Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2) is a powerful and scalable virtual server by Amazon Web Service. EC2 offers Infrastructure as a Service and this comes with the responsibility of ensuring its security by the customer as well as the cloud service providers. When deploying applications to EC2 there are several security measures that should be taken. I have highlighted ten best practices that should be considered when using EC2 instances to deploy your application to minimize vulnerabilities, and protect your applications and data.
Start with a secure configuration and harden the OS: When you are configuring your virtual machine, it is best practice to start with a lightweight and secure operating system images;
this will limit the attack surface and will give you major control. Use OS images like Amazon Linux 2 or Ubuntu Minimal. Harden the operating system by removing unused packages after you launch the instance.Use IAM Roles and least privilege principle: Use IAM roles to grant instances permissions to access AWS resources. Avoid using long-term credentials in your instance or creating a user with username and password for resources. Follow the Principle of Least Privilege by ensuring that roles have minimal permissions necessary to perform their tasks.
Secure SSH Access: It is best practice to use key pairs rather than passwords for SSH access. The use of security groups to allow SSH access only from trusted IP addresses or Virtual Private Networks is also important. You can also configure your EC2 instance to listen for SSH on a non-default port to make it less discoverable.
Configure Security Groups and NACL: Configure your instance security group to allow access on specific ports based on the application running on your instance and access needed. You can also restrict traffic from specific ports and IP addresses. The use of NACL as a compensating control is also important for the subnet-level traffic.
Update and Patch: Continuous updates of your operating system and patches are important to address known vulnerabilities.
Enable Monitoring: Configure your instance to send logs to CloudWatch for centralized monitoring.
Use Encryption: Activate encryption for Amazon Elastic Block Store (EBS) volumes to secure data at rest.
Conclusion
Securing your EC2 instance is an ongoing process that requires attention to detail, regular updates, and a proactive approach. By following these best practices, you can significantly reduce your attack surface and protect your resources on AWS. Stay vigilant, and always look for ways to enhance your security posture.
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