AWS Network and Application Security
Network and application protection is a vital component of a secure environment on AWS. AWS provides multiple layers of defense to protect against various types of attacks, particularly denial of service attacks that can overwhelm your applications.
Understanding Network Attacks​
DoS Attacks​
In a denial of service attack, an attacker floods a web application with excessive network traffic. Legitimate customer requests are denied if the web application becomes overloaded and can no longer respond.
DDoS Attacks​
In a distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack, an attacker can use multiple infected computers (called zombie bots) to unknowingly send excessive traffic to a web application. These attacks are more sophisticated and harder to defend against than simple DoS attacks.
AWS Built-in Protection​
AWS provides several built-in mechanisms that help protect against network attacks:
Security Groups: Security groups only allow in proper request traffic. They operate at the AWS network level so they can shrug off massive attacks using the entire AWS Region's capacity.
Elastic Load Balancing (ELB): ELB handles traffic first before handing it off, so your frontend server is not overwhelmed. Like security groups, it runs at the Region level.
AWS Regions: The enormous capacity of Regions makes them extremely difficult to overwhelm. It would be massively expensive for attackers to achieve the scale needed to impact an entire AWS Region.
Network Security Services​
| Service Name | Logo | Key Attributes | Use Cases |
|---|---|---|---|
| AWS Shield |  | - Automatic DDoS protection for all AWS customers. - Shield Advanced provides enhanced protection. - Integrates with CloudFront, Route 53, and ELB. | - Protecting web applications from DDoS attacks. - Enhanced protection for critical applications. - Real-time attack visibility and mitigation. |
| AWS WAF |  | - Web application firewall with customizable rules. - Monitors HTTP/HTTPS requests. - IP-based and content-based filtering. | - Blocking malicious web traffic. - Preventing SQL injection and XSS attacks. - Geographic restriction of access. |
Regional Protection Architecture​
AWS's regional architecture provides inherent protection against large-scale attacks. The distributed nature of AWS infrastructure, combined with the massive capacity of each Region, creates a robust defense against even sophisticated DDoS attacks.
When you deploy applications across multiple Availability Zones within a Region, you benefit from this distributed protection while maintaining high availability for legitimate traffic.
Best Practices​
Layer Your Defenses: Use multiple security services together for comprehensive protection. For example, combine AWS Shield with AWS WAF and security groups.
Monitor and Respond: Implement monitoring to detect attacks early and have response procedures in place.
Regular Testing: Regularly test your security configurations and update rules as threat patterns evolve.
Automate Responses: Use AWS services that can automatically respond to detected threats to minimize impact.
The combination of AWS's built-in protections and the specialized security services provides a comprehensive defense against network and application-layer attacks, ensuring your applications remain available to legitimate users.