AWS Security Blog

How to Monitor and Visualize Failed SSH Access Attempts to Amazon EC2 Linux Instances

As part of the AWS Shared Responsibility Model, you are responsible for monitoring and managing your resources at the operating system and application level. When you monitor your application servers, for example, you can measure, visualize, react to, and improve the security of those servers. You probably already do this on premises or in other […]

How to Use AWS Organizations to Automate End-to-End Account Creation

AWS Organizations offers new capabilities for managing AWS accounts, including automated account creation via the Organizations API. For example, you can bring new development teams onboard by using the Organizations API to create an account, AWS CloudFormation templates to configure the account (such as for AWS Identity and Access Management [IAM] and networking), and service control […]

Coming Soon: Improvements to How You Sign In to Your AWS Account

Update from August 25, 2017: These improvements are now live. For more details, see Now Available: Improvements to How You Sign In to Your AWS Account. Coming soon, AWS will improve the way you sign in to your AWS account. Whether you sign in as your account’s root user or an AWS Identity and Access Management (IAM) […]

How to Configure Even Stronger Password Policies to Help Meet Your Security Standards by Using AWS Directory Service for Microsoft Active Directory

With AWS Directory Service for Microsoft Active Directory (Enterprise Edition), also known as AWS Microsoft AD, you can now create and enforce custom password policies for your Microsoft Windows users. AWS Microsoft AD now includes five empty password policies that you can edit and apply with standard Microsoft password policy tools such as Active Directory […]

How to Increase the Redundancy and Performance of Your AWS Directory Service for Microsoft AD Directory by Adding Domain Controllers

You can now increase the redundancy and performance of your AWS Directory Service for Microsoft Active Directory (Enterprise Edition), also known as AWS Microsoft AD, directory by deploying additional domain controllers. Adding domain controllers increases redundancy, resulting in even greater resilience and higher availability. This new capability enables you to have at least two domain […]

New Security Whitepaper Now Available: Use AWS WAF to Mitigate OWASP’s Top 10 Web Application Vulnerabilities

Today, we released a new security whitepaper: Use AWS WAF to Mitigate OWASP’s Top 10 Web Application Vulnerabilities. This whitepaper describes how you can use AWS WAF, a web application firewall, to address the top application security flaws as named by the Open Web Application Security Project (OWASP). Using AWS WAF, you can write rules to […]

New Information in the AWS IAM Console Helps You Follow IAM Best Practices

Today, we added new information to the Users section of the AWS Identity and Access Management (IAM) console to make it easier for you to follow IAM best practices. With this new information, you can more easily monitor users’ activity in your AWS account and identify access keys and passwords that you should rotate regularly. You can […]

How to Facilitate Data Analysis and Fulfill Security Requirements by Using Centralized Flow Log Data

I am an AWS Professional Services consultant, which has me working directly with AWS customers on a daily basis. One of my customers recently asked me to provide a solution to help them fulfill their security requirements by having the flow log data from VPC Flow Logs sent to a central AWS account. This is […]

Introducing the Self-Service Business Associate Addendum

Today, we made available a new feature in AWS Artifact (our auditing and compliance portal) that enables you to review, accept, and track the status of your Business Associate Addendum (BAA). With this new feature, you can accept the terms of a BAA online, and instantly designate an AWS account as a “HIPAA Account” for use with […]

Getting Started: Follow Security Best Practices as You Configure Your AWS Resources

After you create your first AWS account, you might be tempted to start immediately addressing the issue that brought you to AWS. For example, you might set up your first website, spin up a virtual server, or create your first storage solution. However, AWS recommends that first, you follow some security best practices to help […]