AWS Security Tools: How AWS Can Help You Secure Your Data, Identity, and Assets

The cloud security market is projected to grow 222.41 percent from 2024 to 2029 [1]. This dramatic growth comes as organizations prioritize their cybersecurity efforts alongside their increased reliance on technology to help keep them protected against potential risks. Implementing cybersecurity in the cloud presents unique challenges compared to traditional infrastructure, making it important to have tools in place specifically designed for cloud security. Amazon Web Services (AWS) helps address these challenges by providing cloud security solutions to minimize risk and safeguard your data and networks.

Explore the different areas AWS cloud security tools cover and the various services you can use to help keep your information safe in the cloud.

What is AWS cloud security?

AWS cloud security includes various tools and protocols to help you keep your information secure within the cloud. This doesn’t void you, the end user, of all responsibility, as it’s still important to maintain secure practices when operating in the cloud. However, you can ultimately trust that the cloud infrastructure you’re using is well protected when using AWS. AWS cloud security benefits you by:

• Automating security so you can minimize the risk of human error and spend more time focusing on other important tasks

• Providing end-to-end solutions with a wide range of tools available that you can use to keep all areas secure

• Supporting scalability so that as your cloud infrastructure needs grow, your security system grows with you

Challenges associated with cloud security

Cloud security faces cyber threats such as phishing, data breaches, and malware, which you can see in other cybersecurity landscapes. Some of the challenges in cloud security, however, are uniquely applicable to the cloud. For example, because you generally access cloud services through a third party, it’s difficult to see who’s accessing your data. Additionally, since cloud services are available through the internet, it can make it easier for attackers to gain unauthorized access from any device. 

AWS security tools for cloud infrastructure

AWS offers 33 security services, covering five domains: identity and access management, detection and response, data protection, compliance and auditing, and network and application protection. This way, you can ensure you have comprehensive protection spanning every area of cloud security. Take a look at the uses for these five areas and examples of AWS security tools for each.

1. Identity and access management

AWS identity and access management services help you govern your cloud resources, with access control and identity management capabilities that you can use to determine access and ensure users can only access the data they need.

Amazon Cognito

Amazon Cognito allows you to control user sign-up and sign-in for mobile and web applications. For simple integration with your application, you can use Cognito on a wide range of frameworks, such as .NET, Java, Angular, Python, and many more.

AWS IAM Identity Center

You can integrate your current identity management source with AWS IAM Identity Center to scale your access control across applications and manage user accessibility to your different apps from a centralized location.

2. Detection and response

AWS uses detection and response services in conjunction with one another to identify security risks and respond quickly to alerts so you can promptly remediate any issues. Detection and response services can highlight weak points, such as exposed or misconfigured cloud resources, to minimize vulnerabilities.

Amazon GuardDuty

GuardDuty uses the power of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) to continuously monitor and detect security threats, as well as automated analysis for efficient and effective threat response, minimizing the amount of disruption they cause.

Amazon Detective

Through statistical analysis and machine learning, Amazon Detective transforms your AWS log data into a data set that you can further use for analysis and visualizations to help highlight and learn about possible security issues and how to address them.

3. Data protection

AWS offers various data protection services, developing solutions that address your specific data protection needs. With AWS data protection, you can control who has access to your data, what they can use it for, and the encryption behind it. You may also set privacy controls for data collection and storage.

Amazon Macie

Amazon Macie uses ML to identify potential risks in your data and automatically implement protective measures to keep it secure. This tool can help safeguard your sensitive data even during data migration.

AWS Payment Cryptography

For your cloud payment applications, AWS Payment Cryptography helps meet payment card industry compliance standards while providing cryptographic functions that scale accordingly to your business.

4. Compliance and auditing

Through automated compliance and auditing, you can ensure that your AWS resources comply with regulations and identify and address any areas of noncompliance before they cause problems. AWS security tools also help you prepare for audits through internal monitoring and reporting.

AWS Audit Manager

You can accurately and proactively monitor your risk and compliance in the cloud through AWS Audit Manager. This service allows you to automate evidence collection and implement your internal risk assessments.

AWS Artifact

AWS Artifact allows you to access your compliance reports within a self-service portal. You can also access independent software vendor compliance reports to assess the security of third-party providers. 

5. Network and application protection

As you build out your network and its various applications, network and application protection enables you to implement precise security measures at all network control points. This provides traffic visibility throughout the network and protects against data theft or unauthorized access.

AWS Firewall Manager

With AWS Firewall Manager, you centralize your firewall management rules throughout all your AWS accounts in one location. This makes it easier to enforce group rules and policies and deploy tools at scale.

AWS Shield

AWS Shield protects against denial-of-service (DoS) attacks through automated detection and mitigation, and different forms of attacks such as User Datagram Protocol (UDP) floods and SYN floods.

How to choose the right AWS security tool for your cybersecurity needs

When choosing the right AWS security tool for your needs, it’s essential to consider factors such as who will require access, what they will need access to, and where they will be gaining access. You can consider implementing AWS security tools from across the five domains for strong cloud security protection. Combining these services will allow you to stay well protected against threats while also maintaining compliance with regulatory standards. To ensure you’re selecting the right AWS security tools for your needs, you can explore AWS Decision Guides.

Learn about cloud security tools on Coursera

You can use AWS security tools to control access management, protect your data, and ensure compliance in the cloud. On Coursera, you will find highly rated courses to learn about cloud security tools. Earn an AWS Cloud Solutions Architect Professional Certificate, where you have the opportunity to learn about AWS skills in a variety of services, including security, and work with AWS identity and access management. You can also enroll in the AWS Fundamentals Specialization. In this program, you’ll be able to develop skills in cloud security, data migration, cloud computing architecture, and more.