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Organizations are migrating to the cloud and accelerating their digital transformation in the 21st century. We are in an era where cyber threats constantly evolve, and attackers are getting sophisticated with their infiltration and exfiltration techniques. AWS Security Tools can be used to protect instances and AWS resources from cloud data breaches, safeguard business operations, and ensure user privacy.
Managing AWS security is difficult since resources could be run on multi-cloud, hybrid, on-premises, and other environments. However, if you have the right policies, standards, migration, and implementation strategies, you can ensure security and enforce it consistently.
Many different AWS tools help AWS customers secure their accounts and protect applications. AWS security tools can be used to improve service security as well and streamline audits and compliance.
This guide will discuss the top 10 AWS Security Tools in 2024 and provide an overview.
Designing an AWS Security Strategy
AWS security should take a layered approach and factor in all AWS resources the organization uses. It’s important to consider the following when designing a strong AWS security strategy:
- Understand your security requirements – Outline your policies, decide your budget, and ensure you document the security controls used.
- Build the environment – Use AWS security tools and create a secure environment by leveraging AWS partner solutions and professional services. This will ensure high-quality audits and third-party checks and will make enforcing new policies much easier. Define AWS configuration features and encryption requirements, including security templates and rulesets.
- Perform regular assessments – Ensure continuous support and training for auditors and ensure the capabilities AWS cloud security tools and resources provide. Evidence collection for threat analysis, querying, sorting, searching, and managing AWS resources after security evaluations are necessary.
Best AWS Security Tools in 2024
AWS Cloud Security Tools ensure comprehensive threat analysis, workload protection, and enterprise risk mitigation. It is not enough to encrypt data, and organizations need stringent compliance checks. AWS security tools restrict unauthorized access and protect AWS resources against emerging attacks in today’s evolving cloud security landscape.
Below is a complete AWS Security Tools List for your reference and a collection of the top picks for 2024.
#1. SentinelOne
#2. Amazon Inspector
Amazon Inspector offers centralized billing management, vulnerability detection, and immediate threat remediation against various cloud security threats. It easily installs on EC2 VMs and generates reports for all security inspections. It also tests the network accessibility of EC2 instances and vulnerabilities and is used for automated, comprehensive security assessments during the development and production cycles.
Features:
- Integrates with DevOps security and makes automated security assessments during the deployment process
- Exclusive web scoring system that assigns a risk level to threats and prioritizes them categorically
- Allows users to write customized rules and filter out findings for optimal system integrity
- Can integrate with EventBridge and AWS Security Hub and provide timely alerts.
Pricing:
Amazon Inspector Classic pricing starts at USD 0.3 per agent assessment for 1 month and comes with a 15-day free trial period for evaluating its services.
#3. AWS Web Application Firewall
AWS Web Application Firewall monitors HTTP and HTTPS requests and safeguards enterprises from distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks on AWS resources. It offers advanced protection across Amazon accounts and even has an application load balancer. AWS WAF allows users to control access to their content and specify conditions for authorized access and appropriate threat mitigation.
Features:
- Runs CAPTCHA challenge checks for requests and lets users define custom criteria for reviews and approvals
- Shields against DDoS, web attacks, and cross-site scripting threats
- It can block access requests to endpoints and enables rate-limiting
- Monitors APIs built and deployed on the API Gateway, CloudFront, and AppSync
Pricing:
AWS Web Application Firewall pricing is determined based on the number of web access control lists users create. There are no fixed quotes.
#4. AWS Secrets Manager
AWS Secrets Manager lets users store and access sensitive information like credentials, passwords, tokens, certificates, and other secrets. It enables fine-grained permissions and lets users perform actions on different entities. Users can also store information on source control management systems, and it is one of the best AWS security tools to exist.
Features:
- Encrypts secrets at rest using encryption keys and stores them in the AWS Key Management Service (AWS KMS)
- Integrates with AWS Identity and Access Management (IAM) service and controls access to resource-based policies and custom IAM policies
- Automatically rotates secrets without disrupting applications on-demand using the Secrets Manager Console, AWS CLI, or AWS SDK.
- Can modify sample Lambda functions and rotate secrets using other AWS and 3P services
Pricing:
Pricing starts at USD 0.4 per secret per month. Replica secrets are also billed at USD 0.4 per replica per month. For 10,000 API calls, the fee is USD 0.05, and for storing large volumes of secrets, organizations will be charged customized quotes.
#5. AWS Artifact
AWS Artifact is one of the world’s largest cloud platforms to include AWS security tools and services. It allows users to host applications securely and offers over 200 fully functional services from worldwide data centers. It has a self-service audit artifact retrieval portal and generates online agreements and security and compliance reports.
Features:
- Offers identity and access control tools along with real-time security information monitoring
- Downloads AWS ISO certifications, PCI and SOC reports, and more
- Implements IAM policies, audits accounts, and delegates permissions through whitelisting
Pricing:
Pricing is not specified, and buyers must contact the vendor directly.
#6. AWS GuardDuty
Amazon GuardDuty is an intelligent threat detection service that scans for malicious activities and anomalous behaviors on networks. It protects AWS workloads, accounts, and data and can mitigate various threats by automating responses. AWS GuardDuty can also monitor AWS accounts, serverless and container workloads, instances, and databases and it is one of the best AWS security tools.
Features:
- Protects AWS accounts and workloads
- Prevents reconnaissance by attackers and detects compromised instances for effective threat remediation
- Continuously monitors for anomalous behaviors and malicious activities
Pricing:
Pricing is not specified, and buyers must contact the vendor directly.
#7. AWS CloudHSM
AWS CloudHSM is one of the few AWS security tools that manage cloud-based hardware security modules, manage HSMs, and set permissions. It secures encryption keys backed by FISP-validated HSMs and offers cryptographic services that provide specialized security.
Features:
- Generates and uses encryption keys on AWS Cloud
- Performs cryptographic operations
- Adheres to the latest regulatory compliance requirements
- Integrates with custom applications, industry-standard APIs, and AWS-managed infrastructure services
Pricing:
There are no upfront costs. Fees are charged based on hourly usage or until the user terminates AWS CloudHSM services
#8. AWS CloudWatch
AWS CloudWatch monitors container management services like Amazon Elastic Container Service (ECS), AWS Fargate, Amazon ECS for Kubernetes (EKS), and other AWS security tools and services. It performs historical analysis and gives real-time insights for optimizing cloud resources, applications, and AWS infrastructure services. CloudWatch integrates seamlessly with AWS Identity and Access Management (IAM), is FedRamp and PCI compliant, and encrypts data at rest for enhanced compliance and security.
Features:
- Gives actionable insights, enhanced visibility into metrics, and logs data
- Monitors containerized applications, sends alerts, and troubleshoots microservices
- Helps DevOps engineers isolate instances and resolve issues securely
- Creates reusable graphs and visualization and offers unified operational views with centralized dashboards
Pricing:
AWS CloudWatch charges users at the end of every month according to their overall usage, and there are no fixed pricing commitments.
#9. AWS CloudTrail
AWS CloudTrail is a top AWS security tool enabling real-time auditing, security monitoring, and analysis. It troubleshoots operations, records user activities, and manages API calls across various AWS services. There is no need for any manual setup; it also records management events.
Features:
- CloudTrail Lake runs SQL-based queries on activity logs for effective audits.
- Consolidates activity events across AWS environments and from outside sources
- Powerful data compliance, multi-regional account configurations, and events storage
Pricing:
Amazon CloudTrail has a free trial, and pricing depends on the organization’s size and storage requirements.
#10. Amazon Security Lake
Amazon Security Lake enhances data transparency and visibility for all organizations and improves their overall security posture. It can analyze data across SaaS providers, AWS environments, on-premises infrastructures, and cloud sources. Amazon Security Lake is a top AWS security tool backed by the Amazon Simple Storage Service (S3).
Features:
- Multiple levels of access for subscribers, centralized security data management, and resource logging
- Improves security posture, protects workloads, data, and web applications
- Incident response and prevention, analytics, and OCSF support
- Integrates with various AWS and third-party services
Pricing:
Amazon Security Lake pricing is customizable and depends on two factors – data ingestion and data conversions. Extra costs may be incurred from other AWS services depending on how users store and share their data with the Security Lake service.
How to Choose the Best AWS Security Tool for Your Business?
AWS Security Tools for businesses have many options, and finding the right products for your enterprise can be challenging. Amazon Web Services (AWS) follows a shared responsibility model and integrates with various AWS resources. It’s important to seek adequate coverage and ensure that cloud security tools in AWS do not compromise on the following areas:
- Data protection: AWS security tools and services should be capable of protecting cloud workloads, accounts, and data from unauthorized access. These services include encryption at rest, encryption key management, and access restriction policies.
- Identity and access management: Identifying and restricting user access and service privileges where needed is important. Cloud security tools in AWS should also have proper access controls and the ability to implement the principle of least privilege access.
- Continuous monitoring and support: AWS cloud security tools should enable continuous monitoring in real-time, identify threats, and track system events. Features like sending user alerts, auditing, event logging, and behavioral analytics are essential. There should also be 24/7 support, and the customer service team should be responsive to all users to resolve queries quickly.
- Compliance and data privacy: These services must enforce compliance and meet the latest regulatory standards. This ensures that organizations do not suffer from lawsuits in the future and are not at the risk of emerging data breaches. Good AWS security tools always include automated encryption services and compliance checks at regular intervals.
Conclusion
It can be challenging to know where to start, but these AWS Security Tools will help you get started. They include the best features and are powered by Artificial Intelligence, so you get state-of-the-art security evaluations and comprehensive analytics. After running assessments, you can set benchmarks for your security and see how your company fairs in its current security standing. Customize them according to your preferences, and feel free to switch solutions or incorporate multiple components as needed.
