AWS (Amazon Web Services) had their first security focused conference this year. It was basically an opportunity for AWS to release security related products and features but also create a gathering for security minded practitioners and those looking to consume security related information around AWS products.
If you have multiple AWS accounts, you more than likely are using AWS Organizations. A continually maturing feature of AWS Organizations is AWS Service Control Policies (SCP), which allows you to apply IAM like policies at the organizational level. This does require you to have your AWS Organizations, well, organized (excuse the pun) into OU's…
AWS Secrets Manager provides a way for you to store and retrieve secrets securely. They provide a really nice tutorial to help you get started. Looking to test and integrate this from the command line, I wanted to see how this extraction works and how it would look like if an application or wrapper was…
This article was born out of years of frustrations waiting for traditional SIEM providers to catch up to the cloud. If you are a SIEM vendor this is for you. If you are looking for a SIEM vendor, these are tips to help you make a good and informed decision to last for your organization.
Baby Steps In security we often want to boil the ocean! Rebuilding a roof is a series of small steps. Each one significant and built upon on the other. First the rafters, eaves, and fascia. Then the plywood and flashing. Afterwards paper and then finally the shingles. Each one building on the other. Each one…
Measure Twice, Cut Once! Yes folks... This. Is. So. True. I saw 21.5" but actually measured 20.5"! Blame fatigue, blurry lines, lack of coffee, whatever... if I would have taken an extra second to double check my measurements I would have had a good piece of wood and not an addition to the scrap pile. When pushing your security…
Gaps are OK, As Long As You Have Compensating Controls Gaps in your roof can be concerning. To an untrained eye, that gap is a BIG problem. Could water get in there? Shouldn't it be tightly connected? What if...? Alone in a vacuum... IT IS! However, with patience, wisdom, and experience we understand that gaps can be…
Friends are great, but they'll only get you so far I had a hard time getting my project off the ground. First I needed to demo the existing roof. Tried it myself and found it to be a little arduous with no end in sight. Didn’t help I didn’t have the right tools either. After…
So you successfully ran Trusted Advisor, Scout2, Access Advisor, or hired an external firm to audit your AWS accounts? You found that the co-founder is still logging in using root keys and that you have security groups allowing 0.0.0.0/0 access from the internet. Not to mention the 20 developers offshore that are sharing the same IAM user and access keys. Oops!
Wait… Who Are You Again? A couple weeks ago, when logged into a website provider's admin panel, I found a strange user in my account with admin rights that I did not recognize! As you can imagine, this triggered all my alarms. I took a screenshot, removed their access, looked them up on LinkedIN, and…
Securing your application is not hard. Securing it in a completely new environment, without knowing the rules of the road, is. Take the time to learn the rules of the road and avoid cloud security speedbumps or accidents. Cloud Responsibly.
