary permissions to perform their tasks. This allows you to control access to resources and monitor activity.
You can create IAM users and groups by going to the IAM dashboard in the AWS Management Console.
To be quite honest, you should only start here if you do not have a source to federate authentication with like O365, Google GSuite etc. If you do have that available, you should start with setting up federated IAM roles.
Use IAM roles for applications and services
IAM roles allow you to grant permissions to AWS resources to applications and services running on EC2 instances, Lambda functions, or other resources in your account.
You can create IAM roles by going to the IAM dashboard in the AWS Management Console.
Use policies to manage permissions
AWS IAM policies are used to define permissions for IAM users, groups, and roles. Use policies to grant and revoke permissions to resources.
You can create and manage policies by going to the IAM dashboard in the AWS Management Console.
Use AWS Organizations
AWS Organizations is a service that allows you to centrally manage multiple AWS accounts. Use Organizations to create and manage policies that apply to multiple accounts and to monitor account activity.
You can enable Organizations by going to the Organizations dashboard in the AWS Management Console.
Use Amazon Virtual Private Cloud (VPC)
Amazon VPC allows you to create a virtual network in the AWS cloud. Use VPC to segment your network and control access to resources.
You can create a VPC by going to the VPC dashboard in the AWS Management Console.
Turn-key security
Enable AWS Config
AWS Config is a service that allows you to track and evaluate the configuration of your AWS resources. Use Config to ensure that your resources are configured according to your security standards and to detect changes that may indicate a security risk.
You can enable Config by going to the Config dashboard in the AWS Management Console.
Use Amazon GuardDuty
Amazon GuardDuty is a security service that uses machine learning to detect and respond to malicious activity in your AWS account. It can detect threats such as unauthorized access, data exfiltration, and reconnaissance.
You can enable GuardDuty by going to the GuardDuty dashboard in the AWS Management Console.
Enable encryption for data in transit and at rest
Encryption is an important aspect of security that helps protect your data from unauthorized access. Use the encryption services provided by AWS to encrypt data in transit and at rest.
You can enable encryption for data in transit and at rest by using services such as Amazon Elastic Block Store (EBS) for volume encryption, Amazon S3 for object encryption, and the AWS Key Management Service (KMS) for encryption key management.
Use security groups and network ACLs
Security groups and network ACLs are used to control access to resources in your VPC. Use security groups to control inbound and outbound traffic to instances and use network ACLs to control traffic to subnets.
You can create and manage security groups and network ACLs by going to the VPC dashboard in the AWS Management Console.
Use AWS Certificate Manager for SSL/TLS certificates
AWS Certificate Manager is a service that allows you to easily provision, manage, and deploy SSL/TLS certificates. Use Certificate Manager to secure connections to your resources.
Use AWS Security Hub
Ongoing Activities
Monitor your AWS account activity
AWS CloudTrail is a service that records API calls made to your account and stores the logs in an S3 bucket. Use CloudTrail to monitor and analyze account activity, including who made an API call and when.
You can enable CloudTrail by going to the CloudTrail dashboard in the AWS Management Console.
Regularly review permissions
Review permissions regularly to ensure that users and roles have the least privilege necessary to perform their tasks. Remove any permissions that are no longer needed and update permissions as needed.
You can review permissions by going to the IAM dashboard in the AWS Management Console.
References
- https://docs.aws.amazon.com/accounts/latest/reference/best-practices-root-user.html
- https://docs.aws.amazon.com/accounts/latest/reference/credentials-access-keys-best-practices.html
- https://aws.amazon.com/premiumsupport/knowledge-center/security-best-practices/