Tutorial / Cram Notes
For Amazon Relational Database Service (Amazon RDS), encryption can be enforced at rest using AWS Key Management Service (KMS) and in-transit using SSL. When creating a new RDS instance:
- Enable the “Enable encryption” option in the AWS Management Console.
- Select an encryption key from AWS KMS to encrypt your databases.
- Enforce SSL connections by setting the
rds.force_sslparameter to 1 in the DB parameter group associated with the RDS instance.
Example AWS CLI command to modify the DB parameter group:
aws rds modify-db-parameter-group –db-parameter-group-name <parameter-group-name> \
–parameters “ParameterName=rds.force_ssl,ParameterValue=1,ApplyMethod=immediate”
Amazon Redshift
Encryption in Amazon Redshift can also be enforced at rest and in-transit:
- At the point of Redshift cluster creation, enable the “Encryption” option and select a KMS key for at-rest encryption.
- To enforce SSL for in-transit encryption, enable the ‘require_SSL’ parameter using the AWS Management Console or the modify-cluster-parameter-group API action.
Example CLI command:
aws redshift modify-cluster-parameter-group –parameter-group-name <parameter-group-name> \
–parameters “ParameterName=require_SSL,ParameterValue=true,ApplyType=immediate”
Amazon CloudFront
CloudFront supports HTTPS for encrypted content delivery:
- Configure the distribution to require HTTPS by selecting “Redirect HTTP to HTTPS” or “HTTPS Only” for the Viewer Protocol Policy.
- Use AWS Certificate Manager (ACM) to provision SSL/TLS certificates for your CloudFront distribution.
Amazon S3
To enforce encryption at rest in S3:
- Apply bucket policies that deny any S3 PUT requests that do not include the
x-amz-server-side-encryptionheader. - Use default bucket encryption to ensure all new objects are encrypted when stored.
Example S3 bucket policy to enforce encryption:
{
“Version”: “2012-10-17”,
“Id”: “EnforceSSE”,
“Statement”: [
{
“Effect”: “Deny”,
“Principal”: “*”,
“Action”: “s3:PutObject”,
“Resource”: “arn:aws:s3:::your-bucket-name/*”,
“Condition”: {
“StringNotEquals”: {
“s3:x-amz-server-side-encryption”: [“AES256”, “aws:kms”]
}
}
}
]
}
Amazon DynamoDB
For DynamoDB:
- Enable encryption at rest using the default DynamoDB KMS encryption or select your own CMK from KMS.
- Enforce in-transit encryption by using the SDK to establish a secure connection (the SDK uses HTTPS by default).
Load Balancers
Application Load Balancers (ALB) and Classic Load Balancers (CLB) support SSL/TLS:
- Add an HTTPS listener to your load balancer and select an SSL certificate managed by ACM or provide your own certificate.
- Use security policies to determine the strength of the ciphers and protocols used by the Load Balancer.
Amazon Elastic File System (Amazon EFS)
Amazon EFS supports encryption at rest and in-transit:
- Enable at-rest encryption by selecting the option during file system creation.
- For in-transit encryption, mount the EFS file system using TLS by specifying the “tls” option with the mount helper.
Amazon API Gateway
To secure communication to and from API Gateway:
- Enable endpoint encryption by setting up TLS termination with ACM certificates.
- Set up a resource policy on the API Gateway to accept only HTTPS traffic.
Each of these services comes with detailed AWS documentation that specifies how to enable and enforce encryption settings. By ensuring these mechanisms are in place, one will align with AWS security best practices and meet a core competency area for the AWS Certified Security – Specialty (SCS-C02) exam. By employing the above strategies, you will enhance the security posture of your AWS environment by requiring encryption across various touchpoints.
Practice Test with Explanation
True or False: Amazon RDS supports encryption of data at rest using AWS managed or customer-managed keys.
- 1) True
Answer: True
Explanation: Amazon RDS supports encryption of data at rest with Amazon RDS encryption using AWS Key Management Service (KMS) for managing the keys.
When enabling encryption on Amazon S3, which types of encryption can be used? (Select TWO)
- a) Client-side encryption
- b) SSH encryption
- c) Server-side encryption with Amazon S3 managed keys (SSE-S3)
- d) Server-side encryption with AWS KMS managed keys (SSE-KMS)
Answer: a, d
Explanation: Amazon S3 supports both client-side encryption and server-side encryption with AWS KMS managed keys (SSE-KMS). SSH is not an encryption method used by Amazon S
True or False: It is possible to enforce encryption in transit for Amazon DynamoDB by enabling the “Enforce SSL” option.
- 1) True
Answer: True
Explanation: DynamoDB allows users to enforce encryption in transit by enabling the “Enforce SSL” option, which requires SSL/TLS connections.
For Amazon EFS, how can you ensure data is encrypted in transit? (Select ONE)
- a) Use the AWS KMS
- b) Enable HTTPS on the EFS mount targets
- c) Mount the file system using the EFS mount helper with the TLS option
- d) Encrypt data on the client side before uploading
Answer: c
Explanation: To ensure data is encrypted in transit with Amazon EFS, you should mount the file system using the EFS mount helper with the TLS option.
True or False: CloudFront supports HTTPS for both viewer connections and origin fetches.
- 1) True
Answer: True
Explanation: CloudFront supports HTTPS for secure connections between viewers and CloudFront and also to securely fetch content from the origin.
When configuring a load balancer to use HTTPS, what do you need in addition to enabling encryption settings? (Select ONE)
- a) A custom domain
- b) An SSL/TLS certificate
- c) A dedicated IP address
- d) AWS KMS
Answer: b
Explanation: When configuring a load balancer to use HTTPS, you need to provide a valid SSL/TLS certificate for the encrypted connections.
True or False: Amazon API Gateway does not support endpoint configurations for both HTTP and HTTPS.
- 1) False
Answer: False
Explanation: Amazon API Gateway supports endpoint configurations for both HTTP and HTTPS, giving users the option to enforce encryption when necessary.
Can Amazon Redshift be configured with an encrypted connection using SSL/TLS for data in transit? (Select ONE)
- a) No, Redshift does not support encrypted connections
- b) Yes, but only for certain instance types
- c) Yes, Redshift supports SSL/TLS encrypted connections for data in transit
- d) Yes, but only within a VPC
Answer: c
Explanation: Amazon Redshift supports encrypted connections using SSL/TLS to secure data in transit for all instance types and configurations.
True or False: It is not possible to enforce HTTPS connections to Amazon S3 buckets.
- 1) False
Answer: False
Explanation: It is possible to enforce HTTPS connections to Amazon S3 buckets by using Bucket Policies to deny HTTP requests and allow only HTTPS requests.
When using Amazon DynamoDB, which of the following methods ensure encryption at rest? (Select TWO)
- a) Using Amazon Macie
- b) Enabling encryption at rest within DynamoDB settings
- c) Using SSE-KMS
- d) Using the AWS CLI to apply encryption after table creation
Answer: b, c
Explanation: Enabling encryption at rest within DynamoDB settings and using Server-Side Encryption with AWS KMS-managed keys (SSE-KMS) are both valid methods for ensuring encryption at rest in DynamoDB.
True or False: Elastic Load Balancing does not provide integrated certificate management to automatically handle the renewal and deployment of SSL/TLS certificates.
- 1) False
Answer: False
Explanation: AWS Elastic Load Balancing integrates with AWS Certificate Manager (ACM), which can manage the renewal and deployment of SSL/TLS certificates automatically.
Can you force all requests to an API created with Amazon API Gateway to use HTTPS by setting up a custom domain name and associating an SSL certificate? (Select ONE)
- a) Yes
- b) No, API Gateway does not support custom domain names
- c) No, API Gateway cannot force the use of HTTPS
- d) No, SSL certificates are not supported by API Gateway
Answer: a
Explanation: By setting up a custom domain name and associating an SSL certificate within Amazon API Gateway, you can force all requests to that API to use HTTPS.
Interview Questions
What service would you use to manage the keys used for encrypting RDS databases and how does it integrate with RDS?
AWS Key Management Service (AWS KMS) is used to manage keys for encrypting RDS databases. AWS RDS integrates with KMS by allowing you to select a customer master key (CMK) when creating or modifying a database instance to manage encryption keys and enable encryption-at-rest.
How can you enforce HTTPS connections to an Amazon S3 bucket?
You can enforce HTTPS connections to an Amazon S3 bucket by configuring a bucket policy that denies any HTTP requests and only allows HTTPS requests. You can use the aws:SecureTransport condition in the bucket policy to enforce this.
Can you enable encryption on an existing Amazon EFS file system, and if so, how?
As of the last update prior to my knowledge cut-off in 2023, you cannot enable encryption on an already existing Amazon EFS file system. Encryption at rest needs to be enabled when you create the EFS file system.
When managing encryption for Amazon DynamoDB, what are the key differences between AWS managed CMKs and customer managed CMKs?
With AWS managed CMKs, the key management and rotation is handled by AWS, and the key policy is not configurable. For customer managed CMKs, the user has control over the key management and rotation, and the key policy can be tailored to meet specific requirements.
In AWS, how can you ensure that all data in transit to an Elastic Load Balancer is encrypted?
To ensure encryption in transit to an Elastic Load Balancer, you would configure the load balancer to accept only secure listeners (e.g., HTTPS for Application Load Balancers or TLS for Network Load Balancers) and redirect or reject any insecure requests (e.g., HTTP).
For services that do not support AWS KMS, like Amazon API Gateway, how can you manage encryption for data at rest?
For Amazon API Gateway, you can enable encryption by configuring it with Amazon S3 for storing logs and ensuring that S3 buckets have encryption enabled. Additionally, for the integration with other AWS services that are handling the data, make sure that they are all configured to use encryption with AWS KMS.
How can you enforce encryption at transit when using Amazon Redshift?
To enforce encryption in transit when using Amazon Redshift, you can configure Redshift to require SSL connections for all clients by setting the require_SSL parameter to true in the parameter group associated with your Redshift cluster.
What AWS service would you use to enforce encryption at the field level in DynamoDB and why?
AWS recommends using AWS KMS to manage encryption keys, coupled with client-side encryption for sensitive data before writing to DynamoDB. This approach encrypts specific sensitive fields of your data before it leaves your application and hits the database.
How does AWS CloudFront serve content securely using encryption?
AWS CloudFront can serve content securely by using HTTPS for both viewer requests and origin fetches. You can configure CloudFront to require HTTPS communication and to use AWS Certificate Manager (ACM) to handle SSL/TLS certificates for your custom domain names.
What mechanism does Amazon RDS use to protect data in transit?
Amazon RDS uses SSL (Secure Socket Layer) to protect data in transit. RDS instances support SSL encryption to ensure secure data transfer between the database instance and the client applications.
How do you ensure data encryption for Amazon Elastic File System (EFS) and what is the significance of the KMS key policy in this context?
When creating an Amazon EFS file system, you can enable encryption at rest by selecting the AWS KMS CMK to be used. The significance of the KMS key policy is to define the permissions as to who can use the key to encrypt and decrypt data, providing granular access control over the encrypted data in EFS.
Can you force all future Amazon S3 buckets in an account to be created with encryption by default, and if so, how would you do this?
Yes, you can enforce all future Amazon S3 buckets to be created with encryption by using a service control policy (SCP) applied at the AWS organization or account level. The SCP should mandate server-side encryption by denying S3 bucket creation requests that do not include encryption settings.
Great post on requiring encryption when connecting to AWS resources! This is crucial for securing data in transit.
How do we enforce encryption for Amazon S3 buckets?
Can someone explain the difference between TLS and SSL in the context of AWS load balancers?
Thanks for the information!
Appreciate the detailed guide on encryption!
How does Amazon API Gateway support TLS?
It’s essential to use HTTPS when configuring Amazon CloudFront distributions to secure data in transit.
What methods are available to enforce TLS for Amazon RDS?