AWS Security Blog

Category: Technical How-to

Gain visibility into DDoS attacks with flow logs in AWS Shield Advanced

Reconstructing distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack traffic used to mean combining data from multiple sources after the fact. AWS Shield Advanced attack flow logs change that—they capture traffic metadata during attacks so you can pinpoint sources, verify mitigations, and feed your existing analysis pipelines. Shield publishes logs to Amazon Simple Storage Service (Amazon S3), […]

Customize federated sign-in with new Amazon Cognito Lambda trigger

You can use Amazon Cognito user pools to add sign-up and sign-in functionality to your web and mobile applications. You can authenticate users directly with Amazon Cognito managed accounts using passwords, passwordless flows, or custom authentication flows, or let users federate in through external identity providers (IdP) using SAML, OpenID Connect, or social providers such […]

Simplifying policy management with URL and Domain Category filtering on AWS Network Firewall

Network administrators face a persistent challenge: maintaining domain blocklists and allowlists that keep pace with the internet. New websites and services emerge daily, and keeping these lists current requires constant manual updates that leave gaps in coverage. This challenge intensifies when managing access to rapidly evolving categories like AI services, where new tools launch on […]

Automating identity lifecycle and security with AWS Directory Service APIs

Managing identities and access across complex environments has become more critical than ever. AWS Directory Service for Managed Microsoft Active Directory, also known as AWS Managed Microsoft AD, has added new capabilities to manage users and groups. Now, you can perform create, read, update, and delete (CRUD) operations on users and groups directly through AWS […]

Regional routing for AWS access portals: Implementing custom vanity domains for IAM Identity Center

AWS IAM Identity Center provides a web-based access portal that gives your workforce a single place to view their AWS accounts and applications. With the recent launch of IAM Identity Center multi-Region replication, customers can replicate their IAM Identity Center instance across multiple AWS Regions to improve resilience and reduce latency for a globally distributed […]

Automating post-quantum cryptography readiness using AWS Config

Migrating your TLS endpoints to Post-quantum cryptography (PQC) starts with understanding your current TLS endpoint inventory and posture. This post introduces the PQC Readiness Scanner — an automated tool that inventories your Application Load Balancer (ALB), Network Load Balancer (NLB), and Amazon API Gateway endpoints and continuously monitors their TLS configurations for PQC readiness. The […]

Five ways to use Kiro and Amazon Q to strengthen your security posture

A Monday morning security alert flags unauthorized access attempts, security group misconfigurations, and AWS Identity and Access Management (IAM) policy violations. Your team needs answers fast. Security teams are using Kiro and Amazon Q Developer to handle repetitive tasks—scanning resources, drafting policies, and researching Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVEs)—so engineers can focus on risk decisions […]

Access control with IAM Identity Center session tags

As organizations expand their Amazon Web Services (AWS) footprint, managing secure, scalable, and cost-efficient access across multiple accounts becomes increasingly important. AWS IAM Identity Center offers a centralized, unified solution for managing workforce access to AWS accounts. It simplifies authentication, enhances security, and provides a seamless user sign-in experience to AWS services across diverse environments. […]

Optimize security operations through an AWS Security Hub POC

April 27, 2026: This post was first published in September 2025 when the enhanced AWS Security Hub was in public preview. It has since been updated to reflect the general availability of Security Hub. This revision also provides a more detailed, step-by-step framework for planning your POC. AWS Security Hub prioritizes your critical security issues […]

Can I do that with policy? Understanding the AWS Service Authorization Reference

Understanding what AWS Identity and Access Management (IAM) policies can control helps you build better security controls and avoid spending time on approaches that won’t work. You’ve likely encountered questions like: Can I use AWS Organizations service control policies (SCPs) to prevent the creation of security groups that allow traffic from 0.0.0.0/0? Can I block […]