Post Syndicated from Reetesh Surjani original https://aws.amazon.com/blogs/security/how-to-accelerate-security-finding-reviews-using-automated-business-context-validation-in-aws-security-hub/

Security teams must efficiently validate and document exceptions to AWS Security Hub findings, while maintaining proper governance. Enterprise security teams need to make sure that exceptions to security best practices are properly validated and documented, while development teams need a streamlined process for implementing and verifying compensating controls.

In this blog post, we show you an automated solution that’s ideal for organizations using AWS Security Hub that need to manage security exceptions at scale while maintaining governance controls. It’s particularly valuable for enterprises that have complex compliance requirements and multiple development teams. By implementing this solution, you can accelerate the Security Hub findings review process while maintaining proper security governance and providing clear business context for security exceptions.

Note: The solution in this post is provided as a reference architecture and should not be implemented as-is in production environments. Organizations must thoroughly review, customize, and enhance this solution to align with their specific security requirements, compliance frameworks, governance policies, and risk tolerance. Engage with your security, compliance, and legal teams before deploying this automated security validation solution.

The challenge

Security Hub provides a comprehensive view of your AWS security posture across AWS accounts. However, in real-world scenarios, you’ll encounter legitimate business reasons for exceptions to security best practices. For example:

• Amazon GuardDuty not enabled: Because of an alternative monitoring solution, an organization has deferred the implementation of Amazon GuardDuty but requires compensating controls such as Amazon Virtual Private Cloud (VPC) Flow logs, Amazon CloudWatch alarms, and organization-specific incident response procedures.
• Amazon S3 Block Public Access not enabled: A marketing team might need a public Amazon Simple Storage Service (Amazon S3) bucket for website assets, but should implement the following compensating controls:

• • Amazon CloudFront distributions in front of Amazon S3
  • Server-side encryption with AWS KMS keys (SSE-KMS) enabled on the S3 bucket
  • Enable Amazon S3 bucket logging
  • Enable Amazon S3 bucket versioning
  • Amazon CloudWatch alarms for suspicious access patterns and comprehensive access logging

Managing exceptions to security best practices can be challenging and typically involve multiple steps. Security teams spend significant time reviewing exception requests and defining and validating compensating controls, and developers must then implement and validate those controls. Multiple teams must be included to create and manage documentation for compliance and audit purposes. Overall, this process, if done manually, is time intensive, error-prone (with a risk of missing implementation issues), and has a risk of poor visibility because of limited or missing documentation of the business context in the security findings.

Solution prerequisites

For this solution, you must have the following elements in place:

• An AWS account with appropriate service quotas for Amazon DynamoDB, AWS Lambda, and Amazon Simple Queue Service (Amazon SQS)
• Required AWS Identity and Access Management (IAM) permissions for deployment of various AWS resources including:
  • IAM create-role and IAM put-role-policy permission (to create the security team role and developer role)
  • AWS CloudFormation stack management
  • DynamoDB table creation and management
  • Amazon SQS
  • AWS Lambda event source mapping with Amazon SQS
  • Amazon SQS policy
  • Lambda function deployment and configuration
  • Lambda execution role
  • Amazon EventBridge rule configuration
  • Amazon S3 bucket operations for deployment artifacts
• AWS Command Line Interface (AWS CLI) version 2.17.44 or later
• Python version 3.12 or later
• jq JSON processing utility for script operations
• Security Hub enabled in your target AWS Region

aws securityhub enable-security-hub

• AWS Config is recommended for enhanced validation capabilities

aws configservice put-configuration-recorder \
    --configuration-recorder name=default,roleARN=arn:aws:iam::ACCOUNT_ID:role/aws-service-role/config.amazonaws.com/AWSServiceRoleForConfig

Automated validation

The solution includes a pre-deployment validation script (validate-environment.sh) that automatically verifies the following:

• Tool versions and installations
• AWS service enablement status
• Resource conflicts

This validation runs automatically during deployment (Integrated in deploy.sh script) to help make sure that required prerequisites are met before infrastructure creation begins.

Additional resources

See the Cost Estimation Guide for a detailed pricing breakdown of prerequisites and the  Troubleshooting Guide for common setup issues and solutions.

Solution overview

This solution provides sample code and CloudFormation templates that organizations can deploy to automate the validation of compensating controls for suppressed Security Hub findings while maintaining proper segregation of duties between the security and development teams.

Architecture

Figure 1: Solution architecture diagram

Figure 1 illustrates the solution workflow that’s initiated when a developer changes a Security Hub finding’s workflow status to SUPPRESSED to request a business-justified security exception. The process concludes with the solution adding validation results as notes to the respective Security Hub finding, maintaining a complete audit trail of the exception request and validation outcome.

Note: Before initiating this workflow, developers must first consult with their organization’s security team to explain their business justification for the exception. During this initial consultation, the security team defines required compensating controls for the finding type. The security team uses the add-controls-role-based.sh script to add controls to DynamoDB. A developer enables the required compensating controls before proceeding with the workflow status change.

The workflow shown in Figure 1 includes the following steps:

1. A developer changes the Security Hub finding status to SUPPRESSED.
2. EventBridge detects the status change to SUPPRESSED.
3. An EventBridge rule sends an event to the Amazon SQS queue.
4. A Lambda function retrieves messages from the Amazon SQS queue.
5. The Lambda function fetches compensating controls from the DynamoDB compensating controls table.
6. The Lambda function validates each control using the appropriate AWS services APIs.
7. Evidence is collected for each validation and stored in DynamoDB.
8. Findings validation results and timestamps are stored in the DynamoDB Findings table.
9. A versioned history of finding validation attempts is stored in the DynamoDB History table.
10. If the security team provided controls pass validation, the finding remains SUPPRESSED, and a note is added in the respective Security Hub finding with adjusted severity information (the original severity assigned by Security Hub isn’t changed by this solution). If one of these control fails validation, finding status is changed to NOTIFIED, and a note is added in the respective Security Hub finding of failed controls (the original severity assigned by Security Hub isn’t changed by this solution).
11. OPTIONAL: Extend the solution with Amazon OpenSearch for SOC teams to perform advanced search, correlation, and visualization of validation evidence across findings, and historical trend analysis of compensating control effectiveness. Use Amazon QuickSight for visualization of compliance metrics, and AWS Security Lake to centralize validation data across multiple accounts and Regions, standardizing it in OCSF format for comprehensive cross-account analysis and long-term compliance reporting.

Note: This solution should be deployed in accordance with your organization’s security policies and the AWS Shared Responsibility Model. Review and test security controls before deploying in production environments.

How it works

This solution is designed exclusively for deployment and management by organizational security teams. Only security teams should have permissions to deploy the AWS CloudFormation stack, modify Lambda validation code, add/modify compensating controls, or access the four DynamoDB tables (Controls, Findings, History, Evidence).

Developers are restricted to two specific actions: suppressing Security Hub findings and reading compensating control requirements. This strict role separation facilitates proper governance and helps prevent bypass of security validation logic. Organizations must implement appropriate IAM policies to enforce these access restrictions in production environments.

Here’s how the solution works:

1. The security team defines controls: A Security team establishes compensating controls for specific Security Hub finding types and stores them in a DynamoDB table. This helps make sure that approved exceptions follow security-approved guidelines and maintain compliance standards.
   • Key files for security teams:

   File	Purpose
   add-controls-role-based.sh	Utility script for adding compensating controls
   /templates/findings/*.json	Example compensating controls for reference
   /docs/guides/compensating-controls.md	Guide for defining controls

   • Supported validation Types: The solution supports 13 validation methods to accommodate diverse security requirements:

   Validation type	Description	Example use case
   CONFIG_RULE	Validates using AWS Config rules	For GuardDuty not enabled finding: vpc-flow-logs-enabled Config rule helps make sure that network traffic is monitored
   API_CALL	Validates using direct AWS API calls	For Amazon S3 public access finding: API call to verify CloudFront distribution exists in front of the S3 bucket
   SECURITY_HUB_CONTROL	Validates using Security Hub control status	For GuardDuty not enabled finding: CloudTrail.1 control passing confirms comprehensive API logging
   CLOUDWATCH	Validates using CloudWatch alarms	For GuardDuty not enabled finding: Alarms monitoring for suspicious API calls and network traffic patterns
   CLOUDTRAIL	Validates CloudTrail configuration	For GuardDuty not enabled finding: Multi-Region CloudTrail with log validation and CloudWatch integration
   SYSTEMS_MANAGER	Validates using Systems Manager parameters	For GuardDuty not enabled finding: Parameter confirming custom threat detection solution is enabled
   PROCESS_CONTROL	Validates process-based controls	For GuardDuty not enabled finding: Documented incident response process for network security events
   INSPECTOR	Validates Amazon Inspector configuration	For vulnerability finding: Inspector EC2 scanning enabled with zero critical findings allowed
   ACCESS_ANALYZER	Validates AWS IAM Access Analyzer	For IAM permission finding: IAM Access Analyzer enabled with zero active findings allowed
   MACIE	Validates Amazon Macie configuration	For data protection finding: Macie enabled with sensitive data discovery and zero sensitive buckets allowed
   AUDIT_MANAGER	Validates AWS Audit Manager frameworks	For compliance finding: Custom security framework active with required control sets
   EVENTBRIDGE	Validates EventBridge rules	For GuardDuty not enabled finding: Rules monitoring AWS CloudTrail events with Lambda targets for automated response
   TRUSTED_ADVISOR	Validates AWS Trusted Advisor checks	For security best practice finding: S3 bucket permissions check passing with zero warnings or error resources

   Note: Only security team members have access to add or modify compensating controls. The solution enforces this through IAM permissions and runtime checks to maintain proper governance.

   Approved security exceptions must have an expiration date to facilitate periodic review. The solution automatically enforces these time limits based on the expiration date defined by the security team.

   For this post, we provide a utility script (add-controls-role-based.sh) to demonstrate adding compensating controls. However, in a production enterprise environment, organizations should integrate DynamoDB with their existing governance systems (such as Jira, ServiceNow, and so on) to automatically populate controls from authorized security team sources. This solution focuses on validating controls, not prescribing how they’re ingested.

   2. Developers implement controls: When Security Hub findings are suppressed, developers must implement the required compensating controls defined by the security team.

   How developers interact with the solution:

   1. View required controls: The solution provides clear requirements for each finding type.
   2. Implement compensating controls: Developers should implement the security team provided compensating controls in their AWS environment, referring to the compensating controls defined by Security team. The specific compensating controls depend on the finding type and security team requirements.
   3. Finding status change: Developers change the Security Hub finding status to SUPPRESSED in Security Hub.
   4. Automatic validation: The solution validates compensating controls when Security Hub findings workflow status is changed.
   5. Status updates: Findings remain SUPPRESSED if controls pass validation; they change to NOTIFIED with failure details if validation fails.

   Note: This solution doesn’t modify the original severity of findings in Security Hub. It adds business context with security-approved adjusted severity to findings based on security-approved compensating controls validation, helping security teams make informed decisions.

   For this solution, we’re simulating the developer workflow of addressing Security Hub findings by implementing and validating compensating controls. In a production environment, developers would receive notifications about findings that require attention, implement the necessary controls according to security team guidance, and use this validation system to verify their implementations. The solution focuses on the validation aspect but assumes organizations will integrate it with their existing developer workflows, ticketing systems, and continuous integration and delivery (CI/CD) pipelines to create a seamless process from finding detection to remediation verification.

   Evidence collection and audit trail

   The solution automatically captures comprehensive evidence for each validation activity. The key features of the solution are:

   1. Four-table design: Separate tables for Controls, Findings, History, and Evidence (shown in Figure 2) provide security through segregation while maintaining a complete audit trail
   

   Figure 2: The four-table design for storing compensating controls, evidence, findings, and history

   2. Detailed evidence: Each validation stores specific evidence based on its type—from AWS Config rule compliance details to API responses and process documentation verification
   3. Immutable records: Each evidence includes timestamps, validation context, and results that cannot be modified after collection (shown in Figure 3)
   

   Figure 3: Sample evidence collected for a CONFIG_RULE validation showing PASSED status

   4. Historical tracking: The solution maintains a complete history of each validation attempt, allowing organizations to demonstrate continuous compliance over time

   Deployment and configuration

   You can deploy the solution using the provided scripts.

   1. Use the following command to clone the repository:

   git clone https://github.com/aws-samples/sample-automated-securityhub-validator.git
   cd automated-securityhub-validator

   2. Use the following command to check service quotas and to create the security team and developer roles:

   cd scripts
   ./create-roles-quotas-check.sh

   3. Use the following command to assume the security team role:

   aws sts assume-role --role-arn arn:aws:iam:: ACCOUNT_ID:role/securityhub-validator-SecurityTeamRole --role-session-name SecurityTeamSession

   In the preceding command’s output, note the AccessKeyId, SecretAccessKey, and SessionToken. The timestamp in the expiration field is in the UTC time zone and shows when the IAM role’s temporary credentials expire. After the temporary credentials expire, the user must assume the role again.

   Note: For temporary credentials, you can use the DurationSeconds parameter to increase the maximum session duration for IAM roles.

   4. Create environment variables to assume the security team role and verify user assumed the IAM role:
   • Run the following commands to set the environment variables to assume the IAM role:

   export AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID=RoleAccessKeyID
   export AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY=RoleSecretKey
   export AWS_SESSION_TOKEN=RoleSessionToken

   Note: Replace the example values with the values that you noted when you assumed the IAM role. For Windows (OS, replace export with set.

   • Run the get-caller-identity command to verify that the user assumed the IAM role:

   aws sts get-caller-identity

   Note: In the preceding command’s output, confirm that the ARN is arn:aws:sts::ACCOUNT_ID:assumed-role/securityhub-validator-SecurityTeamRole/SecurityTeamSession instead of arn:aws:iam::ACCOUNT_ID:user/username.

   5. Use the following command to deploy the solution:

   cd scripts
   ./deploy.sh

   6. You can verify that the stack has been created by going to the AWS Management Console for CloudFormation and using the following steps:
      1. In the CloudFormation console, choose Stacks and then Stack details in the navigation pane.
      2. Locate and select the stack securityhub-validator to open its details page.
      3. On the stack details page, select the Resources tab.
      4. In the Resources section, you’ll see a list of the resources that are part of the stack.
   

   Figure 4: Resources created using the CloudFormation stack

   The deployment script creates a CloudFormation stack with the necessary resources:

   • DynamoDB tables for controls, findings, history, and evidence
   • A Lambda function for validation and Security Hub updates
   • An EventBridge rule for capturing finding status changes
   • An Amazon SQS queue and dead letter queue (DLQ) for message processing
   • IAM roles with least privilege permissions
   7. Add compensating controls (security team):

   cd scripts
   ./add-controls-role-based.sh

   8. Implement controls (developers).

   Now, a developer will assume the developer role and implement the required controls based on the security team’s specifications. The solution automatically validates these implementations when the Security Hub finding workflow status is changed to SUPPRESSED by a developer.

   For an example implementations of common controls, see the example of compensating controls for GuardDuty.1 finding.

   Test the solution

   To test the solution, you can validate the compensating controls for a GuardDuty finding using the following example scenario:

   A developer wants a security exception for the Security Hub finding GuardDuty.1: GuardDuty should be enabled, and because of cost constraints, the developer’s organization hasn’t implemented GuardDuty and requested a security exception from their organization’s security team.

   Compensating controls provided by the security team include:

   • Amazon Virtual Private Cloud (Amazon VPC) Flow Logs must be enabled for network monitoring
   • CloudWatch alarms are enabled to monitor for suspicious activity

   Note: To simulate this finding, do not enable GuardDuty so that the GuardDuty should be enabled finding appears in the Security Hub console.

   Approximately 20–30 mins after enabling AWS Config and Security Hub, you can locate the finding in the console using the following steps and then add the compensating controls provided by the security team.

   For this use case, we’re using the GuardDuty should be enabled Security Hub finding:

   1. Navigate to the AWS Security Hub console and choose Findings in the navigation pane.
   2. In the Add filter search bar at the top, select Severity label and set the is value to HIGH.
   3. After applying the filter, select GuardDuty should be enabled in the Finding column to view its details in the righthand pane.
   4. Choose Actions in the top-right corner and select View JSON.
   

   Figure 5: Security Hub findings

   5. In the JSON details window, locate the SecurityControlId field and note the value. You’ll be prompted to enter it by the add-controls-role-based.sh utility in the next step.

   Note: The SecurityControlId value is required by the add-controls-role-based.sh utility to properly associate your compensating control with the correct Security Hub finding.

   

   Figure 6: SecurityControlId from the GuardDuty finding

   6. Use the following command to clone the repository:

   git clone https://github.com/aws-samples/sample-automated-securityhub-validator.git
   cd sample-automated-securityhub-validator

   7. For this demo, you will act as a member of the security team by assuming security team role and use the add-controls-role-based.sh utility to create compensating controls and push them to the compensating control DynamoDB table.

   cd sample-automated-securityhub-validator/scripts
   ./add-controls-role-based.sh

   8. Use the following prompt values in add-controls-role-based.sh to create compensating control table entries using four compensating controls given by the security team for the GuardDuty.1 finding type:

   ./add-controls-role-based.sh
   Security Team - Compensating Controls Management Utility
   --------------------------------------------------------
   SECURITY NOTICE: This utility is restricted to security team members only
   Validating security team role...
   ✓ Security team role validated: arn:aws:sts::xxxxxxxxxxx:assumed-role/securityhub-validator-SecurityTeamRole/SecurityTeamSession
   Using AWS Region: us-east-1
   Using stack: securityhub-validator
   Using controls table: securityhub-validator-ControlsTable-ARDQCU67CBCN
   Enter finding type (e.g., GuardDuty.1): GuardDuty.1
   Security approved adjusted risk level [CRITICAL/HIGH/MEDIUM/LOW/INFORMATIONAL]: MEDIUM
   Expiration date (YYYY-MM-DD): 2026-12-31
   Ticket reference: JIRA-SEC-1234
   Business justification: Alternative monitoring solution provides equivalent detection capabilities
   Adding Control #1
   Control ID: VPC-FLOW-LOGS
   Control description: VPC Flow logs must be enabled for network monitoring 
   Validation type [CONFIG_RULE/API_CALL/SECURITY_HUB_CONTROL/INSPECTOR/ACCESS_ANALYZER/CLOUDTRAIL/MACIE/AUDIT_MANAGER/CLOUDWATCH/SYSTEMS_MANAGER/EVENTBRIDGE/TRUSTED_ADVISOR/PROCESS_CONTROL]: CONFIG_RULE
   Config rule name (exact name): vpc-flow-logs-enabled
   Description of how this rule mitigates the finding: Provides comprehensive network traffic visibility similar to GuardDuty's network monitoring capabilities
   Add another control? [y/n]: y
   Adding Control #2
   Control ID: SECURITY-ALARMS
   Control description: CloudWatch alarms for suspicious activity
   Validation type [CONFIG_RULE/API_CALL/SECURITY_HUB_CONTROL/INSPECTOR/ACCESS_ANALYZER/CLOUDTRAIL/MACIE/AUDIT_MANAGER/CLOUDWATCH/SYSTEMS_MANAGER/EVENTBRIDGE/TRUSTED_ADVISOR/PROCESS_CONTROL]: CLOUDWATCH
   Alarm name pattern: SecurityMonitoring-
   Required metrics (comma-separated): UnauthorizedAPICalls,NetworkPortProbing
   Required alarm state [ALARM/OK/INSUFFICIENT_DATA/ANY]: ANY
   Minimum number of matching alarms required: 2
   Description of how these alarms mitigate the finding: Alarms detect suspicious API calls and network activity similar to GuardDuty's threat detection
   Add another control? [y/n]: n
   Generated controls:
   {
     "findingType": {
       "S": "GuardDuty.1"
     },
     "securityApprovedAdjustedRiskLevel": {
       "S": "MEDIUM"
     },
     "expirationDate": {
       "S": "2026-12-31T00:00:00Z"
     },
     "ticketReference": {
       "S": "JIRA-SEC-1234"
     },
     "businessJustification": {
       "S": "Alternative monitoring solution provides equivalent detection capabilities"
     },
     "auditInfo": {
       "S": "{\"createdBy\":\"arn:aws:sts::xxxxxxxxxxx:assumed-role/securityhub-validator-SecurityTeamRole/SecurityTeamSession\",\"createdAt\":\"2025-08-05T08:49:51Z\",\"lastModifiedBy\":\"arn:aws:sts::xxxxxxxxxxx:assumed-role/securityhub-validator-SecurityTeamRole/SecurityTeamSession\",\"lastModifiedAt\":\"2025-08-05T08:49:51Z\"}"
     },
     "securityControlHash": {
       "S": "a0b33a0a96a6b282bad1c093586d89cef832d40bb379abd4a004d00afdf603d1"
     },
     "requiredControls": {
       "S": "[{\"controlId\":\"VPC-FLOW-LOGS\",\"description\":\"VPC Flow logs must be enabled for network monitoring\",\"validationType\":\"CONFIG_RULE\",\"validationParams\":{\"ruleName\":\"vpc-flow-logs-enabled\",\"justification\":\"Provides comprehensive network traffic visibility similar to GuardDuty's network monitoring capabilities\"}},{\"controlId\":\"SECURITY-ALARMS\",\"description\":\"CloudWatch alarms for suspicious activity\",\"validationType\":\"CLOUDWATCH\",\"validationParams\":{\"alarmNamePattern\":\"SecurityMonitoring-\",\"requiredMetrics\":[\"UnauthorizedAPICalls\",\"NetworkPortProbing\"],\"requiredState\":\"ANY\",\"minimumAlarms\":2,\"justification\":\"Alarms detect suspicious API calls and network activity similar to GuardDuty's threat detection\"}}]"
     }
   }
   Save to DynamoDB? [y/n]: y
   Compensating controls saved to DynamoDB!
   This action has been logged for audit purposes.

   9. When prompted to save to DynamoDB, enter Y. Compensating controls will be added to the DynamoDB compensating controls table.
   

   Figure 7: Compensating controls for GuardDuty.1 finding

   10. For this proof-of-concept demonstration, the compensating controls implementation requires additional AWS permissions beyond what the developer role provides. In a production environment, these controls would typically be implemented by infrastructure teams or through automated deployment pipelines.
   • Switch to administrative credentials.

   For the demonstration, temporarily switch back to your administrative AWS credentials (the ones used to create the roles):

   Unset the security team role credentials

   unset AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY AWS_SESSION_TOKEN

   • Implement the required controls

   Control 1: Enable VPC Flow Logs, starting by getting your VPC IDVPC_ID=$(aws ec2 describe-vpcs --query 'Vpcs[0].VpcId' --output text)

   Create flow logs:

   aws ec2 create-flow-logs \
       --resource-type VPC \
       --resource-ids $VPC_ID \
       --traffic-type ALL \
       --log-destination-type cloud-watch-logs \
       --log-group-name VPCFlowLogs

   Create the AWS Config Rule:

   aws configservice put-config-rule \
       --config-rule '{
           "ConfigRuleName": "vpc-flow-logs-enabled",
           "Source": {
               "Owner": "AWS",
               "SourceIdentifier": "VPC_FLOW_LOGS_ENABLED"
           }
       }'

   Control 2: Create security monitoring alarms starting with creating metric filters for CloudTrail Logs; start by creating a log group for CloudTrail (if none exists):aws logs create-log-group --log-group-name CloudTrail/SecurityEventsCreate a metric filter for unauthorized API calls:

   aws logs put-metric-filter \
       --log-group-name CloudTrail/SecurityEvents \
       --filter-name UnauthorizedAPICallsFilter \
       --filter-pattern '{ ($.errorCode = "*UnauthorizedOperation") || ($.errorCode = "AccessDenied*") }' \
       --metric-transformations metricName=UnauthorizedAPICalls,metricNamespace=SecurityMetrics,metricValue=1

   Create a filter for network port probing:

   aws logs put-metric-filter \
       --log-group-name CloudTrail/SecurityEvents \
       --filter-name NetworkPortProbingFilter \
       --filter-pattern '[version, account, eni, source, destination, srcport, destport="22" || destport="3389" || destport="1433", protocol, packets, bytes, windowstart, windowend, action="REJECT", flowlogstatus]' \
       --metric-transformations metricName=NetworkPortProbing,metricNamespace=SecurityMetrics,metricValue=1

   Create required CloudWatch alarms, starting with Alarm 1 for Unauthorized API calls:

   aws cloudwatch put-metric-alarm \
       --alarm-name "SecurityMonitoring-UnauthorizedAPICalls" \
       --alarm-description "Detects unauthorized API calls" \
       --metric-name "UnauthorizedAPICalls" \
       --namespace "SecurityMetrics" \
       --statistic Sum \
       --period 300 \
       --threshold 1 \
       --comparison-operator GreaterThanOrEqualToThreshold \
       --evaluation-periods 1

   Alarm 2: Network port probing:

   aws cloudwatch put-metric-alarm \
       --alarm-name "SecurityMonitoring-NetworkPortProbing" \
       --alarm-description "Detects network port probing activity" \
       --metric-name "NetworkPortProbing" \
       --namespace "SecurityMetrics" \
       --statistic Sum \
       --period 300 \
       --threshold 5 \
       --comparison-operator GreaterThanOrEqualToThreshold \
       --evaluation-periods 1

   11. Now assume the DeveloperRole to suppress the finding:

   aws sts assume-role \
       --role-arn arn:aws:iam::ACCOUNT_ID:role/securityhub-validator-DeveloperRole \
       --role-session-name DeveloperSession

   Configure the returned credentials:

   export AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID=<from assume-role output>
   export AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY=<from assume-role output>
   export AWS_SESSION_TOKEN=<from assume-role output>

   12. Change the workflow status of the Security Hub finding related to GuardDuty from NEW to SUPPRESSED.

   To change the workflow status using the AWS CLI (developer):

   # Get the finding ARN first (command shown for reference)
   aws securityhub get-findings \
       --filters '{"GeneratorId":[{"Value":"security-control/GuardDuty.1","Comparison":"EQUALS"}]}' \
       --query 'Findings[0].Id'
   # Get the product ARN (command shown for reference)
   aws securityhub get-findings \
       --filters '{"GeneratorId":[{"Value":"security-control/GuardDuty.1","Comparison":"EQUALS"}]}' \
       --query 'Findings[0].ProductArn' \
       --output text
   # Then suppress the finding
   aws securityhub batch-update-findings \
     --finding-identifiers '[{"Id":"finding-arn-from-above","ProductArn":"product-arn-from-above"}]' \
     --workflow '{"Status":"SUPPRESSED"}' \
     --note '{"Text":"Implemented compensating controls as per security team requirements","UpdatedBy":"[email protected]"}'

   To change the workflow status using the console (developer):

   1. Go to the Security Hub console.
   2. In the navigation pane, choose Findings.
   3. In the search bar, select Compliance Security Control ID filter and enter the value of Is as GuardDuty.1.
   4. Select the finding GuardDuty should be enabled and under Workflow status, select SUPPRESSED.
   5. In the Note field, enter Implemented compensating controls as per security team requirements.
   6. Choose Set status to save the note.
   

   Figure 8: GuardDuty.1 finding workflow status changed from NEW to SUPPRESSED

   Note: Only suppress findings after implementing the required compensating controls provided by the security team.

   13. After the Workflow status of the finding is SUPPRESSED, the automated validation process begins and you can see the Lambda function logs in the CloudWatch console related to different validations performed.

   To view Lambda function logs in the CloudWatch console:

   1. Go to the Amazon CloudWatch console.
   2. In the navigation pane, under Logs, choose Log groups.
   3. Select the log group with the Lambda function name.
   4. Select the most recent log stream to view the logs.
   

   Figure 9: Lambda function CloudWatch logs

   The solution updates the note section of the findings in Security Hub with the validation results:

   If all controls pass:

   • Finding status remains SUPPRESSED.
   • A note is added with validation results and adjusted risk level.
   • Business context is added to the finding.

   If one of the controls fails:

   • Finding status changes to NOTIFIED.
   • A note is added with details about failed controls.
   • The security team reviews the changes as part of their standard process.

   To view the finding’s workflow status and updated note using the console (developer):

   1. Go to the Security Hub console.
   2. In the navigation pane, choose Findings.
   3. In the search bar, select Compliance Security Control ID filter and enter value of Is as GuardDuty.1.
   4. Select the finding GuardDuty should be enabled and check the Workflow status.
   5. For Actions, choose Add note.
   6. Check the Last note added.
   

   Figure 10: Security Hub updated finding note

   The finding note shows that automated validation has performed checks and documented the results, also note that the original severity of HIGH that was assigned by Security Hub is maintained and the adjusted severity of MEDIUM that was provided by the security team is added in the Note section and to the Evidence table, providing transparency and accountability while maintaining the original severity assigned by Security Hub.

   Clean up

   To avoid incurring ongoing charges, use the following command to clean up resources created for this post.

   ./cleanup.sh

   This deployment process is designed to be straightforward and to maintain security best practices such as encryption, least privilege, and segregation of duties.

   Conclusion

   In this post, we showed you how to implement a solution that security teams can use to define compensating controls for AWS Security Hub findings and automatically validate their implementation. We walked through the challenges of managing security exceptions and demonstrated how this solution helps to bridge the gap between security requirements and practical implementation.

   The solution provides a structured workflow where security teams define acceptable compensating controls, developers implement them, and an automated system validates their effectiveness. With support for 13 different validation types, from AWS Config rules to process documentation, the solution offers comprehensive coverage for various security scenarios.

   We also demonstrated the end-to-end process of adding compensating controls for a GuardDuty finding and showed how the solution maintains the original finding severity assigned by Security Hub while documenting the adjusted risk level approved by the security team. This approach helps maintain transparency and auditability while allowing for necessary exceptions.

   Give it a try and share your feedback in the comments section.

   Security Implication Disclaimer: The Amazon S3 configurations demonstrated in this post involve public access settings that expose data to the internet and should only be used for demonstration or non-sensitive content. Public S3 buckets carry significant risks including data exposure, unexpected costs from unauthorized usage, compliance violations, and potential security breaches. For production environments, use IAM roles, implement least privilege access policies, enable S3 Block Public Access settings, and consider CloudFront with Origin Access Control for public content delivery. Consult your security team and make sure of compliance with organizational policies before implementing public S3 configurations in production systems.

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