AWS re:Inforce 2022: Network & Infrastructure Security track preview

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Today we’re going to highlight just some of the network and infrastructure security focused sessions planned for AWS re:Inforce. AWS re:Inforce 2022 will take place in-person in Boston, MA July 26-27. AWS re:Inforce is a learning conference focused on security, compliance, identity, and privacy. When you attend the event, you have access to hundreds of technical and business sessions, demos of the latest technology, an AWS Partner expo hall, a keynote speech from AWS Security leaders, and more. re:Inforce 2022 organizes content across multiple themed tracks: identity and access management; threat detection and incident response; governance, risk, and compliance; networking and infrastructure security; and data protection and privacy. This post describes some of the Breakout sessions, Chalk Talk sessions, Builders’ sessions, and Workshops that are planned for the Network & Infrastructure Security track. For information on the other re:Inforce tracks, see our previous re:Inforce blog posts.

Breakout sessions

These are lecture-style presentations that cover topics at all levels and delivered by AWS experts, builders, customers, and partners. Breakout sessions typically include 10–15 minutes of Q&A at the end.

NIS201: An overview of AWS firewall services and where to use them

In this session, review the firewall services that can be used on AWS, including OS firewalls (Windows and Linux), security group, NACLs, AWS Network Firewall and AWS WAF. This session covers a quick description of each service and where to use it and then offer strategies to help you get the most out of these services.

NIS306: Automating patch management and compliance using AWS

In this session, learn how you can use AWS to automate one of the most common operational challenges that often emerge on the journey to the cloud: patch management and compliance. AWS gives you visibility and control of your infrastructure using AWS Systems Manager. See firsthand how-to setup and configure an automated, multi-account and multi-region patching operation using Amazon CloudWatch Events, AWS Lambda, and AWS Systems Manager.

NIS307: AWS Internet access at scale: Designing a cloud-native internet edge

Today’s on-premises infrastructure typically has a single internet gateway that is sized to handle all corporate traffic. With AWS, infrastructure as code allows you to deploy in different internet access patterns, including distributed DMZs. Automated queries mean you can identify your infrastructure with an API query and ubiquitous instrumentation, allowing precise anomaly detection. In this session, learn about AWS native security tools like Amazon API Gateway, AWS WAF, ELB, Application Load Balancer, and AWS Network Firewall. These options can help you simplify internet service delivery and improve your agility.

NIS308: Deploying AWS Network Firewall at scale: athenahealth’s journey

When the Log4j vulnerability became known in December 2021, athenahealth made the decision to increase their cloud security posture by adding AWS Network Firewall to over 100 accounts and 230 VPCs. Join this session to learn about their initial deployment of a distributed architecture and how they were able to reduce their costs by approximately two-thirds by moving to a centralized model. The session also covers firewall policy creation, optimization, and management at scale. The session is aimed at architects and leaders focused on network and perimeter security that are interested in deploying AWS Network Firewall.

Builders’ sessions

These are small-group sessions led by an AWS expert who guides you as you build the service or product on your own laptop. Use your laptop to experiment and build along with the AWS expert.

NIS251: Building security defenses for edge computing devices

Once devices run applications at the edge and are interacting with various AWS services, establishing a compliant and secure computing environment is necessary. It’s also necessary to monitor for unexpected behaviors, such as a device running malicious code or mining cryptocurrency. This builders’ session walks you through how to build security mechanisms to detect unexpected behaviors and take automated corrective actions for edge devices at scale using AWS IoT Device Defender and AWS IoT Greengrass.

NIS252: Analyze your network using Amazon VPC Network Access Analyzer

In this builders’ session, review how the new Amazon VPC Network Access Analyzer helps you identify network configurations that can lead to unintended network access. Learn ways that you can improve your security posture while still allowing you and your organization to be agile and flexible.

Chalk Talk sessions

These are highly interactive sessions with a small audience. Experts lead you through problems and solutions on a digital whiteboard as the discussion unfolds.

NIS332: Implementing traffic inspection capabilities at scale on AWS

Join this chalk talk to learn about a broad range of security offerings to integrate firewall services into your network, including AWS WAF, AWS Network Firewall, and third-party security products. Learn how to choose network architectures for these firewalling options to help protect inbound traffic to your internet-facing applications. Also learn best practices for applying security controls to various traffic flows, such as internet egress, east-west, and internet ingress.

NIS334: Building Zero Trust from the inside out

What is a protect surface and how can it simplify achieving Zero Trust outcomes on AWS? In this chalk talk, discover how to layer security controls on foundational services, such as Amazon EC2, Amazon EKS, and Amazon S3, to achieve Zero Trust. Starting with these foundational services, learn about AWS services and partner offerings to add security layer by layer. Learn how you can satisfy common Zero Trust use cases on AWS, including user, device, and system authentication and authorization.

Workshops

These are interactive learning sessions where you work in small teams to solve problems using AWS Cloud security services. Come prepared with your laptop and a willingness to learn!

NIS372: Build a DDoS-resilient perimeter and enable automatic protection at scale

In this workshop, learn how to build a DDoS-resilient perimeter and how to use services like AWS Shield, AWS WAF, AWS Firewall Manager, and Amazon CloudFront to architect for DDoS resiliency and maintain robust operational capabilities that allow rapid detection and engagement during high-severity events. Learn how to detect and filter out malicious web requests, reduce attack surface, and protect web-facing workloads at scale with maximum automation and visibility.

NIS373: Open-source security appliances with ELB Gateway Load Balancer

ELB Gateway Load Balancer (GWLB) can help you deploy and scale security appliances on AWS. This workshop focuses on integrating GWLB with an open-source thread detection engine from Suricata. Learn about the mechanics of GWLB, build rules for GeoIP blocking, and write scripts for enhanced malware detection. The architecture relies on AWS Transit Gateway for centralized inspection; automate it using a GitOps CI/CD approach.

NIS375: Segmentation and security inspection for global networks with AWS Cloud WAN

In this workshop, learn how to build and design connectivity for global networks using native AWS services. The workshop includes a discussion of security concepts such as segmentation, centralized network security controls, and creating a balance between self-service and governance at scale. Understand new services like AWS Cloud WAN and AWS Direct Connect SiteLink, as well as how they interact with existing services like AWS Transit Gateway, AWS Network Firewall, and SD-WAN. Use cases covered include federated networking models for large enterprises, using AWS as a WAN, SD-WAN at scale, and building extranets for partner connectivity.

NIS374: Strengthen your web application defenses with AWS WAF

In this workshop, use AWS WAF to build an effective set of controls around your web application and perform monitoring and analysis of traffic that is analyzed by your web ACL. Learn to use AWS WAF to mitigate common attack vectors against web applications such as SQL injection and cross-site scripting. Additionally, learn how to use AWS WAF for advanced protections such as bot mitigation and JSON inspection. Also find out how to use AWS WAF logging, query logs with Amazon Athena, and near-real-time dashboards to analyze requests inspected by AWS WAF.

If any of the above sessions look interesting, consider joining us by registering for AWS re:Inforce 2022. We look forward to seeing you in Boston!

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