At Amazon Web Services (AWS), we’re committed to providing our customers with continued assurance over the security, availability, confidentiality, and privacy of the AWS control environment.
We’re proud to deliver the Fall 2023 System and Organizational (SOC) 1, 2, and 3 reports to support your confidence in AWS services. The reports cover the period October 1, 2022, to September 30, 2023. We extended the period of coverage to 12 months so that you have a full year of assurance from a single report. We also updated the associated infrastructure supporting our in-scope products and services to reflect new edge locations, AWS Wavelength zones, and AWS Local Zones.
The SOC 2 report includes the Security, Availability, Confidentiality, and Privacy Trust Service Criteria that cover both the design and operating effectiveness of controls over a period of time. The SOC 2 Privacy Trust Service Criteria, developed by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA), establishes the criteria for evaluating controls and how personal information is collected, used, retained, disclosed, and disposed of. For more information about our privacy commitments supporting the SOC 2 Type 2 report, see the AWS Customer Agreement.
The scope of the Fall 2023 SOC 2 Type 2 report includes information about how we handle the content that you upload to AWS, and how we protect that content across the services and locations that are in scope for the latest AWS SOC reports.
The Fall 2023 SOC reports include an additional 13 services in scope, for a total of 171 services. See the full list on our Services in Scope by Compliance Program page.
Here are the 13 additional services in scope for the Fall 2023 SOC reports:
AWS strives to bring services into the scope of its compliance programs to help you meet your architectural and regulatory needs. If there are additional AWS services that you would like us to add to the scope of our SOC reports (or other compliance programs), reach out to your AWS representatives.
We value your feedback and questions. Feel free to reach out to the team through the Contact Us page. If you have feedback about this post, submit comments in the Comments section below.
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Amazon Redshift, the most widely used cloud data warehouse, has evolved significantly to meet the performance requirements of the most demanding workloads. This post covers one such new feature—the multidimensional data layout sort key.
Amazon Redshift now improves your query performance by supporting multidimensional data layout sort keys, which is a new type of sort key that sorts a table’s data by filter predicates instead of physical columns of the table. Multidimensional data layout sort keys will significantly improve the performance of table scans, especially when your query workload contains repetitive scan filters.
Amazon Redshift already provides the capability of automatic table optimization (ATO), which automatically optimizes the design of tables by applying sort and distribution keys without the need for administrator intervention. In this post, we introduce multidimensional data layout sort keys as an additional capability offered by ATO and fortified by Amazon Redshift’s sort key advisor algorithm.
Multidimensional data layout sort keys
When you define a table with the AUTO sort key, Amazon Redshift ATO will analyze your query history and automatically select either a single-column sort key or multidimensional data layout sort key for your table, based on which option is better for your workload. When multidimensional data layout is selected, Amazon Redshift will construct a multidimensional sort function that co-locates rows that are typically accessed by the same queries, and the sort function is subsequently used during query runs to skip data blocks and even skip scanning the individual predicate columns.
Consider the following user query, which is a dominant query pattern in the user’s workload:
SELECT season, sum(metric2) AS "__measure__0"
FROM titles
WHERE lower(subregion) like '%United States%'
GROUP BY 1
ORDER BY 1;
Amazon Redshift stores data for each column in 1 MB disk blocks and stores the minimum and maximum values in each block as part of the table’s metadata. If a query uses a range-restricted predicate, Amazon Redshift can use the minimum and maximum values to rapidly skip over large numbers of blocks during table scans. However, this query’s filter on the subregion column can’t be used to determine which blocks to skip based on minimum and maximum values, and as a result, Amazon Redshift scans all rows from the titles table:
SELECT table_name, input_rows, step_attribute
FROM sys_query_detail
WHERE query_id = 123456789;
When the user’s query was run with titles using a single-column sort key on subregion, the result of the preceding query is as follows:
This shows that the table scan read 2,164,081,640 rows.
To improve scans on the titles table, Amazon Redshift might automatically decide to use a multidimensional data layout sort key. All rows that satisfy the lower(subregion) like '%United States%' predicate would be co-located to a dedicated region of the table, and therefore Amazon Redshift will only scan data blocks that satisfy the predicate.
When the user’s query is run with titles using a multidimensional data layout sort key that includes lower(subregion) like '%United States%' as a predicate, the result of the sys_query_detail query is as follows:
This shows that the table scan read 152,324,046 rows, which is only 7% of the original, and it used the multidimensional data layout sort key.
Note that this example uses a single query to showcase the multidimensional data layout feature, but Amazon Redshift will consider all the queries running against the table and can create multiple regions to satisfy the most commonly run predicates.
Let’s take another example, with more complex predicates and multiple queries this time.
Imagine having a table items (cost int, available int, demand int) with four rows as shown in the following example.
#id
cost
available
demand
1
4
3
3
2
2
23
6
3
5
4
5
4
1
1
2
Your dominant workload consists of two queries:
70% queries pattern:
select * from items where cost > 3 and available < demand
20% queries pattern:
select avg(cost) from items where available < demand
With traditional sorting techniques, you might choose to sort the table over the cost column, such that the evaluation of cost > 3 will benefit from the sort. So, the items table after sorting using a single cost column will look like the following.
#id
cost
available
demand
Region #1, with cost <= 3
Region #2, with cost > 3
#id
cost
available
demand
4
1
1
2
2
2
23
6
1
4
3
3
3
5
4
5
By using this traditional sort, we can immediately exclude the top two (blue) rows with ID 4 and ID 2, because they don’t satisfy cost > 3.
On the other hand, with a multidimensional data layout sort key, the table will be sorted based on a combination of the two commonly occurring predicates in the user’s workload, which are cost > 3 and available < demand. As a result, the table’s rows are sorted into four regions.
#id
cost
available
demand
Region #1, with cost <= 3 and available < demand
Region #2, with cost <= 3 and available >= demand
Region #3, with cost > 3 and available < demand
Region #4, with cost > 3 and available >= demand
#id
cost
available
demand
4
1
1
2
2
2
23
6
3
5
4
5
1
4
3
3
This concept is even more powerful when applied to entire blocks instead of single rows, when applied to complex predicates that use operators not suitable for traditional sorting techniques (such as like), and when applied to more than two predicates.
System tables
The following Amazon Redshift system tables will show users if multidimensional data layouts are used on their tables and queries:
To determine if a particular table is using a multidimensional data layout sort key, you can check whether sortkey1 in svv_table_info is equal to AUTO(SORTKEY(padb_internal_mddl_key_col)).
To determine if a particular query uses multidimensional data layout to accelerate table scans, you can check step_attribute in the sys_query_detail view. The value will be equal to multi-dimensional if the table’s multidimensional data layout sort key was used during the scan.
Performance benchmarks
We performed internal benchmark testing for multiple workloads with repetitive scan filters and see that introducing multidimensional data layout sort keys produced the following results:
A 74% total runtime reduction compared to having no sort key.
A 40% total runtime reduction compared to having the best single-column sort key on each table.
A 80% reduction in total rows read from tables compared to having no sort key.
A 47% reduction in total rows read from tables compared to having the best single-column sort key on each table.
Feature comparison
With the introduction of multidimensional data layout sort keys, your tables can now be sorted by expressions based off of the commonly occurring filter predicates in your workload. The following table provides a feature comparison for Amazon Redshift against two competitors.
Feature
Amazon Redshift
Competitor A
Competitor B
Support for sorting on columns
Yes
Yes
Yes
Support for sorting by expression
Yes
Yes
No
Automatic column selection for sorting
Yes
No
Yes
Automatic expressions selection for sorting
Yes
No
No
Automatic selection between columns sorting or expressions sorting
Yes
No
No
Automatic use of sorting properties for expressions during scans
Yes
No
No
Considerations
Keep in mind the following when using a multidimensional data layout:
Multidimensional data layout is enabled when you set your table as SORTKEY AUTO.
Amazon Redshift Advisor will automatically choose either a single-column sort key or multidimensional data layout for the table by analyzing your historical workload.
Amazon Redshift ATO adjusts the multidimensional data layout sorting results based on the manner in which ongoing queries interact with the workload.
Amazon Redshift ATO maintains multidimensional data layout sort keys the same way as it currently does for existing sort keys. Refer to Working with automatic table optimization for more details on ATO.
Multidimensional data layout sort keys will work with both provisioned clusters and serverless workgroups.
Multidimensional data layout sort keys will work with your existing data as long as the AUTO SORTKEY is enabled on your table and a workload with repetitive scan filters is detected. The table will be reorganized based on the results of multi-dimensional sort function.
To disable multidimensional data layout sort keys for a table, use alter table: ALTER TABLE table_name ALTER SORTKEY NONE. This disables the AUTO sort key feature on the table.
Multidimensional data layout sort keys are preserved when restoring or migrating your provisioned cluster to a serverless cluster or vice versa.
Conclusion
In this post, we showed that multidimensional data layout sort keys can significantly improve query runtime performance for workloads where dominant queries have repetitive scan filters.
To create a preview cluster from the Amazon Redshift console, navigate to the Clusters page and choose Create preview cluster. You can create a cluster in the US East (Ohio), US East (N. Virginia), US West (Oregon), Asia Pacific (Tokyo), Europe (Ireland), and Europe (Stockholm) Regions and test your workloads.
We would love to hear your feedback on this new feature and look forward to your comments on this post.
About the authors
Yanzhu Ji is a Product Manager in the Amazon Redshift team. She has experience in product vision and strategy in industry-leading data products and platforms. She has outstanding skill in building substantial software products using web development, system design, database, and distributed programming techniques. In her personal life, Yanzhu likes painting, photography, and playing tennis.
Milind Oke is a Data Warehouse Specialist Solutions Architect based out of New York. He has been building data warehouse solutions for over 15 years and specializes in Amazon Redshift.
Jialin Ding is an Applied Scientist in the Learned Systems Group, specializing in applying machine learning and optimization techniques to improve the performance of data systems such as Amazon Redshift.
In the AWS Security Profile series, we feature the people who work in Amazon Web Services (AWS) Security and help keep our customers safe and secure. This interview is with Chris Betz, Chief Information Security Officer (CISO), who began his role as CISO of AWS in August of 2023.
How did you get started in security? What prompted you to pursue this field?
I’ve always had a passion for technology, and for keeping people out of harm’s way. When I found computer science and security in the Air Force, this world opened up to me that let me help others, be a part of building amazing solutions, and engage my competitive spirit. Security has the challenges of the ultimate chess game, though with real and impactful consequences. I want to build reliable, massively scaled systems that protect people from malicious actors. This is really hard to do and a huge challenge I undertake every day. It’s an amazing team effort that brings together the smartest folks that I know, competing with threat actors.
What are you most excited about in your new role?
One of the most exciting things about my role is that I get to work with some of the smartest people in the field of security, people who inspire, challenge, and teach me something new every day. It’s exhilarating to work together to make a significant difference in the lives of people all around the world, who trust us at AWS to keep their information secure. Security is constantly changing, we get to learn, adapt, and get better every single day. I get to spend my time helping to build a team and culture that customers can depend on, and I’m constantly impressed and amazed at the caliber of the folks I get work with here.
How does being a former customer influence your role as AWS CISO?
I was previously the CISO at Capital One and was an AWS customer. As a former customer, I know exactly what it’s like to be a customer who relies on a partner for significant parts of their security. There needs to be a lot of trust, a lot of partnership across the shared responsibility model, and consistent focus on what’s being done to keep sensitive data secure. Every moment that I’m here at AWS, I’m reminded about things from the customer perspective and how I can minimize complexity, and help customers leverage the “super powers” that the cloud provides for CISOs who need to defend the breadth of their digital estate. I know how important it is to earn and keep customer trust, just like the trust I needed when I was in their shoes. This mindset influences me to learn as much as I can, never be satisfied with ”good enough,” and grab every opportunity I can to meet and talk with customers about their security.
What’s been the most dramatic change you’ve seen in the security industry recently?
This is pretty easy to answer: artificial intelligence (AI). This is a really exciting time. AI is dominating the news and is on the mind of every security professional, everywhere. We’re witnessing something very big happening, much like when the internet came into existence and we saw how the world dramatically changed because of it. Every single sector was impacted, and AI has the same potential. Many customers use AWS machine learning (ML) and AI services to help improve signal-to-noise ratio, take over common tasks to free up valuable time to dig deeper into complex cases, and analyze massive amounts of threat intelligence to determine the right action in less time. The combination of Data + Compute power + AI is a huge advantage for cloud companies.
AI and ML have been a focus for Amazon for more than 25 years, and we get to build on an amazing foundation. And it’s exciting to take advantage of and adapt to the recent big changes and the impact this is having on the world. At AWS, we’re focused on choice and broadening access to generative AI and foundation models at every layer of the ML stack, including infrastructure (chips), developer tools, and AI services. What a great time to be in security!
What’s the most challenging part of being a CISO?
Maintaining a culture of security involves each person, each team, and each leader. That’s easy to say, but the challenge is making it tangible—making sure that each person sees that, even though their title doesn’t have “security” in it, they are still an integral part of security. We often say, “If you have access, you have responsibility.” We work hard to limit that access. And CISOs must constantly work to build and maintain a culture of security and help every single person who has access to data understand that security is an important part of their job.
What’s your short- and long-term vision for AWS Security?
Customers trust AWS to protect their data so they can innovate and grow quickly, so in that sense, our vision is for security to be a growth lever for our customers, not added friction. Cybersecurity is key to unlocking innovation, so managing risk and aligning the security posture of AWS with our business objectives will continue for the immediate future and long term. For our customers, my vision is to continue helping them understand that investing in security helps them move faster and take the right risks—the kind of risks they need to remain competitive and innovative. When customers view security as a business accelerator, they achieve new technical capabilities and operational excellence. Strong security is the ultimate business enabler.
If you could give one piece of advice to all CISOs, what would it be?
Nail Zero Trust. Zero Trust is the path to the strongest, most effective security, and getting back to the core concepts is important. While Zero Trust is a different journey for every organization, it’s a natural evolution of cybersecurity and defense in depth in particular. No matter what’s driving organizations toward Zero Trust—policy considerations or the growing patchwork of data protection and privacy regulations—Zero Trust meaningfully improves security outcomes through an iterative process. When companies get this right, they can quickly identify and investigate threats and take action to contain or disrupt unwanted activity.
What are you most proud of in your career?
I’m proud to have worked—and still be working with—such talented, capable, and intelligent security professionals who care deeply about security and are passionate about making the world a safer place. Being among the world’s top security experts really makes me grateful and humble for all the amazing opportunities I’ve had to work alongside them, working together to solve problems and being part of creating a legacy to make security better.
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Amazon Web Services (AWS) is proud to announce the successful completion of its first Standar Nasional Indonesia (SNI) certification for the AWS Asia Pacific (Jakarta) Region in Indonesia. SNI is the Indonesian National Standard, and it comprises a set of standards that are nationally applicable in Indonesia. AWS is now certified according to the SNI 27001 requirements. An independent third-party auditor that is accredited by the Komite Akreditasi Nasional (KAN/National Accreditation Committee) assessed AWS, per regulations in Indonesia.
SNI 27001 is based on the ISO/IEC 27001 standard, which provides a framework for the development and implementation of an effective information security management system (ISMS). An ISMS that is implemented according to this standard is a tool for risk management, cyber-resilience, and operational excellence.
AWS achieved the certification for compliance with SNI 27001 on October 28, 2023. The SNI 27001 certification covers the Asia Pacific (Jakarta) Region in Indonesia. For a full list of AWS services that are certified under the SNI 27001, see the SNI 27001 compliance page. Customers can also download the latest SNI 27001 certificate on AWS Artifact, a self-service portal for on-demand access to AWS compliance reports. Sign in to AWS Artifact in the AWS Management Console, or learn more at Getting Started with AWS Artifact.
AWS is committed to bringing new services into the scope of its compliance programs to help you meet your architectural, business, and regulatory needs. If you have questions about the SNI 27001 certification, contact your AWS account team.
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At Amazon Web Services (AWS), we are committed to providing continued assurance to our customers through assessments, certifications, and attestations that support the adoption of current and new AWS services and features. We are pleased to announce the availability of the 2023 Canadian Centre for Cyber Security (CCCS) assessment summary report for AWS. With this assessment, a total of 150 AWS services and features are assessed in the Canada (Central) Region, including 20 additional AWS services and features. The assessment report is available for review and download on demand through AWS Artifact.
The full list of services in scope for the CCCS assessment is available on the Services in Scope page. The 20 new services and features are the following:
The CCCS is Canada’s authoritative source of cyber security expert guidance for the Canadian government, industry, and the general public. Public and commercial sector organizations across Canada rely on CCCS’s rigorous Cloud Service Provider (CSP) IT Security (ITS) assessment in their decision to use CSP services. In addition, CCCS’s ITS assessment process is a mandatory requirement for AWS to provide cloud services to Canadian federal government departments and agencies.
The CCCS cloud service provider information technology security assessment process determines if the Government of Canada (GC) ITS requirements for the CCCS Medium cloud security profile (previously referred to as GC’s PROTECTED B/Medium Integrity/Medium Availability [PBMM] profile) are met as described in ITSG-33 (IT security risk management: A lifecycle approach, Annex 3 – Security control catalogue). As of November 2023, 150 AWS services in the Canada (Central) Region have been assessed by CCCS and meet the requirements for the Medium cloud security profile. Meeting the Medium cloud security profile is required to host workloads that are classified up to and including Medium categorization. On a periodic basis, CCCS assesses new or previously unassessed services and re-assesses the AWS services that were previously assessed to verify that they continue to meet the GC’s requirements. CCCS prioritizes the assessment of new AWS services based on their availability in Canada, and customer demand for the AWS services. The full list of AWS services that have been assessed by CCCS is available on our Services in Scope for CCCS Assessment page.
To learn more about the CCCS assessment or our other compliance and security programs, visit AWS Compliance Programs. As always, we value your feedback and questions; reach out to the AWS Compliance team through the Contact Us page.
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I’ve been at AWS for more than four years, and I’ve enjoyed every minute of it! I started as a consultant in Professional Services, and I’ve been a Security Solutions Architect for around three years.
How do you explain your job to your non-tech friends?
Well, my mother doesn’t totally understand my role, and she’s been known to tell her friends that I’m the cable company technician that installs your internet modem and router. I usually tell my non-tech friends that I help AWS customers protect their sensitive data. If I mention cryptography, I typically only get asked questions about cryptocurrency—which I’m not qualified to answer. If someone asks what cryptography is, I usually say it’s protecting data by using mathematics.
How did you get started in data protection and cryptography? What about it piqued your interest?
I originally went to school to become a network engineer, but I discovered that moving data packets from point A to point B wasn’t as interesting to me as securing those data packets. Early in my career, I was an intern at an insurance company, and I had a mentor who set up ethnical hacking lessons for me—for example, I’d come into the office and he’d have a compromised workstation preconfigured. He’d ask me to do an investigation and determine how the workstation was compromised and what could be done to isolate it and collect evidence. Other times, I’d come in and find my desk cabinets were locked with a padlock, and he wanted me to pick the lock. Security is particularly interesting because it’s an ever-evolving field, and I enjoy learning new things.
What’s been the most dramatic change you’ve seen in the data protection landscape?
One of the changes that I’ve been excited to see is an emphasis on encrypting everything. When I started my career, we’d often have discussions about encryption in the context of tradeoffs. If we needed to encrypt sensitive data, we’d have a conversation with application teams about the potential performance impact of encryption and decryption operations on their systems (for example, their databases), when to schedule downtime for the application to encrypt the data or rotate the encryption keys protecting the data, how to ensure the durability of their keys and make sure they didn’t lose data, and so on.
When I talk to customers about encryption on AWS today—of course, it’s still useful to talk about potential performance impact—but the conversation has largely shifted from “Should I encrypt this data?” to “How should I encrypt this data?” This is due to services such as AWS Key Management Service (AWS KMS) making it simpler for customers to manage encryption keys and encrypt and decrypt data in their applications with minimal performance impact or application downtime. AWS KMS has also made it simple to enable encryption of sensitive data—with over 120 AWS services integrated with AWS KMS, and services such as Amazon Simple Storage Service (Amazon S3) encrypting new S3 objects by default.
You are a frequent contributor to the AWS Security Blog. What were some of your recent posts about?
You are speaking in a couple of sessions at AWS re:Invent; what will your sessions focus on? What do you hope attendees will take away from your session?
I’m delivering two sessions at re:Invent this year. The first is a chalk talk, Centrally manage application secrets with AWS Secrets Manager (SEC221), that I’m delivering with Ritesh Desai, who is the General Manager of Secrets Manager. We’re discussing how you can securely store and manage secrets in your workloads inside and outside of AWS. We will highlight some recommended practices for managing secrets, and answer your questions about how Secrets Manager integrates with services such as AWS KMS to help protect application secrets.
The second session is also a chalk talk, Securely modernize payment applications with AWS (SEC326). I’m delivering this talk with Mark Cline, who is the Senior Product Manager of AWS Payment Cryptography. We will walk through an example scenario on creating a new payment processing application. We will discuss how to use AWS Payment Cryptography, as well as other services such as AWS Lambda, to build a simple architecture to help process and secure credit card payment data. We will also include common payment industry use cases such as tokenization of sensitive data, and how to include basic anti-fraud detection, in our example app.
What are you currently working on that you’re excited about?
My re:Invent sessions are definitely something that I’m excited about. Otherwise, I spend most of my time talking to customers about AWS Cryptography services such as AWS KMS, AWS Secrets Manager, and AWS Private Certificate Authority. I also lead a program at AWS that enables our subject matter experts to create and publish videos to demonstrate new features of AWS Security Services. I like helping people create videos, and I hope that our videos provide another mechanism for viewers who prefer information in a video format. Visual media can be more inclusive for customers with certain disabilities or for neurodiverse customers who find it challenging to focus on written text. Plus, you can consume videos differently than a blog post or text documentation. If you don’t have the time or desire to read a blog post or AWS public doc, you can listen to an instructional video while you work on other tasks, eat lunch, or take a break. I invite folks to check out the AWS Security Services Features Demo YouTube video playlist.
Is there something you wish customers would ask you about more often?
I always appreciate when customers provide candid feedback on our services. AWS is a customer-obsessed company, and we build our service roadmaps based on what our customers tell us they need. You should feel comfortable letting AWS know when something could be easier, more efficient, or less expensive. Many customers I’ve worked with have provided actionable feedback on our services and influenced service roadmaps, just by speaking up and sharing their experiences.
How about outside of work, any hobbies?
I have two toddlers that keep me pretty busy, so most of my hobbies are what they like to do. So I tend to spend a lot of time building elaborate toy train tracks, pushing my kids on the swings, and pretending to eat wooden toy food that they “cook” for me. Outside of that, I read a lot of fiction and indulge in binge-worthy TV.
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In the AWS Security Profile series, we feature the people who work in Amazon Web Services (AWS) Security and help keep our customers safe and secure. This interview is with Tom Scholl, VP and Distinguished Engineer for AWS.
What do you do in your current role and how long have you been at AWS?
I’m currently a vice president and distinguished engineer in the infrastructure organization at AWS. My role includes working on the AWS global network backbone, as well as focusing on denial-of-service detection and mitigation systems. I’ve been with AWS for over 12 years.
What initially got you interested in networking and how did that lead you to the anti-abuse and distributed denial of service (DDoS) space?
My interest in large global network infrastructure started when I was a teenager in the 1990s. I remember reading a magazine at the time that cataloged all the large IP transit providers on the internet, complete with network topology maps and sizes of links. It inspired me to want to work on the engineering teams that supported that. Over time, I was fortunate enough to move from working at a small ISP to a telecom carrier where I was able to work on their POP and backbone designs. It was there that I learned about the internet peering ecosystem and started collaborating with network operators from around the globe.
For the last 20-plus years, DDoS was always something I had to deal with to some extent. Namely, from the networking lens of preventing network congestion through traffic-engineering and capacity planning, as well as supporting the integration of DDoS traffic scrubbers into network infrastructure.
About three years ago, I became especially intrigued by the network abuse and DDoS space after using AWS network telemetry to observe the size of malicious events in the wild. I started to be interested in how mitigation could be improved, and how to break down the problem into smaller pieces to better understand the true sources of attack traffic. Instead of merely being an observer, I wanted to be a part of the solution and make it better. This required me to immerse myself into the domain, both from the perspective of learning the technical details and by getting hands-on and understanding the DDoS industry and environment as a whole. Part of how I did this was by engaging with my peers in the industry at other companies and absorbing years of knowledge from them.
How do you explain your job to your non-technical friends and family?
I try to explain both areas that I work on. First, that I help build the global network infrastructure that connects AWS and its customers to the rest of the world. I explain that for a home user to reach popular destinations hosted on AWS, data has to traverse a series of networks and physical cables that are interconnected so that the user’s home computer or mobile phone can send packets to another part of the world in less than a second. All that requires coordination with external networks, which have their own practices and policies on how they handle traffic. AWS has to navigate that complexity and build and operate our infrastructure with customer availability and security in mind. Second, when it comes to DDoS and network abuse, I explain that there are bad actors on the internet that use DDoS to cause impairment for a variety of reasons. It could be someone wanting to disrupt online gaming, video conferencing, or regular business operations for any given website or company. I work to prevent those events from causing any sort of impairment and trace back the source to disrupt that infrastructure launching them to prevent it from being effective in the future.
Recently, you were awarded the J.D. Falk Award by the Messaging Malware Mobile Anti-Abuse Working Group (M3AAWG) for IP Spoofing Mitigation. Congratulations! Please tell us more about the efforts that led to this.
Basically, there are three main types of DDoS attacks we observe: botnet-based unicast floods, spoofed amplification/reflection attacks, and proxy-driven HTTP request floods. The amplification/reflection aspect is interesting because it requires DDoS infrastructure providers to acquire compute resources behind providers that permit IP spoofing. IP spoofing itself has a long history on the internet, with a request for comment/best current practice (RFC/BCP) first written back in 2000 recommending that providers prevent this from occurring. However, adoption of this practice is still spotty on the internet.
At NANOG76, there was a proposal that these sorts of spoofed attacks could be traced by network operators in the path of the pre-amplification/reflection traffic (before it bounced off the reflectors). I personally started getting involved in this effort about two years ago. AWS operates a large global network and has network telemetry data that would help me identify pre-amplification/reflection traffic entering our network. This would allow me to triangulate the source network generating this. I then started engaging various networks directly that we connect to and provided them timestamps, spoofed source IP addresses, and specific protocols and ports involved with the traffic, hoping they could use their network telemetry to identify the customer generating it. From there, they’d engage with their customer to get the source shutdown or, failing that, implement packet filters on their customer to prevent spoofing.
Initially, only a few networks were capable of doing this well. This meant I had to spend a fair amount of energy in educating various networks around the globe on what spoofed traffic is, how to use their network telemetry to find it, and how to handle it. This was the most complicated and challenging part because this wasn’t on the radar of many networks out there. Up to this time, frontline network operations and abuse teams at various networks, including some very large ones, were not proficient in dealing with this.
The education I did included a variety of engagements, including sharing drawings with the day-in-the-life of a spoofed packet in a reflection attack, providing instructions on how to use their network telemetry tools, connecting them with their network telemetry vendors to help them, and even going so far as using other more exotic methods to identify which of their customers were spoofing and pointing out who they needed to analyze more deeply. In the end, it’s about getting other networks to be responsive and take action and, in the best cases, find spoofing on their own and act upon it.
Incredible! How did it feel accepting the award at the M3AAWG General Meeting in Brooklyn?
It was an honor to accept it and see some acknowledgement for the behind-the-scenes work that goes on to make the internet a better place.
What’s next for you in your work to suppress IP spoofing?
Continue tracing exercises and engaging with external providers. In particular, some of the network providers that experience challenges in dealing with spoofing and how we can improve their operations. Also, determining more effective ways to educate the hosting providers where IP spoofing is a common issue and making them implement proper default controls to not allow this behavior. Another aspect is being a force multiplier to enable others to spread the word and be part of the education process.
Looking ahead, what are some of your other goals for improving users’ online experiences and security?
Continually focusing on improving our DDoS defense strategies and working with customers to build tailored solutions that address some of their unique requirements. Across AWS, we have many services that are architected in different ways, so a key part of this is how do we raise the bar from a DDoS defense perspective across each of them. AWS customers also have their own unique architecture and protocols that can require developing new solutions to address their specific needs. On the disruption front, we will continue to focus on disrupting DDoS-as-a-service provider infrastructure beyond disrupting spoofing to disrupting botnets and the infrastructure associated with HTTP request floods.
With HTTP request floods being much more popular than byte-heavy and packet-heavy threat methods, it’s important to highlight the risks open proxies on the internet pose. Some of this emphasizes why there need to be some defaults in software packages to prevent misuse, in addition to network operators proactively identifying open proxies and taking appropriate action. Hosting providers should also recognize when their customer resources are communicating with large fleets of proxies and consider taking appropriate mitigations.
What are the most critical skills you would advise people need to be successful in network security?
I’m a huge proponent of being hands-on and diving into problems to truly understand how things are operating. Putting yourself outside your comfort zone, diving deep into the data to understand something, and translating that into outcomes and actions is something I highly encourage. After you immerse yourself in a particular domain, you can be much more effective at developing strategies and rapid prototyping to move forward. You can make incremental progress with small actions. You don’t have to wait for the perfect and complete solution to make some progress. I also encourage collaboration with others because there is incredible value in seeking out diverse opinions. There are resources out there to engage with, provided you’re willing to put in the work to learn and determine how you want to give back. The best people I’ve worked with don’t do it for public attention, blog posts, or social media status. They work in the background and don’t expect anything in return. They do it because of their desire to protect their customers and, where possible, the internet at large.
Lastly, if you had to pick an industry outside of security for your career, what would you be doing?
I’m over the maximum age allowed to start as an air traffic controller, so I suppose an air transport pilot or a locomotive engineer would be pretty neat.
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AWS re:Invent 2023 is fast approaching, and we can’t wait to see you in Las Vegas in November. re:Invent offers you the chance to come together with cloud enthusiasts from around the world to hear the latest cloud industry innovations, meet with Amazon Web Services (AWS) experts, and build connections. This post will highlight key security sessions organized by various themes, so you don’t miss any of the newest and most exciting tech innovations and the sessions where you can learn how to put those innovations into practice.
re:Invent offers a diverse range of content tailored to all personas. Seminar-style content includes breakout sessions and innovation talks, delivered by AWS thought leaders. These are curated to focus on topics most critical to our customers’ businesses and spotlight advancements AWS has enabled for them. For more interactive or hands-on content, check out chalk talks, dev chats, builder sessions, workshops, and code talks.
If you plan to attend re:Invent 2023, and you’re interested in connecting with a security, identity, or compliance product team, reach out to your AWS account team.
Sessions for security leaders
Security leaders are always reinventing, tasked with aligning security goals to business objectives and reducing overall risk to the organization. Attend sessions at re:Invent where you can learn from security leadership and thought leaders on how to empower your teams, build sustainable security culture, and move fast and stay secure in an ever-evolving threat landscape.
INNOVATION TALK
SEC237-INT | Move fast, stay secure: Strategies for the future of security
BREAKOUT SESSIONS
SEC211 | Sustainable security culture: Empower builders for success
SEC216 | The AWS Digital Sovereignty Pledge: Control without compromise
SEC219 | Build secure applications on AWS the well-architected way
SEC236 | The AWS data-driven perspective on threat landscape trends
NET201 | Safeguarding infrastructure from DDoS attacks with AWS edge services
The role of generative AI in security
The swift rise of generative artificial intelligence (generative AI) illustrates the need for security practices to quickly adapt to meet evolving business requirements and drive innovation. In addition to the security Innovation Talk (Move fast, stay secure: Strategies for the future of security), attend sessions where you can learn about how large language models can impact security practices, how security teams can support safer use of this technology in the business, and how generative AI can help organizations move security forward.
BREAKOUT SESSIONS
SEC210 | How security teams can strengthen security using generative AI
SEC214 | Threat modeling your generative AI workload to evaluate security risk
CHALK TALKS
SEC317 | Building secure generative AI applications on AWS
OPN201 | Evolving OSPOs for supply chain security and generative AI
AIM352 | Securely build generative AI apps and control data with Amazon Bedrock
DEV CHAT
COM309 | Shaping the future of security on AWS with generative AI
Architecting and operating container workloads securely
The unique perspectives that drive how system builders and security teams perceive and address system security can present both benefits and obstacles to collaboration within a business. Find out more about how you can bolster your container security through sessions focused on best practices, detecting and patching threats and vulnerabilities in containerized environments, and managing risk across your AWS container workloads.
BREAKOUT SESSIONS
CON325 | Securing containerized workloads on Amazon ECS and AWS Fargate
CON320 | Building for the future with AWS serverless services
CHALK TALKS
SEC332 | Comprehensive vulnerability management across your AWS environments
FSI307 | Best practices for securing containers and being compliant
CON334 | Strategies and best practices for securing containerized environments
WORKSHOP
SEC303 | Container threat detection with AWS security services
BUILDER SESSION
SEC330 | Patch it up: Building a vulnerability management solution
Zero Trust
At AWS, we consider Zero Trust a security model—not a product. Zero Trust requires users and systems to strongly prove their identities and trustworthiness, and enforces fine-grained identity-based authorization rules before allowing access to applications, data, and other systems. It expands authorization decisions to consider factors like the entity’s current state and the environment. Learn more about our approach to Zero Trust in these sessions.
INNOVATION TALK
SEC237-INT | Move fast, stay secure: Strategies for the future of security
CHALK TALKS
WPS304 | Using Zero Trust to reduce security risk for the public sector
OPN308 | Build and operate a Zero Trust Apache Kafka cluster
NET312 | Connecting and securing services with Amazon VPC Lattice
NET315 | Building Zero Trust architectures using AWS Verified Access
WORKSHOPS
SEC302 | Zero Trust architecture for service-to-service workloads
Managing identities and encrypting data
At AWS, security is our top priority. AWS provides you with features and controls to encrypt data at rest, in transit, and in memory. We build features into our services that make it easier to encrypt your data and control user and application access to data. Explore these topics in depth during these sessions.
BREAKOUT SESSIONS
SEC209 | Modernize authorization: Lessons from cryptography and authentication
SEC336 | Spur productivity with options for identity and access
SEC333 | Better together: Using encryption & authorization for data protection
CHALK TALKS
SEC221 | Centrally manage application secrets with AWS Secrets Manager
SEC322 | Integrate apps with Amazon Cognito and Amazon Verified Permissions
SEC223 | Optimize your workforce identity strategy from top to bottom
WORKSHOPS
SEC247 | Practical data protection and risk assessment for sensitive workloads
For a full view of security content, including hands-on learning and interactive sessions, explore the AWS re:Invent catalog and under Topic, filter on Security, Compliance, & Identity. Not able to attend in-person? Livestream keynotes and leadership sessions for free by registering for the virtual-only pass!
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On May 20, 2023, the Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program (FedRAMP) released the FedRAMP Rev.5 baselines. The FedRAMP baselines were updated to correspond with the National Institute of Standards and Technology’s (NIST) Special Publication (SP) 800-53 Rev. 5 Catalog of Security and Privacy Controls for Information Systems and Organizations and SP 800-53B Control Baselines for Information Systems and Organizations. AWS is transitioning to the updated security requirements and assisting customers by making new resources available (additional information on these resources below). AWS security and compliance teams are analyzing both the FedRAMP baselines and templates, along with the NIST 800-53 Rev. 5 requirements, to help ensure a seamless transition. This post details the high-level milestones for the transition of AWS GovCloud (US) and AWS US East/West FedRAMP-authorized Regions and lists new resources available to customers.
Background
The NIST 800-53 framework is an information security standard that sets forth minimum requirements for federal information systems. In 2020, NIST released Rev. 5 of the framework with new control requirements related to privacy and supply chain risk management, among other enhancements, to improve security standards for industry partners and government agencies. The Federal Information Security Modernization Act (FISMA) of 2014 is a law requiring the implementation of information security policies for federal Executive Branch civilian agencies and contractors. FedRAMP is a government-wide program that promotes the adoption of secure cloud service offerings across the federal government by providing a standardized approach to security and risk assessment for cloud technologies and federal agencies. Both FISMA and FedRAMP adhere to the NIST SP 800-53 framework to define security control baselines that are applicable to AWS and its agency customers.
Key milestones and deliverables
The timeline for AWS to transition to FedRAMP Rev. 5 baselines will be predicated on transition guidance and requirements issued by the FedRAMP Program Management Office (PMO), our third-party assessment (3PAO) schedule, and the FedRAMP Provisional Authorization to Operate (P-ATO) authorization date. Below you will find a list of key documents to help customers get started with Rev. 5 on AWS, as well as timelines for the AWS preliminary authorization schedule.
Key Rev. 5 AWS documents for customers:
AWS FedRAMP Rev5 Customer Responsibility Matrix (CRM) – Made available on AWS Artifact September 1, 2023 (attachment within the AWS FedRAMP Customer Package).
AWS Customer Compliance Guides (CCG) V2 – AWS Customer Compliance Guides are now available on AWS Artifact. CCGs are mapped to NIST 800-53 Rev. 5 and nine additional compliance frameworks.
AWS GovCloud (US) authorization timeline:
3PAO Rev. 5 annual assessment: January 2024–April 2024
Estimated 2024 Rev. 5 P-ATO letter delivery: Q4 2024
AWS US East/West commercial authorization timeline:
3PAO Rev 5. annual assessment: March 2024–June 2024
Estimated 2024 Rev. 5 P-ATO letter delivery: Q4 2024
The AWS transition to FedRAMP Rev. 5 baselines will be completed in accordance with regulatory requirements as defined in our existing FedRAMP P-ATO letter, according to the FedRAMP Transition Guidance. Note that FedRAMP P-ATO letters and Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) Provisional Authorization (PA) letters for AWS are considered active through the transition to NIST SP 800-53 Rev. 5. This includes through the 2024 annual assessments of AWS GovCloud (US) and AWS US East/West Regions. The P-ATO letters for each Region are expected to be delivered between Q3 and Q4 of 2024. Supporting documentation required for FedRAMP authorization will be made available to U.S. Government agencies and stakeholders in 2024 on a rolling basis and based on the timeline and conclusion of 3PAO assessments.
How to contact us
For questions about the AWS transition to the FedRAMP Rev. 5 baselines, AWS and its services, or for compliance questions, contact [email protected].
To learn more about AWS compliance programs, see the AWS Compliance Programs page. For more information about the FedRAMP project, see the FedRAMP website.
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From day one, Amazon Web Services (AWS) has always believed it is essential that customers have control over their data, and choices for how they secure and manage that data in the cloud. Last year, we introduced the AWS Digital Sovereignty Pledge, our commitment to offering AWS customers the most advanced set of sovereignty controls and features available in the cloud. We pledged to work to understand the evolving needs and requirements of both customers and regulators, and to rapidly adapt and innovate to meet them. We committed to expanding our capabilities to allow customers to meet their digital sovereignty needs, without compromising on the performance, innovation, security, or scale of the AWS Cloud.
AWS offers the largest and most comprehensive cloud infrastructure globally. Our approach from the beginning has been to make AWS sovereign-by-design. We built data protection features and controls in the AWS Cloud with input from financial services, healthcare, and government customers—who are among the most security- and data privacy-conscious organizations in the world. This has led to innovations like the AWS Nitro System, which powers all our modern Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (Amazon EC2) instances and provides a strong physical and logical security boundary to enforce access restrictions so that nobody, including AWS employees, can access customer data running in Amazon EC2. The security design of the Nitro System has also been independently validated by the NCC Group in a public report.
With AWS, customers have always had control over the location of their data. In Europe, customers that need to comply with European data residency requirements have the choice to deploy their data to any of our eight existing AWS Regions (Ireland, Frankfurt, London, Paris, Stockholm, Milan, Zurich, and Spain) to keep their data securely in Europe. To run their sensitive workloads, European customers can leverage the broadest and deepest portfolio of services, including AI, analytics, compute, database, Internet of Things (IoT), machine learning, mobile services, and storage. To further support customers, we’ve innovated to offer more control and choice over their data. For example, we announced further transparency and assurances, and new dedicated infrastructure options with AWS Dedicated Local Zones.
Announcing the AWS European Sovereign Cloud
When we speak to public sector and regulated industry customers in Europe, they share how they are facing incredible complexity and changing dynamics with an evolving sovereignty landscape. Customers tell us they want to adopt the cloud, but are facing increasing regulatory scrutiny over data location, European operational autonomy, and resilience. We’ve learned that these customers are concerned that they will have to choose between the full power of AWS or feature-limited sovereign cloud solutions. We’ve had deep engagements with European regulators, national cybersecurity authorities, and customers to understand how the sovereignty needs of customers can vary based on multiple factors, like location, sensitivity of workloads, and industry. These factors can impact their workload requirements, such as where their data can reside, who can access it, and the controls needed. AWS has a proven track record of innovation to address specialized workloads around the world.
Today, we’re excited to announce our plans to launch the AWS European Sovereign Cloud, a new, independent cloud for Europe, designed to help public sector organizations and customers in highly regulated industries meet their evolving sovereignty needs. We’re designing the AWS European Sovereign Cloud to be separate and independent from our existing Regions, with infrastructure located wholly within the European Union (EU), with the same security, availability, and performance our customers get from existing Regions today. To deliver enhanced operational resilience within the EU, only EU residents who are located in the EU will have control of the operations and support for the AWS European Sovereign Cloud. As with all current Regions, customers using the AWS European Sovereign Cloud will benefit from the full power of AWS with the same familiar architecture, expansive service portfolio, and APIs that millions of customers use today. The AWS European Sovereign Cloud will launch its first AWS Region in Germany available to all European customers.
The AWS European Sovereign Cloud will be sovereign-by-design, and will be built on more than a decade of experience operating multiple independent clouds for the most critical and restricted workloads. Like existing Regions, the AWS European Sovereign Cloud will be built for high availability and resiliency, and powered by the AWS Nitro System, to help ensure the confidentiality and integrity of customer data. Customers will have the control and assurance that AWS will not access or use customer data for any purpose without their agreement. AWS gives customers the strongest sovereignty controls among leading cloud providers. For customers with enhanced data residency needs, the AWS European Sovereign cloud is designed to go further and will allow customers to keep all metadata they create (such as the roles, permissions, resource labels, and configurations they use to run AWS) in the EU. The AWS European Sovereign Cloud will also be built with separate, in-Region billing and usage metering systems.
Delivering operational autonomy
The AWS European Sovereign Cloud will provide customers the capability to meet stringent operational autonomy and data residency requirements. To deliver enhanced data residency and operational resilience within the EU, the AWS European Sovereign Cloud infrastructure will be operated independently from existing AWS Regions. To assure independent operation of the AWS European Sovereign Cloud, only personnel who are EU residents, located in the EU, will have control of day-to-day operations, including access to data centers, technical support, and customer service.
We’re taking learnings from our deep engagements with European regulators and national cybersecurity authorities and applying them as we build the AWS European Sovereign Cloud, so that customers using the AWS European Sovereign Cloud can meet their data residency, operational autonomy, and resilience requirements. For example, we are looking forward to continuing to partner with Germany’s Federal Office for Information Security (BSI).
“The development of a European AWS Cloud will make it much easier for many public sector organizations and companies with high data security and data protection requirements to use AWS services. We are aware of the innovative power of modern cloud services and we want to help make them securely available for Germany and Europe. The C5 (Cloud Computing Compliance Criteria Catalogue), which was developed by the BSI, has significantly shaped cybersecurity cloud standards and AWS was in fact the first cloud service provider to receive the BSI’s C5 testate. In this respect, we are very pleased to constructively accompany the local development of an AWS Cloud, which will also contribute to European sovereignty, in terms of security.” — Claudia Plattner, President of the German Federal Office for Information Security (BSI)
Control without compromise
Though separate, the AWS European Sovereign Cloud will offer the same industry-leading architecture built for security and availability as other AWS Regions. This will include multiple Availability Zones (AZs), infrastructure that is placed in separate and distinct geographic locations, with enough distance to significantly reduce the risk of a single event impacting customers’ business continuity. Each AZ will have multiple layers of redundant power and networking to provide the highest level of resiliency. All AZs in the AWS European Sovereign Cloud will be interconnected with fully redundant, dedicated metro fiber, providing high-throughput, low-latency networking between AZs. All traffic between AZs will be encrypted. Customers who need more options to address stringent isolation and in-country data residency needs will be able to use Dedicated Local Zones or AWS Outposts to deploy AWS European Sovereign Cloud infrastructure in locations they select.
Continued AWS investment in Europe
The AWS European Sovereign Cloud represents continued AWS investment in Europe. AWS is committed to innovating to support European values and Europe’s digital future. We drive economic development through investing in infrastructure, jobs, and skills in communities and countries across Europe. We are creating thousands of high-quality jobs and investing billions of euros in European economies. Amazon has created more than 100,000 permanent jobs across the EU. Some of our largest AWS development teams are located in Europe, with key centers in Dublin, Dresden, and Berlin. As part of our continued commitment to contribute to the development of digital skills, we will hire and develop additional local personnel to operate and support the AWS European Sovereign Cloud.
Customers, partners, and regulators welcome the AWS European Sovereign Cloud
In the EU, hundreds of thousands of organizations of all sizes and across all industries are using AWS – from start-ups, to small and medium-sized businesses, to the largest enterprises, including telecommunication companies, public sector organizations, educational institutions, and government agencies. Organizations across Europe support the introduction of the AWS European Sovereign Cloud.
“As the market leader in enterprise application software with strong roots in Europe, SAP and AWS have long collaborated on behalf of customers to accelerate digital transformation around the world. The AWS European Sovereign Cloud provides further opportunities to strengthen our relationship in Europe by enabling us to expand the choices we offer to customers as they move to the cloud. We appreciate the ongoing partnership with AWS, and the new possibilities this investment can bring for our mutual customers across the region.” — Peter Pluim, President, SAP Enterprise Cloud Services and SAP Sovereign Cloud Services.
“The new AWS European Sovereign Cloud can be a game-changer for highly regulated business segments in the European Union. As a leading telecommunications provider in Germany, our digital transformation focuses on innovation, scalability, agility, and resilience to provide our customers with the best services and quality. This will now be paired with the highest levels of data protection and regulatory compliance that AWS delivers, and with a particular focus on digital sovereignty requirements. I am convinced that this new infrastructure offering has the potential to boost cloud adaptation of European companies and accelerate the digital transformation of regulated industries across the EU.” — Mallik Rao, Chief Technology and Information Officer, O2 Telefónica in Germany
“Deutsche Telekom welcomes the announcement of the AWS European Sovereign Cloud, which highlights AWS’s dedication to continuous innovation for European businesses. The AWS solution will provide greater choice for organizations when moving regulated workloads to the cloud and additional options to meet evolving digital governance requirements in the EU.” — Greg Hyttenrauch, senior vice president, Global Cloud Services at T-Systems
“Today, we stand at the cusp of a transformative era. The introduction of the AWS European Sovereign Cloud does not merely represent an infrastructural enhancement, it is a paradigm shift. This sophisticated framework will empower Dedalus to offer unparalleled services for storing patient data securely and efficiently in the AWS cloud. We remain committed, without compromise, to serving our European clientele with best-in-class solutions underpinned by trust and technological excellence.” — Andrea Fiumicelli, Chairman, Dedalus
“At de Volksbank, we believe in investing in a better Netherlands. To do this effectively, we need to have access to the latest technologies in order for us to continually be innovating and improving services for our customers. For this reason, we welcome the announcement of the European Sovereign Cloud which will allow European customers to easily demonstrate compliance with evolving regulations while still benefitting from the scale, security, and full suite of AWS services.” — Sebastiaan Kalshoven, Director IT/CTO, de Volksbank
“Eviden welcomes the launch of the AWS European Sovereign Cloud. This will help regulated industries and the public sector address the requirements of their sensitive workloads with a fully featured AWS cloud wholly operated in Europe. As an AWS Premier Tier Services Partner and leader in cybersecurity services in Europe, Eviden has an extensive track record in helping AWS customers formalize and mitigate their sovereignty risks. The AWS European Sovereign Cloud will allow Eviden to address a wider range of customers’ sovereignty needs.” — Yannick Tricaud, Head of Southern and Central Europe, Middle East, and Africa, Eviden, Atos Group
“We welcome the commitment of AWS to expand its infrastructure with an independent European cloud. This will give businesses and public sector organizations more choice in meeting digital sovereignty requirements. Cloud services are essential for the digitization of the public administration. With the “German Administration Cloud Strategy” and the “EVB-IT Cloud” contract standard, the foundations for cloud use in the public administration have been established. I am very pleased to work together with AWS to practically and collaboratively implement sovereignty in line with our cloud strategy.” — Dr. Markus Richter, CIO of the German federal government, Federal Ministry of the Interior
Our commitments to our customers
We remain committed to giving our customers control and choices to help meet their evolving digital sovereignty needs. We continue to innovate sovereignty features, controls, and assurances globally with AWS, without compromising on the full power of AWS.
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AWS Digital Sovereignty Pledge : Un nouveau cloud souverain, indépendant en Europe
Depuis sa création, Amazon Web Services (AWS) est convaincu qu’il est essentiel que les clients aient le contrôle de leurs données et puissent choisir la manière dont ils les sécurisent et les gèrent dans le cloud. L’année dernière, nous avons annoncé l’AWS Digital Sovereignty Pledge, notre engagement à offrir aux clients d’AWS l’ensemble le plus avancé de contrôles et de fonctionnalités de souveraineté disponibles dans le cloud. Nous nous sommes engagés à travailler pour comprendre les besoins et les exigences en constante évolution de nos clients et des régulateurs, et à nous adapter et innover rapidement pour y répondre. Nous nous sommes engagés à développer notre offre afin de permettre à nos clients de répondre à leurs besoins en matière de souveraineté numérique, sans compromis sur les performances, l’innovation, la sécurité ou encore l’étendue du Cloud AWS.
AWS propose l’infrastructure cloud la plus étendue et la plus complète au monde. Dès l’origine, notre approche a été de rendre AWS souverain dès la conception. Nous avons développé des fonctionnalités et des contrôles de protection des données dans le Cloud AWS en nous appuyant sur les retours de clients du secteur financier, de la santé et du secteur public, qui figurent parmi les organisations les plus soucieuses de la sécurité et de la confidentialité des données au monde. Cela a donné lieu à des innovations telles que AWS Nitro System, qui alimente toutes nos instances modernes Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (Amazon EC2) et fournit une solide barrière de sécurité physique et logique pour implémenter les restrictions d’accès afin que personne, y compris les employés d’AWS, ne puisse accéder aux données des clients traitées dans Amazon EC2. La conception de la sécurité du Système Nitro a également été validée de manière indépendante par NCC Group dans un rapport public.
Avec AWS, les clients ont toujours eu le contrôle de l’emplacement de leurs données. En Europe, les clients qui doivent se conformer aux exigences européennes en matière de localisation des données peuvent choisir de déployer leurs données dans l’une de nos huit Régions AWS existantes (Irlande, Francfort, Londres, Paris, Stockholm, Milan, Zurich et Espagne) afin de conserver leurs données en toute sécurité en Europe. Pour exécuter leurs applications sensibles, les clients européens peuvent avoir recours à l’offre de services la plus étendue et la plus complète, de l’intelligence artificielle à l’analyse, du calcul aux bases de données, en passant par l’Internet des objets (IoT), l’apprentissage automatique, les services mobiles et le stockage. Pour soutenir davantage nos clients, nous avons innové pour offrir un plus grand choix en matière de contrôle sur leurs données. Par exemple, nous avons annoncé une transparence et des garanties de sécurité accrues, ainsi que de nouvelles options d’infrastructure dédiée appelées AWS Dedicated Local Zones.
Annonce de l’AWS European Sovereign Cloud Lorsque nous parlons à des clients du secteur public et des industries régulées en Europe, ils nous font part de l’incroyable complexité à laquelle ils sont confrontés dans un contexte de souveraineté en pleine évolution. Les clients nous disent qu’ils souhaitent adopter le cloud, mais qu’ils sont confrontés à des exigences réglementaires croissantes en matière de localisation des données, d’autonomie opérationnelle européenne et de résilience. Nous entendons que ces clients craignent de devoir choisir entre la pleine puissance d’AWS et des solutions de cloud souverain aux fonctionnalités limitées. Nous avons eu des contacts approfondis avec les régulateurs européens, les autorités nationales de cybersécurité et les clients afin de comprendre comment ces besoins de souveraineté peuvent varier en fonction de multiples facteurs tels que la localisation, la sensibilité des applications et le secteur d’activité. Ces facteurs peuvent avoir une incidence sur leurs exigences, comme l’endroit où leurs données peuvent être localisées, les personnes autorisées à y accéder et les contrôles nécessaires. AWS a fait ses preuves en matière d’innovation pour les applications spécialisées dans le monde entier.
Aujourd’hui, nous sommes heureux d’annoncer le lancement de l’AWS European Sovereign Cloud, un nouveau cloud indépendant pour l’Europe, conçu pour aider les organisations du secteur public et les clients des industries régulées à répondre à leurs besoins évolutifs en matière de souveraineté. Nous concevons l’AWS European Sovereign Cloud de manière à ce qu’il soit distinct et indépendant de nos Régions existantes, avec une infrastructure entièrement située dans l’Union européenne (UE), avec les mêmes niveaux de sécurité, de disponibilité et de performance que ceux dont bénéficient nos clients aujourd’hui dans les Régions existantes. Pour offrir une résilience opérationnelle accrue au sein de l’UE, seuls des résidents de l’UE qui se trouvent dans l’UE auront le contrôle sur l’exploitation et le support de l’AWS European Sovereign Cloud. Comme dans toutes les Régions existantes, les clients utilisant l’AWS European Sovereign Cloud bénéficieront de toute la puissance d’AWS avec la même architecture à laquelle ils sont habitués, le même portefeuille de services étendu et les mêmes API que ceux utilisés par des millions de clients aujourd’hui. L’AWS European Sovereign Cloud lancera sa première Région AWS en Allemagne, disponible pour tous les clients européens.
L’AWS European Sovereign Cloud sera souverain dès la conception et s’appuiera sur plus d’une décennie d’expérience dans l’exploitation de clouds indépendants pour les applications les plus critiques et les plus sensibles. À l’instar des Régions existantes, l’AWS European Sovereign Cloud sera conçu pour offrir une haute disponibilité et un haut niveau de résilience, et sera basé sur le Système AWS Nitro afin de garantir la confidentialité et l’intégrité des données des clients. Les clients auront le contrôle de leurs données et l’assurance qu’AWS n’y accèdera pas, ni ne les utilisera à aucune fin sans leur accord. AWS offre à ses clients les contrôles de souveraineté les plus puissants parmi les principaux fournisseurs de cloud. Pour les clients ayant des besoins accrus en matière de localisation des données, l’AWS European Sovereign Cloud est conçu pour aller plus loin et permettra aux clients de conserver toutes les métadonnées qu’ils créent (telles que les rôles de compte, les autorisations, les étiquettes de données et les configurations qu’ils utilisent au sein d’AWS) dans l’UE. L’AWS European Sovereign Cloud sera également doté de systèmes de facturation et de mesure de l’utilisation distincts et propres.
Apporter l’autonomie opérationnelle L’AWS European Sovereign Cloud permettra aux clients de répondre à des exigences strictes en matière d’autonomie opérationnelle et de localisation des données. Pour améliorer la localisation des données et la résilience opérationnelle au sein de l’UE, l’infrastructure de l’AWS European Sovereign Cloud sera exploitée indépendamment des Régions AWS existantes. Afin de garantir le fonctionnement indépendant de l’AWS European Sovereign Cloud, seul le personnel résidant de l’UE et situé dans l’UE contrôlera les opérations quotidiennes, y compris l’accès aux centres de données, l’assistance technique et le service client.
Nous tirons les enseignements de nos échanges approfondis auprès des régulateurs européens et des autorités nationales de cybersécurité et les appliquons à la création de l’AWS European Sovereign Cloud, afin que les clients qui l’utilisent puissent répondre à leurs exigences en matière de localisation des données, d’autonomie opérationnelle et de résilience. Par exemple, nous nous réjouissons de poursuivre notre partenariat avec l’Office fédéral allemand de la sécurité de l’information (BSI).
« Le développement d’un cloud AWS européen facilitera grandement l’utilisation des services AWS pour de nombreuses organisations du secteur public et des entreprises ayant des exigences élevées en matière de sécurité et de protection des données. Nous sommes conscients du pouvoir d’innovation des services cloud modernes et nous voulons contribuer à les rendre disponibles en toute sécurité pour l’Allemagne et l’Europe. Le C5 (Catalogue des critères de conformité du cloud computing), développé par le BSI, a considérablement façonné les normes de cybersécurité dans le cloud et AWS a été en fait le premier fournisseur de services cloud à recevoir la certification C5 du BSI. À cet égard, nous sommes très heureux d’accompagner de manière constructive le développement local d’un cloud AWS, qui contribuera également à la souveraineté européenne en termes de sécurité ». — Claudia Plattner, Présidente de l’Office fédéral allemand de la sécurité de l’information (BSI)
Contrôle sans compromis Bien que distinct, l’AWS European Sovereign Cloud proposera la même architecture à la pointe de l’industrie, conçue pour offrir la même sécurité et la même disponibilité que les autres Régions AWS. Cela inclura plusieurs Zones de Disponibilité (AZ), des infrastructures physiques placées dans des emplacements géographiques séparés et distincts, avec une distance suffisante pour réduire de manière significative le risque qu’un seul événement ait un impact sur la continuité des activités des clients. Chaque AZ disposera de plusieurs couches d’alimentation et de réseau redondantes pour fournir le plus haut niveau de résilience. Toutes les Zones de Disponibilité de l’AWS European Sovereign Cloud seront interconnectées par un réseau métropolitain de fibres dédié entièrement redondant, fournissant un réseau à haut débit et à faible latence entre les Zones de Disponibilité. Tous les échanges entre les AZ seront chiffrés. Les clients recherchant davantage d’options pour répondre à des besoins stricts en matière d’isolement et de localisation des données dans le pays pourront tirer parti des Dedicated Local Zones ou d’AWS Outposts pour déployer l’infrastructure de l’AWS European Sovereign Cloud sur les sites de leur choix.
Un investissement continu d’AWS en Europe L’AWS European Sovereign Cloud s’inscrit dans un investissement continu d’AWS en Europe. AWS s’engage à innover pour soutenir les valeurs européennes et l’avenir numérique de l’Europe.
Nous créons des milliers d’emplois qualifiés et investissons des milliards d’euros dans l’économie européenne. Amazon a créé plus de 100 000 emplois permanents dans l’UE.
Nous favorisons le développement économique en investissant dans les infrastructures, les emplois et les compétences dans les territoires et les pays d’Europe. Certaines des plus grandes équipes de développement d’AWS sont situées en Europe, avec des centres majeurs à Dublin, Dresde et Berlin. Dans le cadre de notre engagement continu à contribuer au développement des compétences numériques, nous recruterons et formerons du personnel local supplémentaire pour exploiter et soutenir l’AWS European Sovereign Cloud.
Les clients, partenaires et régulateurs accueillent favorablement l’AWS European Sovereign Cloud Dans l’UE, des centaines de milliers d’organisations de toutes tailles et de tous secteurs utilisent AWS, qu’il s’agisse de start-ups, de petites et moyennes entreprises ou de grandes entreprises, y compris des sociétés de télécommunications, des organisations du secteur public, des établissements d’enseignement ou des agences gouvernementales. Des organisations de toute l’Europe accueillent favorablement l’AWS European Sovereign Cloud.
« En tant que leader du marché des logiciels de gestion d’entreprise fortement ancré en Europe, SAP collabore depuis longtemps avec AWS pour le compte de ses clients, afin d’accélérer la transformation numérique dans le monde entier. L’AWS European Sovereign Cloud offre de nouvelles opportunités de renforcer notre relation en Europe en nous permettant d’élargir les choix que nous offrons aux clients lorsqu’ils passent au cloud. Nous apprécions le partenariat en cours avec AWS, et les nouvelles possibilités que cet investissement peut apporter à nos clients mutuels dans toute la région. » — Peter Pluim, Président, SAP Enterprise Cloud Services and SAP Sovereign Cloud Services.
« Le nouvel AWS European Sovereign Cloud peut changer la donne pour les secteurs d’activité très réglementés de l’Union européenne. En tant que fournisseur de télécommunications de premier plan en Allemagne, notre transformation numérique se concentre sur l’innovation, l’évolutivité, l’agilité et la résilience afin de fournir à nos clients les meilleurs services et la meilleure qualité. Cela sera désormais associé aux plus hauts niveaux de protection des données et de conformité réglementaire qu’offre AWS, avec un accent particulier sur les exigences de souveraineté numérique. Je suis convaincu que cette nouvelle offre d’infrastructure a le potentiel de stimuler l’adaptation au cloud des entreprises européennes et d’accélérer la transformation numérique des industries réglementées à travers l’UE. » — Mallik Rao, Chief Technology and Information Officer, O2 Telefónica, Allemagne
« Deutsche Telekom se réjouit de l’annonce de l’AWS European Sovereign Cloud, qui souligne la volonté d’AWS d’innover en permanence pour les entreprises européennes. La solution d’AWS offrira un plus grand choix aux organisations lorsqu’elles migreront des applications réglementées vers le cloud, ainsi que des options supplémentaires pour répondre à l’évolution des exigences en matière de gouvernance numérique dans l’UE. » — Greg Hyttenrauch, vice-président senior, Global Cloud Services chez T-Systems
« Aujourd’hui, nous sommes à l’aube d’une ère de transformation. Le lancement de l’AWS European Sovereign Cloud ne représente pas seulement une amélioration de l’infrastructure, c’est un changement de paradigme. Ce cadre sophistiqué permettra à Dedalus d’offrir des services inégalés pour le stockage sécurisé et efficace des données des patients dans le cloud AWS. Nous restons engagés, sans compromis, à servir notre clientèle européenne avec les meilleures solutions de leur catégorie, étayées par la confiance et l’excellence technologique ». — Andrea Fiumicelli, Chairman at Dedalus
« À de Volksbank, nous croyons qu’il faut investir dans l’avenir des Pays-Bas. Pour y parvenir efficacement, nous devons avoir accès aux technologies les plus récentes afin d’innover en permanence et d’améliorer les services offerts à nos clients. C’est pourquoi nous nous réjouissons de l’annonce de l’AWS European Sovereign Cloud, qui permettra aux clients européens de démontrer facilement leur conformité aux réglementations en constante évolution tout en bénéficiant de l’étendue, de la sécurité et de la suite complète de services AWS ». — Sebastiaan Kalshoven, Director IT/CTO, de Volksbank
« Eviden se réjouit du lancement de l’AWS European Sovereign Cloud. Celui-ci aidera les industries réglementées et le secteur public à satisfaire leurs exigences pour les applications les plus sensibles, grâce à un Cloud AWS doté de toutes ses fonctionnalités et entièrement opéré en Europe. En tant que partenaire AWS Premier Tier Services et leader des services de cybersécurité en Europe, Eviden a une longue expérience dans l’accompagnement de clients AWS pour formaliser et maîtriser leurs risques en termes de souveraineté. L’AWS European Sovereign Cloud permettra à Eviden de répondre à un plus grand nombre de besoins de ses clients en matière de souveraineté ». — Yannick Tricaud, Head of Southern and Central Europe, Middle East and Africa, Eviden, Atos Group
« Nous saluons l’engagement d’AWS d’étendre son infrastructure avec un cloud européen indépendant. Les entreprises et les organisations du secteur public auront ainsi plus de choix pour répondre aux exigences de souveraineté numérique. Les services cloud sont essentiels pour la numérisation de l’administration publique. La “stratégie de l’administration allemande en matière de cloud” et la norme contractuelle “EVB-IT Cloud” ont constitué les bases de l’utilisation du cloud dans l’administration publique. Je suis très heureux de travailler avec AWS pour mettre en œuvre de manière pratique et collaborative la souveraineté, conformément à notre stratégie cloud. » — Markus Richter, DSI du gouvernement fédéral allemand, ministère fédéral de l’Intérieur.
Nos engagements envers nos clients Nous restons déterminés à donner à nos clients le contrôle et les choix nécessaires pour répondre à l’évolution de leurs besoins en matière de souveraineté numérique. Nous continuons d’innover en matière de fonctionnalités, de contrôles et de garanties de souveraineté au niveau mondial au sein d’AWS, tout en fournissant sans compromis et sans restriction la pleine puissance d’AWS.
AWS Digital Sovereignty Pledge: Ankündigung der neuen, unabhängigen AWS European Sovereign Cloud
Amazon Web Services (AWS) war immer der Meinung, dass es wichtig ist, dass Kunden die volle Kontrolle über ihre Daten haben. Kunden sollen die Wahl haben, wie sie diese Daten in der Cloud absichern und verwalten.
Letztes Jahr haben wir unseren „AWS Digital Sovereignty Pledge“ vorgestellt: Unser Versprechen, allen AWS-Kunden ohne Kompromisse die fortschrittlichsten Steuerungsmöglichkeiten für Souveränitätsanforderungen und Funktionen in der Cloud anzubieten. Wir haben uns dazu verpflichtet, die sich wandelnden Anforderungen von Kunden und Aufsichtsbehörden zu verstehen und sie mit innovativen Angeboten zu adressieren. Wir bauen unser Angebot so aus, dass Kunden ihre Bedürfnisse an digitale Souveränität erfüllen können, ohne Kompromisse bei der Leistungsfähigkeit, Innovationskraft, Sicherheit und Skalierbarkeit der AWS-Cloud einzugehen.
AWS bietet die größte und umfassendste Cloud-Infrastruktur weltweit. Von Anfang an haben wir bei der AWS-Cloud einen „sovereign-by-design“-Ansatz verfolgt. Wir haben mit Hilfe von Kunden aus besonders regulierten Branchen, wie z.B. Finanzdienstleistungen, Gesundheit, Staat und Verwaltung, Funktionen und Steuerungsmöglichkeiten für Datenschutz und Datensicherheit entwickelt. Dieses Vorgehen hat zu Innovationen wie dem AWS Nitro System geführt, das heute die Grundlage für alle modernen Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (Amazon EC2) Instanzen und Confidential Computing auf AWS bildet. AWS Nitro setzt auf eine starke physikalische und logische Sicherheitsabgrenzung und realisiert damit Zugriffsbeschränkungen, die unautorisierte Zugriffe auf Kundendaten in EC2 unmöglich machen – das gilt auch für AWS-Personal. Die NCC Group hat das Sicherheitsdesign von AWS Nitro im Rahmen einer unabhängigen Untersuchung in einem öffentlichen Bericht validiert.
Mit AWS hatten und haben Kunden stets die Kontrolle über den Speicherort ihrer Daten. Kunden, die spezifische europäische Vorgaben zum Ort der Datenverarbeitung einhalten müssen, haben die Wahl, ihre Daten in jeder unserer bestehenden acht AWS-Regionen (Frankfurt, Irland, London, Mailand, Paris, Stockholm, Spanien und Zürich) zu verarbeiten und sicher innerhalb Europas zu speichern. Europäische Kunden können ihre kritischen Workloads auf Basis des weltweit umfangreichsten und am weitesten verbreiteten Portfolios an Diensten betreiben – dazu zählen AI, Analytics, Compute, Datenbanken, Internet of Things (IoT), Machine Learning (ML), Mobile Services und Storage. Wir haben Innovationen in den Bereichen Datenverwaltung und Kontrolle realisiert, um unsere Kunden besser zu unterstützen. Zum Beispiel haben wir weitergehende Transparenz und zusätzliche Zusicherungen sowie neue Optionen für dedizierte Infrastruktur mit AWS Dedicated Local Zones angekündigt.
Ankündigung der AWS European Sovereign Cloud Kunden aus dem öffentlichen Sektor und aus regulierten Industrien in Europa berichten uns immer wieder, mit welcher Komplexität und Dynamik sie im Bereich Souveränität konfrontiert werden. Wir hören von unseren Kunden, dass sie die Cloud nutzen möchten, aber gleichzeitig zusätzliche Anforderungen im Zusammenhang mit dem Ort der Datenverarbeitung, der betrieblichen Autonomie und der operativen Souveränität erfüllen müssen.
Kunden befürchten, dass sie sich zwischen der vollen Leistung von AWS und souveränen Cloud-Lösungen mit eingeschränkter Funktion entscheiden müssen. Wir haben intensiv mit Aufsichts- und Cybersicherheitsbehörden sowie Kunden aus Deutschland und anderen europäischen Ländern zusammengearbeitet, um zu verstehen, wie Souveränitätsbedürfnisse aufgrund verschiedener Faktoren wie Standort, Klassifikation der Workloads und Branche variieren können. Diese Faktoren können sich auf Workload-Anforderungen auswirken, z. B. darauf, wo sich diese Daten befinden dürfen, wer darauf zugreifen kann und welche Steuerungsmöglichkeiten erforderlich sind. AWS hat eine nachgewiesene Erfolgsbilanz insbesondere für innovative Lösungen zur Verarbeitung spezialisierter Workloads auf der ganzen Welt.
Wir freuen uns, heute die AWS European Sovereign Cloud ankündigen zu können: Eine neue, unabhängige Cloud für Europa. Sie soll Kunden aus dem öffentlichen Sektor und stark regulierten Industrien (z.B. Betreiber kritischer Infrastrukturen („KRITIS“)) dabei helfen, spezifische gesetzliche Anforderungen an den Ort der Datenverarbeitung und den Betrieb der Cloud zu erfüllen. Die AWS European Sovereign Cloud wird sich in der Europäischen Union (EU) befinden und dort betrieben. Sie wird physisch und logisch von den bestehenden AWS-Regionen getrennt sein und dieselbe Sicherheit, Verfügbarkeit und Leistung wie die bestehenden AWS-Regionen bieten. Die Kontrolle über den Betrieb und den Support der AWS European Sovereign Cloud wird ausschließlich von AWS-Personal ausgeübt, das in der EU ansässig ist und sich in der EU aufhält.
Wie schon bei den bestehenden AWS-Regionen, werden Kunden, welche die AWS European Sovereign Cloud nutzen, von dem gesamten AWS-Leistungsumfang profitieren. Dazu zählen die gewohnte Architektur, das umfangreiche Service-Portfolio und die APIs, die heute schon von Millionen von Kunden verwendet werden. Die AWS European Sovereign Cloud wird mit ihrer ersten AWS-Region in Deutschland starten und allen Kunden in Europa zur Verfügung stehen.
Die AWS European Sovereign Cloud wird “sovereign-by-design” sein und basiert auf mehr als zehn Jahren Erfahrung beim Betrieb mehrerer unabhängiger Clouds für besonders kritische und vertrauliche Workloads. Wie schon bei unseren bestehenden AWS-Regionen wird die AWS European Sovereign Cloud für Hochverfügbarkeit und Ausfallsicherheit ausgelegt sein und auf dem AWS Nitro System aufbauen, um die Vertraulichkeit und Integrität von Kundendaten sicherzustellen. Kunden haben die Kontrolle und Gewissheit darüber, dass AWS nicht ohne ihr Einverständnis auf Kundendaten zugreift oder sie für andere Zwecke verwendet. Die AWS European Sovereign Cloud ist so gestaltet, dass nicht nur alle Kundendaten, sondern auch alle Metadaten, die durch Kunden angelegt werden (z.B. Rollen, Zugriffsrechte, Labels für Ressourcen und Konfigurationsinformationen), innerhalb der EU verbleiben. Die AWS European Sovereign Cloud verfügt über unabhängige Systeme für das Rechnungswesen und zur Nutzungsmessung.
„Die neue AWS European Sovereign Cloud kann ein Game Changer für stark regulierte Geschäftsbereiche in der Europäischen Union sein. Als führender Telekommunikationsanbieter in Deutschland konzentriert sich unsere digitale Transformation auf Innovation, Skalierbarkeit, Agilität und Resilienz, um unseren Kunden die besten Dienste und die beste Qualität zu bieten. Dies wird nun von AWS mit dem höchsten Datenschutzniveau unter Einhaltung der regulatorischen Anforderungen vereint mit einem besonderen Schwerpunkt auf die Anforderungen an digitale Souveränität. Ich bin überzeugt, dass dieses neue Infrastrukturangebot das Potenzial hat, die Cloud-Adaption von europäischen Unternehmen voranzutreiben und die digitale Transformation regulierter Branchen in der EU zu beschleunigen.“ — Mallik Rao, Chief Technology and Information Officer bei O2 Telefónica in Deutschland
Sicherstellung operativer Autonomie Die AWS European Sovereign Cloud bietet Kunden die Möglichkeit, strenge Anforderungen an Betriebsautonomie und den Ort der Datenverarbeitung zu erfüllen. Um eine Datenverarbeitung und operative Souveränität innerhalb der EU zu gewährleisten, wird die AWS European Sovereign Cloud-Infrastruktur unabhängig von bestehenden AWS-Regionen betrieben. Um den unabhängigen Betrieb der AWS European Sovereign Cloud zu gewährleisten, hat nur Personal, das in der EU ansässig ist und sich in der EU aufhält die Kontrolle über den täglichen Betrieb. Dazu zählen der Zugang zu Rechenzentren, der technische Support und der Kundenservice.
Wir nutzen die Erkenntnisse aus unserer intensiven Zusammenarbeit mit Aufsichts- und Cybersicherheitsbehörden in Europa beim Aufbau der AWS European Sovereign Cloud, damit Kunden ihren Anforderungen an die Kontrolle über den Speicher- und Verarbeitungsort ihrer Daten, der betrieblichen Autonomie und der operativen Souveränität gerecht werden können. Wir freuen uns, mit dem Bundesamt für Sicherheit in der Informationstechnik (BSI) auch bei der Umsetzung der AWS European Sovereign Cloud zu kooperieren:
„Der Aufbau einer europäischen AWS-Cloud wird es für viele Behörden und Unternehmen mit hohen Anforderungen an die Datensicherheit und den Datenschutz deutlich leichter machen, die AWS-Services zu nutzen. Wir wissen um die Innovationskraft moderner Cloud-Dienste und wir wollen mithelfen, sie für Deutschland und Europa sicher verfügbar zu machen. Das BSI hat mit dem Kriterienkatalog C5 die Cybersicherheit im Cloud Computing bereits maßgeblich beeinflusst, und tatsächlich war AWS der erste Cloud Service Provider, der das C5-Testat des BSI erhalten hat. Insofern freuen wir uns sehr, den hiesigen Aufbau einer AWS-Cloud, die auch einen Beitrag zur europäischen Souveränität leisten wird, im Hinblick auf die Sicherheit konstruktiv zu begleiten.“ — Claudia Plattner, Präsidentin, deutsches Bundesamt für Sicherheit in der Informationstechnik (BSI)
Kontrolle ohne Kompromisse Obwohl sie separat betrieben wird, bietet die AWS European Sovereign Cloud dieselbe branchenführende Architektur, die auf Sicherheit und Verfügbarkeit ausgelegt ist wie andere AWS-Regionen. Dazu gehören mehrere Verfügbarkeitszonen (Availability Zones, AZs) – eine Infrastruktur, die sich an verschiedenen voneinander getrennten geografischen Standorten befindet. Diese räumliche Trennung verringert signifikant das Risiko, dass ein Zwischenfall an einem einzelnen Standort den Geschäftsbetrieb des Kunden beeinträchtigt. Jede Verfügbarkeitszone besitzt eine autarke Stromversorgung und Kühlung und verfügt über redundante Netzwerkanbindungen, um ein Höchstmaß an Ausfallsicherheit zu gewährleisten. Zudem zeichnet sich jede Verfügbarkeitszone durch eine hohe physische Sicherheit aus. Alle AZs in der AWS European Sovereign Cloud werden über vollständig redundante, dedizierte Metro-Glasfaser miteinander verbunden und ermöglichen so eine Vernetzung mit hohem Durchsatz und niedriger Latenz zwischen den AZs. Der gesamte Datenverkehr zwischen AZs wird verschlüsselt. Für besonders strikte Anforderungen an die Trennung von Daten und den Ort der Datenverarbeitung innerhalb eines Landes bieten bestehende Angebote wie AWS Dedicated Local Zones oder AWS Outposts zusätzliche Optionen. Damit können Kunden die AWS European Sovereign Cloud Infrastruktur auf selbstgewählte Standorte erweitern.
Kontinuierliche AWS-Investitionen in Deutschland und Europa Mit der AWS European Sovereign Cloud setzt AWS seine Investitionen in Deutschland und Europa fort. AWS entwickelt Innovationen, um europäische Werte und die digitale Zukunft in Deutschland und Europa zu unterstützen. Wir treiben die wirtschaftliche Entwicklung voran, indem wir in Infrastruktur, Arbeitsplätze und Ausbildung in ganz Europa investieren. Wir schaffen Tausende von hochwertigen Arbeitsplätzen und investieren Milliarden von Euro in europäische Volkswirtschaften. Amazon hat mehr als 100.000 dauerhafte Arbeitsplätze innerhalb der EU geschaffen.
„Die deutsche und europäische Wirtschaft befindet sich auf Digitalisierungskurs. Insbesondere der starke deutsche Mittelstand braucht eine souveräne Digitalinfrastruktur, die höchsten Anforderungen genügt, um auch weiterhin wettbewerbsfähig im globalen Markt zu sein. Für unsere digitale Unabhängigkeit ist wichtig, dass Rechenleistungen vor Ort in Deutschland entstehen und in unseren Digitalstandort investiert wird. Wir begrüßen daher die Ankündigung von AWS, die Cloud für Europa in Deutschland anzusiedeln.“ — Stefan Schnorr, Staatssekretär im deutschen Bundesministerium für Digitales und Verkehr
Einige der größten Entwicklungsteams von AWS sind in Deutschland und Europa angesiedelt, mit Standorten in Aachen, Berlin, Dresden, Tübingen und Dublin. Da wir uns verpflichtet fühlen, einen langfristigen Beitrag zur Entwicklung digitaler Kompetenzen zu leisten, wird AWS zusätzliches Personal vor Ort für die AWS European Sovereign Cloud einstellen und ausbilden.
Kunden, Partner und Aufsichtsbehörden begrüßen die AWS European Sovereign Cloud In der EU nutzen Hunderttausende Organisationen aller Größen und Branchen AWS – von Start-ups über kleine und mittlere Unternehmen bis hin zu den größten Unternehmen, einschließlich Telekommunikationsunternehmen, Organisationen des öffentlichen Sektors, Bildungseinrichtungen und Regierungsbehörden. Europaweit unterstützen Organisationen die Einführung der AWS European Sovereign Cloud. Für Kunden wird die AWS European Sovereign Cloud neue Möglichkeiten im Cloudeinsatz eröffnen.
„Wir begrüßen das Engagement von AWS, seine Infrastruktur mit einer unabhängigen europäischen Cloud auszubauen. So erhalten Unternehmen und Organisationen der öffentlichen Hand mehr Auswahlmöglichkeiten bei der Erfüllung der Anforderungen an digitale Souveränität. Cloud-Services sind für die Digitalisierung der öffentlichen Verwaltung unerlässlich. Mit der Deutschen Verwaltungscloud-Strategie und dem Vertragsstandard EVB-IT Cloud wurden die Grundlagen für die Cloud-Nutzung in der Verwaltung geschaffen. Ich freue mich sehr, gemeinsam mit AWS Souveränität im Sinne unserer Cloud-Strategie praktisch und partnerschaftlich umzusetzen.” — Dr. Markus Richter, Staatssekretär im deutschen Bundesministerium des Innern und für Heimat sowie Beauftragter der Bundesregierung für Informationstechnik (CIO des Bundes)
„Als Marktführer für Geschäftssoftware mit starken Wurzeln in Europa, arbeitet SAP seit langem im Interesse der Kunden mit AWS zusammen, um die digitale Transformation auf der ganzen Welt zu beschleunigen. Die AWS European Sovereign Cloud bietet weitere Möglichkeiten, unsere Beziehung in Europa zu stärken, indem wir die Möglichkeiten, die wir unseren Kunden beim Wechsel in die Cloud bieten, erweitern können. Wir schätzen die fortlaufende Zusammenarbeit mit AWS und die neuen Möglichkeiten, die diese Investition für unsere gemeinsamen Kunden in der gesamten Region mit sich bringen kann.“ — Peter Pluim, President – SAP Enterprise Cloud Services und SAP Sovereign Cloud Services
„Heute stehen wir an der Schwelle zu einer transformativen Ära. Die Einführung der AWS European Sovereign Cloud stellt nicht nur eine infrastrukturelle Erweiterung dar, sondern ist ein Paradigmenwechsel. Dieses hochentwickelte Framework wird Dedalus in die Lage versetzen, unvergleichliche Dienste für die sichere und effiziente Speicherung von Patientendaten in der AWS-Cloud anzubieten. Wir bleiben kompromisslos dem Ziel verpflichtet, unseren europäischen Kunden erstklassige Lösungen zu bieten, die auf Vertrauen und technologischer Exzellenz basieren.“ — Andrea Fiumicelli, Chairman bei Dedalus
„Die Deutsche Telekom begrüßt die Ankündigung der AWS European Sovereign Cloud, die das Engagement von AWS für fortwährende Innovationen für europäische Unternehmen unterstreicht. Diese AWS-Lösung wird Unternehmen eine noch größere Auswahl bieten, wenn sie kritische Workloads in die AWS-Cloud verlagern, und zusätzliche Optionen zur Erfüllung der sich entwickelnden Anforderungen an die digitale Governance in der EU.” — Greg Hyttenrauch, Senior Vice President, Global Cloud Services bei T-Systems
„Wir begrüßen die AWS European Sovereign Cloud als neues Angebot innerhalb von AWS, um die komplexesten regulatorischen Anforderungen an die Datenresidenz und betrieblichen Erfordernisse in ganz Europa zu adressieren.“ — Bernhard Wagensommer, Vice President Prinect bei der Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG
„Die AWS European Sovereign Cloud wird neue Branchenmaßstäbe setzen und sicherstellen, dass Finanzdienstleistungsunternehmen noch mehr Optionen innerhalb von AWS haben, um die wachsenden Anforderungen an die digitale Souveränität hinsichtlich der Datenresidenz und operativen Autonomie in der EU zu erfüllen.“ — Gerhard Koestler, Chief Information Officer bei Raisin
„Mit einem starken Fokus auf Datenschutz, Sicherheit und regulatorischer Compliance unterstreicht die AWS European Sovereign Cloud das Engagement von AWS, die höchsten Standards für die digitale Souveränität von Finanzdienstleistern zu fördern. Dieser zusätzliche robuste Rahmen ermöglicht es Unternehmen wie unserem, in einer sicheren Umgebung erfolgreich zu sein, in der Daten geschützt sind und die Einhaltung höchster Standards leichter denn je wird.“ — Andreas Schranzhofer, Chief Technology Officer bei Scalable Capital
„Die AWS European Sovereign Cloud ist ein wichtiges, zusätzliches Angebot von AWS, das hochregulierten Branchen, Organisationen der öffentlichen Hand und Regierungsbehörden in Deutschland weitere Optionen bietet, um strengste regulatorische Anforderungen an den Datenschutz in der Cloud noch einfacher umzusetzen. Als AWS Advanced Tier Services Partner, AWS Solution Provider und AWS Public Sector Partner beraten und unterstützen wir kritische Infrastrukturen (KRITIS) bei der erfolgreichen Implementierung. Das neue Angebot von AWS ist ein wichtiger Impuls für Innovationen und Digitalisierung in Deutschland.“ — Martin Wibbe, CEO bei Materna
„Als eines der größten deutschen IT-Unternehmen und strategischer AWS-Partner begrüßt msg ausdrücklich die Ankündigung der AWS European Sovereign Cloud. Für uns als Anbieter von Software as a Service (SaaS) und Consulting Advisor für Kunden mit spezifischen Datenschutzanforderungen ermöglicht die Schaffung einer eigenständigen europäischen Cloud, unseren Kunden dabei zu helfen, die Einhaltung sich entwickelnder Vorschriften leichter nachzuweisen. Diese spannende Ankündigung steht im Einklang mit unserer Cloud-Strategie. Wir betrachten dies als Chance, um unsere Partnerschaft mit AWS zu stärken und die Entwicklung der Cloud in Deutschland voranzutreiben.“ — Dr. Jürgen Zehetmaier, CEO von msg
Unsere Verpflichtung gegenüber unseren Kunden Um Kunden bei der Erfüllung der sich wandelnden Souveränitätsanforderungen zu unterstützen, entwickelt AWS fortlaufend innovative Features, Kontrollen und Zusicherungen, ohne die Leistungsfähigkeit der AWS Cloud zu beeinträchtigen.
AWS Digital Sovereignty Pledge: Annuncio di un nuovo cloud sovrano e indipendente in Europa
Fin dal primo giorno, abbiamo sempre creduto che fosse essenziale che tutti i clienti avessero il controllo sui propri dati e sulle scelte di come proteggerli e gestirli nel cloud. L’anno scorso abbiamo introdotto l’AWS Digital Sovereignty Pledge, il nostro impegno a offrire ai clienti AWS il set più avanzato di controlli e funzionalità di sovranità disponibili nel cloud. Ci siamo impegnati a lavorare per comprendere le esigenze e le necessità in costante evoluzione sia dei clienti che delle autorità di regolamentazione, e per adattarci e innovare rapidamente per soddisfarli. Ci siamo impegnati ad espandere le nostre funzionalità per consentire ai clienti di soddisfare le loro esigenze di sovranità digitale senza compromettere le prestazioni, l’innovazione, la sicurezza o la scalabilità del cloud AWS.
AWS offre l’infrastruttura cloud più grande e completa a livello globale. Il nostro approccio fin dall’inizio è stato quello di rendere il cloud AWS sovrano by design. Abbiamo creato funzionalità e controlli di protezione dei dati nel cloud AWS confrontandoci con i clienti che operano in settori quali i servizi finanziari e l’assistenza sanitaria, che sono in assoluto tra le organizzazioni più attente alla sicurezza e alla privacy dei dati. Ciò ha portato a innovazioni come AWS Nitro System, che alimenta tutte le nostre moderne istanze Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (Amazon EC2) e fornisce un solido standard di sicurezza fisico e logico-infrastrutturale al fine di imporre restrizioni di accesso in modo che nessuno, compresi i dipendenti AWS, possa accedere ai dati dei clienti in esecuzione in EC2. Il design di sicurezza del sistema Nitro è stato inoltre convalidato in modo indipendente dal gruppo NCC in un report pubblico.
Con AWS i clienti hanno sempre avuto il controllo sulla posizione dei propri dati. I clienti che devono rispettare i requisiti europei di residenza dei dati possono scegliere di distribuire i propri dati in una delle otto regioni AWS esistenti (Irlanda, Francoforte, Londra, Parigi, Stoccolma, Milano, Zurigo e Spagna) per conservare i propri dati in modo sicuro in Europa. Per gestire i propri carichi di lavoro sensibili, i clienti europei possono sfruttare il portafoglio di servizi più ampio e completo, tra cui intelligenza artificiale, analisi ed elaborazione dati, database, Internet of Things (IoT), apprendimento automatico, servizi mobili e storage. Per supportare ulteriormente i clienti, abbiamo introdotto alcune innovazioni per offrire loro maggiore controllo e scelta sulla gestione dei dati. Ad esempio, abbiamo annunciato ulteriore trasparenza e garanzie e nuove opzioni di infrastruttura dedicate con AWS Dedicated Local Zones.
Annuncio AWS European Sovereign Cloud Quando in Europa parliamo con i clienti del settore pubblico e delle industrie regolamentate, riceviamo continue conferme di come si trovano ad affrontare una incredibile complessità e mutevoli dinamiche di un panorama di sovranità in continua evoluzione. I clienti ci dicono che vogliono adottare il cloud, ma si trovano ad affrontare crescenti interventi normativi in relazione alla residenza dei dati, all’autonomia operativa ed alla resilienza europea. Abbiamo appreso che questi clienti temono di dover scegliere tra tutta la potenza di AWS e soluzioni cloud sovrane ma con funzionalità limitate. Abbiamo collaborato intensamente con le autorità di regolamentazione europee, le agenzie nazionali per la sicurezza informatica e i nostri clienti per comprendere come le esigenze di sovranità possano variare in base a molteplici fattori come la residenza, la sensibilità dei carichi di lavoro e il settore. Questi fattori possono influire sui requisiti del carico di lavoro, ad esempio dove possono risiedere i dati, chi può accedervi e i controlli necessari, ed AWS ha una comprovata esperienza di innovazione per affrontare carichi di lavoro specializzati in tutto il mondo.
Oggi siamo lieti di annunciare il nostro programma di lancio dell’AWS European Sovereign Cloud, un nuovo cloud indipendente per l’Europa, progettato per aiutare le organizzazioni del settore pubblico e i clienti in settori altamente regolamentati a soddisfare le loro esigenze di sovranità in continua evoluzione. Stiamo progettando il cloud sovrano europeo AWS in modo che sia separato e indipendente dalle nostre regioni esistenti, con un’infrastruttura situata interamente all’interno dell’Unione Europea (UE), con la stessa sicurezza, disponibilità e prestazioni che i nostri clienti ottengono dalle regioni esistenti oggi. Per garantire una maggiore resilienza operativa all’interno dell’UE, solo i residenti dell’UE che si trovano nell’UE avranno il controllo delle operazioni e il supporto per l’AWS European Sovereign Cloud. Come per tutte le regioni attuali, i clienti che utilizzeranno l’AWS European Sovereign Cloud trarranno vantaggio da tutta la potenza di AWS con la stessa architettura, un ampio portafoglio di servizi e API che milioni di clienti già utilizzano oggi. L’AWS European Sovereign Cloud lancerà la sua prima regione AWS in Germania, disponibile per tutti i clienti europei.
Il cloud sovrano europeo AWS sarà progettato per garantire l’indipendenza operativa e la resilienza all’interno dell’UE e sarà gestito e supportato solamente da dipendenti AWS che si trovano nell’UE e che vi risiedono. Questo design offrirà ai clienti una scelta aggiuntiva per soddisfare le diverse esigenze di residenza dei dati, autonomia operativa e resilienza. Come in tutte le regioni AWS attuali, i clienti che utilizzano l’AWS European Sovereign Cloud trarranno vantaggio da tutta la potenza di AWS, dalla stessa architettura, dall’ampio portafoglio di servizi e dalle stesse API utilizzate oggi da milioni di clienti. L’AWS European Sovereign Cloud lancerà la sua prima regione in Germania.
Il cloud sovrano europeo AWS sarà sovrano by design e si baserà su oltre un decennio di esperienza nella gestione di più cloud indipendenti per carichi di lavoro critici e soggetti a restrizioni. Come le regioni esistenti, il cloud sovrano europeo AWS sarà progettato per garantire disponibilità e resilienza elevate e sarà alimentato da AWS Nitro System per contribuire a garantire la riservatezza e l’integrità dei dati dei clienti. Clienti che avranno il controllo e la garanzia che AWS non potrà accedere od utilizzare i dati dei clienti per alcuno scopo senza il loro consenso. AWS offre ai clienti i controlli di sovranità più rigorosi tra quelli offerti dai principali cloud provider. Per i clienti con esigenze avanzate di residenza dei dati, il cloud sovrano europeo AWS è progettato per andare oltre, e consentirà ai clienti di conservare tutti i metadati che creano (come le etichette dei dati, le categorie, i ruoli degli account e le configurazioni che utilizzano per eseguire AWS) nell’UE. L’AWS European Sovereign Cloud sarà inoltre realizzato con sistemi separati di fatturazione e misurazione dell’utilizzo a livello regionale.
Garantire autonomia operativa L’AWS European Sovereign Cloud fornirà ai clienti la capacità di soddisfare rigorosi requisiti di autonomia operativa e residenza dei dati. Per offrire un maggiore controllo sulla residenza dei dati e sulla resilienza operativa all’interno dell’UE, l’infrastruttura AWS European Sovereign Cloud sarà gestita indipendentemente dalle regioni AWS esistenti. Per garantire il funzionamento indipendente dell’AWS European Sovereign Cloud, solo il personale residente nell’UE, situato nell’UE, avrà il controllo delle operazioni quotidiane, compreso l’accesso ai data center, il supporto tecnico e il servizio clienti.
Stiamo attingendo alle nostre profonde collaborazioni con le autorità di regolamentazione europee e le agenzie nazionali per la sicurezza informatica per applicarle nella realizzazione del cloud sovrano europeo AWS, di modo che i clienti che utilizzano AWS European Sovereign Cloud possano soddisfare i loro requisiti di residenza dei dati, di controllo, di autonomia operativa e resilienza. Ne è un esempio la stretta collaborazione con l’Ufficio federale tedesco per la sicurezza delle informazioni (BSI).
“Lo sviluppo di un cloud AWS europeo renderà molto più semplice l’utilizzo dei servizi AWS per molte organizzazioni del settore pubblico e per aziende con elevati requisiti di sicurezza e protezione dei dati. Siamo consapevoli della forza innovativa dei moderni servizi cloud e vogliamo contribuire a renderli disponibili in modo sicuro per la Germania e l’Europa. Il C5 (Cloud Computing Compliance Criteria Catalogue), sviluppato da BSI, ha plasmato in modo significativo gli standard cloud di sicurezza informatica e AWS è stato infatti il primo fornitore di servizi cloud a ricevere l’attestato C5 di BSI. In questo senso, siamo molto lieti di accompagnare in modo costruttivo lo sviluppo locale di un Cloud AWS, che contribuirà anche alla sovranità europea, in termini di sicurezza”. — Claudia Plattner, Presidente dell’Ufficio federale tedesco per la sicurezza informatica (BSI)
Controllo senza compromessi Sebbene separato, l’AWS European Sovereign Cloud offrirà la stessa architettura leader del settore creata per la sicurezza e la disponibilità delle altre regioni AWS. Ciò includerà multiple zone di disponibilità (AZ) e un’infrastruttura collocata in aree geografiche separate e distinte, con una distanza sufficiente a ridurre in modo significativo il rischio che un singolo evento influisca sulla continuità aziendale dei clienti. Ogni AZ disporrà di più livelli di alimentazione e rete ridondanti per fornire il massimo livello di resilienza. Tutte le AZ del cloud sovrano europeo AWS saranno interconnesse con fibra metropolitana dedicata e completamente ridondata, che fornirà reti ad alta velocità e bassa latenza tra le AZ. Tutto il traffico tra le AZ sarà crittografato. I clienti che necessitano di più opzioni per far fronte ai rigorosi requisiti di isolamento e residenza dei dati all’interno del Paese potranno sfruttare le zone locali dedicate o AWS Outposts per distribuire l’infrastruttura AWS European Sovereign Cloud nelle località da loro selezionate.
Continui investimenti di AWS in Europa L’AWS European Sovereign Cloud è parte del continuo impegno ad investire in Europa di AWS. AWS si impegna a innovare per sostenere i valori europei e il futuro digitale dell’Europa. Promuoviamo lo sviluppo economico investendo in infrastrutture, posti di lavoro e competenze nelle comunità e nei paesi di tutta Europa. Stiamo creando migliaia di posti di lavoro di alta qualità e investendo miliardi di euro nelle economie europee. Amazon ha creato più di 100.000 posti di lavoro permanenti in tutta l’UE. Alcuni dei nostri team di sviluppo AWS più grandi si trovano in Europa, con centri di eccellenza a Dublino, Dresda e Berlino. Nell’ambito del nostro continuo impegno a contribuire allo sviluppo delle competenze digitali, assumeremo e svilupperemo ulteriore personale locale per gestire e supportare l’AWS European Sovereign Cloud.
Clienti, partner e autorità di regolamentazione accolgono con favore il cloud sovrano europeo AWS Nell’UE, centinaia di migliaia di organizzazioni di tutte le dimensioni e in tutti i settori utilizzano AWS, dalle start-up alle piccole e medie imprese, alle grandi imprese, alle società di telecomunicazioni, alle organizzazioni del settore pubblico, agli istituti di istruzione e alle agenzie governative. Organizzazioni di tutta Europa sostengono l’introduzione dell’AWS European Sovereign Cloud.
“In qualità di leader di mercato nel software applicativo aziendale con forti radici in Europa, SAP collabora da tempo con AWS per conto dei clienti per accelerare la trasformazione digitale in tutto il mondo. L’AWS European Sovereign Cloud offre ulteriori opportunità per rafforzare le nostre relazioni in Europa consentendoci di ampliare le scelte che offriamo ai clienti mentre passano al cloud. Apprezziamo la partnership continua con AWS e le nuove possibilità che questo investimento può offrire ai nostri comuni clienti in tutta la regione.” — Peter Pluim, Presidente, SAP Enterprise Cloud Services e SAP Sovereign Cloud Services
“Il nuovo AWS European Sovereign Cloud può rappresentare un punto di svolta per i segmenti di business altamente regolamentati nell’Unione Europea. In qualità di fornitore leader di telecomunicazioni in Germania, la nostra trasformazione digitale si concentra su innovazione, scalabilità, agilità e resilienza per fornire ai nostri clienti i migliori servizi e la migliore qualità. Ciò sarà ora abbinato ai più alti livelli di protezione dei dati e conformità normativa offerti da AWS e con un’attenzione particolare ai requisiti di sovranità digitale. Sono convinto che questa nuova offerta di infrastrutture abbia il potenziale per stimolare l’adozione del cloud da parte delle aziende europee e accelerare la trasformazione digitale delle industrie regolamentate in tutta l’UE”. — Mallik Rao, Chief Technology & Information Officer (CTIO) presso O2 Telefónica in Germania
“Deutsche Telekom accoglie l’annuncio dell’AWS European Sovereign Cloud, che evidenzia l’impegno di AWS a un’innovazione continua nel mercato europeo. Questa soluzione AWS offrirà opportunità important per le aziende e le organizzazioni nell’ambito della migrazione regolamentata sul cloud e opzioni addizionali per soddisfare i requisiti di sovranità digitale europei in continua evoluzione”. — Greg Hyttenrauch, Senior Vice President, Global Cloud Services presso T-Systems
“Oggi siamo al culmine di un’era di trasformazione. L’introduzione dell’AWS European Sovereign Cloud non rappresenta semplicemente un miglioramento infrastrutturale, è un cambio di paradigma. Questo sofisticato framework consentirà a Dedalus di offrire servizi senza precedenti per l’archiviazione dei dati dei pazienti in modo sicuro ed efficiente nel cloud AWS. Rimaniamo impegnati, senza compromessi, a servire la nostra clientela europea con soluzioni best-in-class sostenute da fiducia ed eccellenza tecnologica”. — Andrea Fiumicelli, Presidente di Dedalus
“Noi di de Volksbank crediamo nell’investire per migliorare i Paesi Bassi. Ma perché questo avvenga in modo efficace, dobbiamo avere accesso alle tecnologie più recenti per poter innovare e migliorare continuamente i servizi per i nostri clienti. Per questo motivo, accogliamo con favore l’annuncio dello European Sovereign Cloud che consentirà ai clienti europei di rispettare facilmente la conformità alle normative in evoluzione, beneficiando comunque della scalabilità, della sicurezza e della suite completa dei servizi AWS”. — Sebastiaan Kalshoven, Direttore IT/CTO della Volksbank
“Eviden accoglie con favore il lancio dell’AWS European Sovereign Cloud, che aiuterà le industrie regolamentate e il settore pubblico a soddisfare i requisiti dei loro carichi di lavoro sensibili con un cloud AWS completo e interamente gestito in Europa. In qualità di partner AWS Premier Tier Services e leader nei servizi di sicurezza informatica in Europa, Eviden ha una vasta esperienza nell’aiutare i clienti AWS a formalizzare e mitigare i rischi di sovranità. L’AWS European Sovereign Cloud consentirà a Eviden di soddisfare una gamma più ampia di esigenze di sovranità dei clienti”. — Yannick Tricaud, Responsabile Europa meridionale e centrale, Medio Oriente e Africa, Eviden, Gruppo Atos
“Accogliamo con favore l’impegno di AWS di espandere la propria infrastruttura con un cloud europeo indipendente. Ciò offrirà alle imprese e alle organizzazioni del settore pubblico una scelta più ampia nel soddisfare i requisiti di sovranità digitale. I servizi cloud sono essenziali per la digitalizzazione della pubblica amministrazione. Con l’” Strategia cloud per l’Amministrazione tedesca” e lo standard contrattuale “EVB-IT Cloud”, sono state gettate le basi per l’utilizzo del cloud nella pubblica amministrazione. Sono molto lieto di collaborare con AWS per implementare in modo pratico e collaborativo la sovranità in linea con la nostra strategia cloud.” — Dr. Markus Richter, CIO del governo federale tedesco, Ministero federale degli interni
I nostri impegni nei confronti dei nostri clienti Manteniamo il nostro impegno a fornire ai nostri clienti il controllo e la possibilità di scelta per contribuire a soddisfare le loro esigenze in continua evoluzione in materia di sovranità digitale. Continueremo a innovare le funzionalità, i controlli e le garanzie di sovranità del dato all’interno del cloud AWS globale e a fornirli senza compromessi sfruttando tutta la potenza di AWS.
Compromiso de Soberanía Digital de AWS: anuncio de una nueva nube soberana independiente en la Unión Europea
Desde el primer día, en Amazon Web Services (AWS) siempre hemos creído que es esencial que los clientes tengan el control sobre sus datos y capacidad para proteger y gestionar los mismos en la nube. El año pasado, anunciamos el Compromiso de Soberanía Digital de AWS, nuestra garantía de que ofrecemos a todos los clientes de AWS los controles y funcionalidades de soberanía más avanzados que estén disponibles en la nube. Nos comprometimos a trabajar para comprender las necesidades y los requisitos cambiantes tanto de los clientes como de los reguladores, y a adaptarnos e innovar rápidamente para satisfacerlos. Asimismo, nos comprometimos a ampliar nuestras capacidades para permitir a los clientes satisfacer sus necesidades de soberanía digital sin reducir el rendimiento, la innovación, la seguridad o la escalabilidad de la nube de AWS.
AWS ofrece la infraestructura de nube más amplia y completa del mundo. Nuestro enfoque desde el principio ha sido hacer que AWS sea una nube soberana por diseño. Creamos funcionalidades y controles de protección de datos en la nube de AWS teniendo en cuenta las aportaciones de clientes de sectores como los servicios financieros, sanidad y entidades gubernamentales, que se encuentran entre los más preocupados por la seguridad y la privacidad de los datos en el mundo. Esto ha dado lugar a innovaciones como el sistema Nitro de AWS, que impulsa todas nuestras instancias de Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (Amazon EC2) y proporciona un límite de seguridad físico y lógico sólido para imponer restricciones de acceso, de modo que nadie, incluidos los empleados de AWS, pueda acceder a los datos de los clientes que se ejecutan en Amazon EC2. El diseño de seguridad del sistema Nitro también ha sido validado de forma independiente por el Grupo NCC en un informe público.
Con AWS, los clientes siempre han tenido el control sobre la ubicación de sus datos. En Europa, los clientes que deben cumplir con los requisitos de residencia de datos europeos tienen la opción de implementar sus datos en cualquiera de las ocho Regiones de AWS existentes (Irlanda, Frankfurt, Londres, París, Estocolmo, Milán, Zúrich y España) para mantener sus datos de forma segura en Europa. Para ejecutar sus cargas de trabajo sensibles, los clientes europeos pueden aprovechar la cartera de servicios más amplia y completa, que incluye inteligencia artificial, análisis, computación, bases de datos, Internet de las cosas (IoT), aprendizaje automático, servicios móviles y almacenamiento. Para apoyar aún más a los clientes, hemos innovado ofreciendo más control y opciones sobre sus datos. Por ejemplo, anunciamos una mayor transparencia y garantías, y nuevas opciones de infraestructura de uso exclusivo con Zonas Locales Dedicadas de AWS.
Anunciamos AWS European Sovereign Cloud Cuando hablamos con clientes del sector público y de sectores regulados en Europa, nos comparten cómo se enfrentan a una gran complejidad y a una dinámica cambiante en el panorama de la soberanía, que está en constante evolución. Los clientes nos dicen que quieren adoptar la nube, pero se enfrentan a un creciente escrutinio regulatorio en relación con la ubicación de los datos, la autonomía operativa europea y la resiliencia. Sabemos que a estos clientes les preocupa tener que elegir entre toda la potencia de AWS o soluciones de nube soberana con funciones limitadas. Hemos mantenido conversaciones muy provechosas con los reguladores europeos, las autoridades nacionales de ciberseguridad y los clientes para entender cómo las necesidades de soberanía de los clientes pueden variar en función de diferentes factores, como la ubicación, la sensibilidad de las cargas de trabajo y el sector. Estos factores pueden impactar en los requisitos aplicables a sus cargas de trabajo, como dónde pueden residir sus datos, quién puede acceder a ellos y los controles necesarios. AWS tiene un historial comprobado de innovación para abordar cargas de trabajo sensibles o especiales en todo el mundo.
Hoy nos complace anunciar nuestros planes de lanzar la Nube Soberana Europea de AWS, una nueva nube independiente para la Unión Europea, diseñada para ayudar a las organizaciones del sector público y a los clientes de sectores altamente regulados a satisfacer sus necesidades de soberanía en constante evolución. Estamos diseñando la Nube Soberana Europea de AWS para que sea independiente y separada de nuestras Regiones actuales, con una infraestructura ubicada íntegramente dentro de la Unión Europea y con la misma seguridad, disponibilidad y rendimiento que nuestros clientes obtienen en las Regiones actuales. Para ofrecer una mayor resiliencia operativa dentro de la UE, solo los residentes de la UE que se encuentren en la UE, tendrán el control de las operaciones y el soporte de la Nube Soberana Europea de AWS. Como ocurre con todas las Regiones actuales, los clientes que utilicen la Nube Soberana Europea de AWS se beneficiarán de toda la potencia de AWS con la misma arquitectura conocida, una amplia cartera de servicios y las APIs que utilizan millones de clientes en la actualidad. La Nube Soberana Europea de AWS lanzará su primera Región de AWS en Alemania disponible para todos los clientes en Europa.
La Nube Soberana Europea de AWS será soberana por diseño y se basará en más de una década de experiencia en la gestión de múltiples nubes independientes para las cargas de trabajo más críticas y restringidas. Al igual que las Regiones existentes, la Nube Soberana Europea de AWS se diseñará para ofrecer una alta disponibilidad y resiliencia, y contará con la tecnología del sistema Nitro de AWS, a fin de garantizar la confidencialidad e integridad de los datos de los clientes. Los clientes tendrán el control y la seguridad de que AWS no accederá a los datos de los clientes ni los utilizará para ningún propósito sin su consentimiento. AWS ofrece a los clientes los controles de soberanía más estrictos entre los principales proveedores de servicios en la nube. Para los clientes con necesidades de residencia de datos mejoradas, la Nube Soberana Europea de AWS está diseñada para ir más allá y permitirá a los clientes conservar todos los metadatos que crean (como funciones, permisos, etiquetas de recursos y configuraciones), las funciones de las cuentas y las configuraciones que utilizan para ejecutar AWS) dentro de la UE. La Nube Soberana Europea de AWS también se construirá con sistemas independientes de facturación y medición del uso dentro de la Región.
Ofreciendo autonomía operativa La Nube Soberana Europea de AWS proporcionará a los clientes la capacidad de cumplir con los estrictos requisitos de autonomía operativa y residencia de datos que sean de aplicación a cada cliente. Para proporcionar una mejor residencia de los datos y resiliencia operativa en la UE, la infraestructura de la Nube Soberana Europea de AWS se gestionará de forma independiente del resto de las Regiones de AWS existentes. Para garantizar el funcionamiento independiente de la Nube Soberana Europea de AWS, solo el personal residente en la UE y ubicado en la UE tendrá el control de las operaciones diarias, incluido el acceso a los centros de datos, el soporte técnico y el servicio de atención al cliente.
Estamos aprendiendo de nuestras intensas conversaciones con los reguladores europeos y las autoridades nacionales de ciberseguridad, aplicando estos aprendizajes a medida que construimos la Nube Soberana Europea de AWS, de modo que los clientes que la utilicen puedan cumplir sus requisitos de residencia, autonomía operativa y resiliencia de los datos. Por ejemplo, esperamos continuar colaborando con la Oficina Federal de Seguridad de la Información (BSI) de Alemania.
«El desarrollo de una nube europea de AWS facilitará mucho el uso de los servicios de AWS a muchas organizaciones y empresas del sector público con altos requisitos de seguridad y protección de datos. Somos conscientes del poder innovador de los servicios en la nube modernos y queremos contribuir a que estén disponibles de forma segura en Alemania y Europa. El C5 (Cloud Computing Compliance Criteria Catalogue), desarrollado por la BSI, ha influido considerablemente en los estándares de ciberseguridad en la nube y, de hecho, AWS fue el primer proveedor de servicios en la nube en recibir el certificado C5 de la BSI. En este sentido, nos complace acompañar de manera constructiva el desarrollo local de una nube de AWS, que también contribuirá a la soberanía europea en términos de seguridad». — Claudia Plattner, presidenta de la Oficina Federal Alemana de Seguridad de la Información (BSI)
Control sin concesiones A pesar de ser independiente, la Nube Soberana Europea de AWS ofrecerá la misma arquitectura líder en el sector que otras Regiones de AWS, creada para garantizar la seguridad y la disponibilidad. Esto incluirá varias Zonas de Disponibilidad, una infraestructura distribuida en ubicaciones geográficas separadas y distintas, con una distancia suficiente para reducir el riesgo de que un incidente afecte a la continuidad del negocio de los clientes. Cada Zona de Disponibilidad tendrá varias fuentes de alimentación eléctrica y redes redundantes para ofrecer el máximo nivel de resiliencia. Todas las Zonas de Disponibilidad de la Nube Soberana Europea de AWS estarán interconectadas mediante fibra de uso exclusivo y totalmente redundante, lo que proporcionará una red de alto rendimiento y baja latencia entre las Zonas de Disponibilidad. Todo el tráfico entre las Zonas de Disponibilidad se encriptará. Los clientes que necesiten más opciones para abordar estrictas necesidades de aislamiento y residencia de datos en el país podrán utilizar las Zonas Locales Dedicadas o AWS Outposts para implementar la infraestructura de Nube Soberana Europea de AWS en las ubicaciones que elijan.
Inversión continua de AWS en Europa La Nube Soberana Europea de AWS representa una inversión continua de AWS en la UE. AWS se compromete a innovar para respaldar los valores y el futuro digital de la Unión Europea. Impulsamos el desarrollo económico mediante la inversión en infraestructura, empleos y habilidades en comunidades y países de toda Europa. Estamos creando miles de puestos de trabajo de alta calidad e invirtiendo miles de millones de euros en las economías europeas. Amazon ha creado más de 100 000 puestos de trabajo permanentes en toda la UE. Algunos de nuestros equipos de desarrollo de AWS más importantes se encuentran en Europa, con centros clave en Dublín, Dresde y Berlín. Como parte de nuestro compromiso continuo de contribuir al desarrollo de las habilidades digitales, contrataremos y capacitaremos a más personal local para gestionar y apoyar la Nube Soberana Europea de AWS.
Los clientes, socios y reguladores dan la bienvenida a la Nube Soberana Europea de AWS En la UE, cientos de miles de organizaciones de todos los tamaños y sectores utilizan AWS, desde startups hasta PYMEs, grandes compañías incluyendo empresas de telecomunicaciones, organizaciones del sector público, instituciones educativas, ONGs y agencias gubernamentales. Organizaciones de toda Europa apoyan la introducción de la Nube Soberana Europea de AWS.
“Como líder del mercado en software de aplicaciones empresariales con sólidas raíces en Europa, SAP lleva colaborando durante mucho tiempo con AWS en nombre de los clientes para acelerar la transformación digital en todo el mundo. La Nube Soberana Europea de AWS ofrece nuevas oportunidades para fortalecer nuestra relación en Europa, ya que nos permite ampliar las opciones que ofrecemos a los clientes a medida que se trasladan a la nube. Valoramos la asociación existente con AWS y las nuevas posibilidades que esta inversión puede ofrecer a los clientes de ambos en toda la región”. – Peter Pluim, Presidente de SAP Enterprise Cloud Services y SAP Sovereign Cloud Services.
“La nueva Nube Soberana Europea de AWS puede cambiar las reglas del juego para los segmentos empresariales altamente regulados de la Unión Europea. Como proveedor de telecomunicaciones líder en Alemania, nuestra transformación digital se centra en la innovación, la escalabilidad, la agilidad y la resiliencia para ofrecer a nuestros clientes los mejores servicios y la mejor calidad. Esto se combinará ahora con los niveles más altos de protección de datos y cumplimiento normativo que ofrece AWS, y con un enfoque particular en los requisitos de soberanía digital. Estoy convencido de que esta nueva oferta de infraestructura tiene el potencial de impulsar la adaptación a la nube de las empresas europeas y acelerar la transformación digital de las industrias reguladas en toda la UE”. — Mallik Rao, Directora de Tecnología e Información de O2 Telefónica en Alemania
“Hoy nos encontramos en la cúspide de una era de transformación. La introducción de la Nube Soberana Europea de AWS no solo representa una mejora de la infraestructura, sino que supone un cambio de paradigma. Este sofisticado marco permitirá a Dedalus ofrecer servicios incomparables para almacenar los datos de los pacientes de forma segura y eficiente en la nube de AWS. Mantenemos nuestro compromiso, sin concesiones, de servir a nuestra clientela europea con las mejores soluciones de su clase respaldadas por la confianza y la excelencia tecnológica”. — Andrea Fiumicelli, Presidente de Dedalus
“En de Volksbank, creemos en invertir en unos Países Bajos mejores. Para hacerlo de manera eficaz, necesitamos tener acceso a las últimas tecnologías para poder innovar y mejorar continuamente los servicios para nuestros clientes. Por este motivo, acogemos con satisfacción el anuncio de la Nube Soberana Europea, que permitirá a los clientes europeos demostrar fácilmente el cumplimiento de las cambiantes normativas y, al mismo tiempo, beneficiarse de la escala, la seguridad y la gama completa de servicios de AWS”. — Sebastian Kalshoven, director de TI y CTO de Volksbank
“Eviden acoge con satisfacción el lanzamiento de la Nube Soberana Europea de AWS. Esto ayudará a las industrias reguladas y al sector público a abordar los requisitos de sus cargas de trabajo confidenciales con una nube de AWS con todas las funciones y que funcione exclusivamente en Europa. Como socio de servicios de primer nivel de AWS y líder en servicios de ciberseguridad en Europa, Eviden tiene una amplia trayectoria ayudando a los clientes de AWS a formalizar y mitigar sus riesgos de soberanía. La Nube Soberana Europea de AWS permitirá a Eviden abordar una gama más amplia de necesidades de soberanía de los clientes”. — Yannick Tricaud, director de Europa Central y Meridional, Oriente Medio y África, de Eviden, del Grupo Atos
Nuestros compromisos con nuestros clientes Mantenemos nuestro compromiso de ofrecer a nuestros clientes el control y las opciones que les ayuden a satisfacer sus necesidades de soberanía digital en constante evolución. Seguiremos innovando en las funcionalidades, los controles y las garantías de soberanía globalmente, y ofreceremos esto sin renunciar a la toda la potencia de AWS.
Puede descubrir más sobre la Nube Soberana Europea de AWS y obtener más información sobre nuestros clientes en nuestra Nota de Prensa y en la web European Digital Sovereignty. También puede obtener más información en AWS News Blog.
With the release of Amazon OpenSearch Service 2.5, you can create maps with multiple layers to visualize your geographical data. You can build each layer from a different index pattern to separate data sources. Organizing the map in layers makes it more straightforward to visualize, view, and analyze geographical data. The layering also helps fetch data from various sources, view different data at different zoom levels, and continuously refresh data for a real-time dataset. Additionally, in OpenSearch 2.6, you can add multi-layer maps to dashboard panes within OpenSearch Dashboards, which makes it more straightforward to analyze your geospatial data in the context of other visualizations. OpenSearch Service provisions all the resources for your OpenSearch cluster so you can focus on building the business value through maps and other features of OpenSearch rather than spending time managing your deployment.
In this post, we show how to use multi-layer maps in OpenSearch Service.
Solution overview
The multi-layer map helps users visualize data and gain insights using specific layers and zoom levels to help emphasize key messages. For our use case, we use multi-layer maps to support an example real-estate application. Your index will have fields such as location, address, availability, number of bedrooms, price, and more. Initially, we develop a map with state boundaries with aggregated data for an overview. As the user zooms in, they’ll see city boundaries and postal codes. As the user continues to zoom, they’ll see each house with information like the price, number of bedrooms, and so on. You will build various data layers from different data sources to accomplish this task. You can also add filter queries; for example, to only show properties that are available.
Prerequisites
Complete the following prerequisite steps to configure the sample data:
Copy and paste the entire contents of the downloaded file into the OpenSearch Dashboards console.
Run the commands.
These commands create the realestate index and upload records into the catalog.
Now let’s visualize this data in a multi-layer map.
Add layers
To create your map and add layers, complete the following steps:
On OpenSearch Dashboards, in the navigation pane, under OpenSearch plugins, choose Maps.
Choose Create map.
You will see a default map (or basemap) loaded on the page with a Layers pane on the left. This serves as a canvas for the data. The OpenSearch basemap utilizes vector tiles, resulting in quicker loading speeds and seamless zooming compared to raster tile maps. It effectively accommodates zoom levels ranging from 0–22. 0 is the most zoomed out with the global view, and zoom level 22 is roughly a half-inch per pixel resolution. Any additional layers you add will appear in this pane.
Choose Add layer.
In the prompt, choose the option to add documents for the data layer.
Under Documents, choose the index you created (realestate) as the data source.
For the geospatial field, choose the field containing geopoints (such as location in this example).
Keep the remaining settings at their default values, then choose Update.
In the Layers pane, a newly generated layer named New Layer 2 will be visible. Additionally, you will observe the presence of all geopoints on the map (green dots in the following screenshot).
Update the layer name and enable tooltips
For an overview of the various configuration choices accessible for the layers, choose New Layer 2. This action opens another pane containing three tabs: Data, Style, and Settings. Let’s modify the layer’s name to something more relevant and enable tooltips. Complete the following steps:
On the Settings tab, replace New Layer 2 with realestate-data in the Name field.
On the Data tab, scroll down to Tool tips, and select Tool tips.
Enter region as the tooltip.
Choose Update.
The altered name should now be visible in the left pane. The geopoints themselves don’t convey any information. However, with tooltips enabled, you can access comprehensive information depending on the fields selected. As you hover over the geopoints, you will observe the chosen tooltip information—in this instance, region CA.
Adjust zoom levels
The essence of this functionality lies in the ability to observe your data through distinct layers at varying zoom levels. To achieve this, generate a layer using the same process as before. The following example shows a new layer (locality) featuring tooltips displaying locality and postal code. You can also choose the color of your geographical points on the Style tab. On the Settings tab, you’ll encounter options for zoom levels, allowing you to input minimum and maximum values—like 4 and 6, for instance. Consequently, this indicates that the layer will be visible exclusively within this range of zoom levels.
In the Layers pane, you can observe three layers alongside the locality layer created in the previous step. A notification will indicate “Layer is hidden outside of zoom range 1-2.” This layer becomes visible as you zoom in.
The realestate-data layer is set with a default zoom range of 0–22, ensuring visibility across all levels unless manually hidden. The locality layer is configured to be visible exclusively within the zoom range of 1–2.
As shown in the following screenshot, the tooltip for the realestate-data layer remains visible even after the fourth zoom level. To access the tooltip information for the locality layer, choose the eye icon next to realestate-data to manually conceal this layer. Once completed, hovering over the geopoints will reveal the tooltip details for locality (postal code and locality).
The following are some key points to consider:
Each layer can be established with distinct colors for its geographical points. For instance, the realestate-data layer is depicted in green, while the locality layer uses orange.
It’s possible to observe geopoints in a color that wasn’t directly chosen. In the following screenshot, brown is visible due to the overlapping of two layers at the same zoom level.
You can observe the color shift to the layer’s designated color—orange—after realestate-data is manually hidden, because there’s no longer an overlap between the layers.
You can generate an additional layer designed to display tooltip data such as the count of beds, baths, price, and square footage. This layer will be active within the zoom range of 3–4.
To save your project, choose Save. Enter a title, such as realestate-multilayer-map, then choose Save again. Your multilayer map is now successfully saved!
Exploring the multi-level map
After you have established all the layers, take note of how the layers become visible or invisible at each zoom level. Observe the dynamic adjustments in tooltip information that correspond to these changes as you zoom.
Add a filter
After you have generated multiple layers and successfully visualized your geopoints, you might find that you are interested in specific properties, such as within a particular price range.
To add a filter at layer level, complete the following steps:
In the right pane, on the Data tab, choose Filters.
Input price as the filter criteria.
Select is between as the operator.
Enter 800000 for the start of the range and 1400000 for the end of the range.
Choose Save to update the layer.
You’ll immediately observe the filter taking effect, resulting in the display of only the relevant data matching the filter.
An alternative method to establish a filter involves drawing shapes on the map, such as rectangles or polygons. In this instance, you’ll be utilizing the polygon option. (For API-based filtering, refer to APIs).
Choose the polygon icon on the right side of the map.
For Filter label, enter a name for the filter.
Draw the shape over the map area that you want to select.
For a polygon, select any starting point on the map (this point becomes a polygon vertex) and hover (do not drag) to each subsequent vertex and select that point.
Make sure to select the starting point again to close the polygon, as shown in the following screenshot.
Add a map to a dashboard
You can add this map to an existing or a new dashboard. Complete the following steps:
On OpenSearch Dashboards, choose Create and choose Dashboard.
Select Add an existing dashboard.
Choose realestate-multilayer from the list.
You can see the new visualization on your dashboard.
Choose Save and enter a title for the dashboard.
Conclusion
In this post, you effectively established multi-layer maps for data visualization, analyzed geographic data, observed various data at varying zoom levels, added tooltips for supplementary data visualization, and added multi-layer maps to dashboard panes within OpenSearch Dashboards to easily analyze your geospatial data. Refer to Using maps for an alternative use case and detailed information about map features.
About the authors
Aish Gunasekar is a Specialist Solutions Architect with a focus on Amazon OpenSearch Service. Her passion at AWS is to help customers design highly scalable architectures and help them in their cloud adoption journey. Outside of work, she enjoys hiking and baking.
Satish Nandi is a Senior Technical Product Manager for Amazon OpenSearch Service.
Jon Handler is a Senior Principal Solutions Architect at Amazon Web Services based in Palo Alto, CA. Jon works closely with OpenSearch and Amazon OpenSearch Service, providing help and guidance to a broad range of customers who have search and log analytics workloads that they want to move to the AWS Cloud. Prior to joining AWS, Jon’s career as a software developer included 4 years of coding a large-scale, ecommerce search engine. Jon holds a Bachelor of the Arts from the University of Pennsylvania, and a Master of Science and a PhD in Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence from Northwestern University.
The Essential Eight is a security framework that the ACSC designed to help organizations protect themselves against various cyber threats. The Essential Eight covers the following eight strategies:
Application control
Patch applications
Configure Microsoft Office macro settings
User application hardening
Restrict administrative privileges
Patch operating systems
Multi-factor authentication
Regular backups
The Department of Home Affairs’ Protective Security Policy Framework (PSPF) mandates that Australian Non-Corporate Commonwealth Entities (NCCEs) reach Essential Eight maturity. The Essential Eight is also one of the compliance frameworks available to owners of critical infrastructure (CI) assets under the Critical Infrastructure Risk Management Program (CIRMP) requirements of theSecurity of Critical Infrastructure (SOCI) Act.
In the Essential Eight Explained, the ACSC acknowledges some translation is required when applying the principles of the Essential Eight to cloud-based environments:
“The Essential Eight has been designed to protect Microsoft Windows-based internet-connected networks. While the principles behind the Essential Eight may be applied to cloud services and enterprise mobility, or other operating systems, it was not primarily designed for such purposes and alternative mitigation strategies may be more appropriate to mitigate unique cyber threats to these environments.”
The newly released guidance walks customers step-by-step through the process of reaching Essential Eight maturity in a cloud native way, making best use of the security, performance, innovation, elasticity, scalability, and resiliency benefits of the AWS Cloud. It includes a compliance matrix that maps Essential Eight strategies and controls to specific guidance and AWS resources.
It also features an example of a customer with different workloads—a serverless data lake, a containerized webservice, and an Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (Amazon EC2) workload running commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) software.
In the AWS Security Profile series, I interview some of the humans who work in AWS Security and help keep our customers safe and secure. In this profile, I interviewed Liam Wadman, Senior Solutions Architect for AWS Identity.
Pictured: Liam making quick informed decisions about risk and reward
How long have you been at AWS and what do you do in your current role?
My first day was 1607328000 — for those who don’t speak fluent UTC, that’s December 2020. I’m a member of the Identity Solutions team. Our mission is to make it simpler for customers to implement access controls that protect their data in a straightforward and consistent manner across AWS services.
I spend a lot of time talking with security, identity, and cloud teams at some of our largest and most complex customers, understanding their problems, and working with teams across AWS to make sure that we’re building solutions that meet their diverse security requirements.
I’m a big fan of working with customers and fellow Amazonians on threat modeling and helping them make informed decisions about risks and the controls they put in place. It’s such a productive exercise because many people don’t have that clear model about what they’re protecting, and what they’re protecting it from.
When I work with AWS service teams, I advocate for making services that are simple to secure and simple for customers to configure. It’s not enough to offer only good security controls; the service should be simple to understand and straightforward to apply to meet customer expectations.
How did you get started in security? What about it piqued your interest?
I got started in security at a very young age: by circumventing network controls at my high school so that I could play Flash games circa 2004. Ever since then, I’ve had a passion for deeply understanding a system’s rules and how they can be bent or broken. I’ve been lucky enough to have a diverse set of experiences throughout my career, including working in a network operation center, security operation center, Linux and windows server administration, telephony, investigations, content delivery, perimeter security, and security architecture. I think having such a broad base of experience allows me to empathize with all the different people who are AWS customers on a day-to-day basis.
As I progressed through my career, I became very interested in the psychology of security and the mindsets of defenders, unauthorized users, and operators of computer systems. Security is about so much more than technology—it starts with people and processes.
How do you explain your job to non-technical friends and family?
I get to practice this question a lot! Very few of my family and friends work in tech.
I always start with something relatable to the person. I start with a website, mobile app, or product that they use, tell the story of how it uses AWS, then tie that in around how my team works to support many of the products they use in their everyday lives. You don’t have to look far into our customer success stories or AWS re:Invent presentations to see a product or company that’s meaningful to almost anyone you’d talk to.
I got to practice this very recently because the software used by my personal trainer is hosted on AWS. So when she asked what I actually do for a living, I was ready for her.
In your opinion, what’s the coolest thing happening in identity right now?
You left this question wide open, so I’m going to give you more than one answer.
First, outside of AWS, it’s the rise of ubiquitous, easy-to-use personal identity technology. I’m talking about products such as password managers, sign-in with Google or Apple, and passkeys. I’m excited to see the industry is finally offering services to consumers at no extra cost that you don’t need to be an expert to use and that will work on almost any device you sign in to. Everyday people can benefit from their use, and I have successfully converted many of the people I care about.
At AWS, it’s the work that we’re doing to enable data perimeters and provable security. We hear quite regularly from customers that data perimeters are super important to them, and they want to see us do more in that space and keep refining that journey. I’m all too happy to oblige. Provable security, while identity adjacent, is about getting real answers to questions such as “Can this resource be accessed publicly?” It’s making it simple for customers who don’t want to spend the time or money building the operational expertise to answer tough questions, and I think that’s incredible.
You presented at AWS re:Inforce 2023. What was your session about and what do you hope attendees took away from it?
My session was IAM336: Best practices for delegating access on IAM. I initially delivered this session at re:Inforce 2022, where customers gave it the highest overall rating for an identity session, so we brought it back for 2023!
The talk dives deep into some AWS Identity and Access Management (IAM) primitives and provides a lot of candor on what we feel are best practices based on many of the real-world engagements I’ve had with customers. The top thing that I hope attendees learned is how they can safely empower their developers to have some self service and autonomy when working with IAM and help transform central teams from blockers to enablers.
I’m also presenting at re:Invent 2023 in November. I’ll be doing a chalk talk called Best practices for setting up AWS Organizations policies. We’re targeting it towards a more general audience, not just customers whose primary jobs are AWS security or identity. I’m excited about this presentation because I usually talk to a lot of customers who have very mature security and identity practices, and this is a great chance to get feedback from customers who do not.
I’d like to thank all the customers who attended the sessions over the years — the best part of AWS events is the customer interactions and fantastic discussions that we have.
Is there anything you wish customers would ask about more often?
I wish more customers would frame their problems within a threat model. Many customer engagements start with a specific problem, but it isn’t in the context of the risk this poses to their business, and often focuses too much on specific technical controls for very specific issues, rather than an outcome that they’re trying to arrive at or a risk that they’re trying to mitigate. I like to take a step back and work with the customer to frame the problem that they’re talking about in a bigger picture, then have a more productive conversation around how we can mitigate these risks and other considerations that they may not have thought of.
Where do you see the identity space heading in the future?
I think the industry is really getting ready for an identity renaissance as we start shifting towards more modern and Zero Trust architectures. I’m really excited to start seeing adoption of technologies such as token exchange to help applications avoid impersonating users to downstream systems, or mechanisms such as proof of possession to provide scalable ways to bind a given credential to a system that it’s intended to be used from.
On the AWS Identity side: More controls. Simpler. Scalable. Provable.
What are you most proud of in your career?
Getting involved with speaking at AWS: presenting at summits, re:Inforce, and re:Invent. It’s something I never would have seen myself doing before. I grew up with a pretty bad speech impediment that I’m always working against.
I think my proudest moment in particular is when I had customers come to my re:Invent session because they saw me at AWS Summits earlier in the year and liked what I did there. I get a little emotional thinking about it.
Being a speaker also allowed me to go to Disneyland for the first time last year before the Anaheim Summit, and that would have made 5-year-old Liam proud.
If you had to pick a career outside of tech, what would you want to do?
I think I’d certainly be involved in something in forestry, resource management, or conservation. I spend most of my free time in the forests of British Columbia. I’m a big believer in shinrin-yoku, and I believe in being a good steward of the land. We’ve only got one earth.
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Vulnerability findings in a cloud environment can come from a variety of tools and scans depending on the underlying technology you’re using. Without processes in place to handle these findings, they can begin to mount, often leading to thousands to tens of thousands of findings in a short amount of time. We’re excited to announce the Building a scalable vulnerability management program on AWS guide, which includes how you can build a structured vulnerability management program, operationalize tooling, and scale your processes to handle a large number of findings from diverse sources.
Building a scalable vulnerability management program on AWS focuses on the fundamentals of building a cloud vulnerability management program, including traditional software and network vulnerabilities and cloud configuration risks. The guide covers how to build a successful and scalable vulnerability management program on AWS through preparation, enabling and configuring tools, triaging findings, and reporting.
Targeted outcomes
This guide can help you and your organization with the following:
Develop policies to streamline vulnerability management and maintain accountability.
Establish mechanisms to extend the responsibility of security to your application teams.
Configure relevant AWS services according to best practices for scalable vulnerability management.
Identify patterns for routing security findings to support a shared responsibility model.
Establish mechanisms to report on and iterate on your vulnerability management program.
Improve security finding visibility and help improve overall security posture.
Using the new guide
We encourage you to read the entire guide before taking action or building a list of changes to implement. After you read the guide, assess your current state compared to the action items and check off the items that you’ve already completed in the Next steps table. This will help you assess the current state of your AWS vulnerability management program. Then, plan short-term and long-term roadmaps based on your gaps, desired state, resources, and business needs. Building a cloud vulnerability management program often involves iteration, so you should prioritize key items and regularly revisit your backlog to keep up with technology changes and your business requirements.
We greatly value feedback and contributions from our community. To share your thoughts and insights about the guide, your experience using it, and what you want to see in future versions, select Provide feedback at the bottom of any page in the guide and complete the form.
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Security is a top priority for organizations looking to keep pace with a changing threat landscape and build customer trust. However, the traditional approach of defined security perimeters that separate trusted from untrusted network zones has proven to be inadequate as hybrid work models accelerate digital transformation.
Today’s distributed enterprise requires a new approach to ensuring the right levels of security and accessibility for systems and data. Security experts increasingly recommend Zero Trust as the solution, but security teams can get confused when Zero Trust is presented as a product, rather than as a security model. We’re excited to share a whitepaper we recently authored with SANS Institute called Zero Trust: Charting a Path To Stronger Security, which addresses common misconceptions and explores Zero Trust opportunities.
Gartner predicts that by 2025, over 60% of organizations will embrace Zero Trust as a starting place for security.
The whitepaper includes context and analysis that can help you move past Zero Trust marketing hype and learn about these key considerations for implementing a successful Zero Trust strategy:
Zero Trust definition and guiding principles
Six foundational capabilities to establish
Four fallacies to avoid
Six Zero Trust use cases
Metrics for measuring Zero Trust ROI
The journey to Zero Trust is an iterative process that is different for every organization. We encourage you to download the whitepaper, and gain insight into how you can chart a path to a multi-layered security strategy that adapts to the modern environment and meaningfully improves your technical and business outcomes. We look forward to your feedback and to continuing the journey together.
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At Amazon Web Services (AWS), security is our top priority. Security is deeply embedded into our culture, processes, and systems; it permeates everything we do. What does this mean for you? We believe customers can benefit from learning more about what AWS is doing to prevent and mitigate customer-impacting security events.
Since late August 2023, AWS has detected and been protecting customer applications from a new type of distributed denial of service (DDoS) event. DDoS events attempt to disrupt the availability of a targeted system, such as a website or application, reducing the performance for legitimate users. Examples of DDoS events include HTTP request floods, reflection/amplification attacks, and packet floods. The DDoS events AWS detected were a type of HTTP/2 request flood, which occurs when a high volume of illegitimate web requests overwhelms a web server’s ability to respond to legitimate client requests.
Between August 28 and August 29, 2023, proactive monitoring by AWS detected an unusual spike in HTTP/2 requests to Amazon CloudFront, peaking at over 155 million requests per second (RPS). Within minutes, AWS determined the nature of this unusual activity and found that CloudFront had automatically mitigated a new type of HTTP request flood DDoS event, now called an HTTP/2 rapid reset attack. Over those two days, AWS observed and mitigated over a dozen HTTP/2 rapid reset events, and through the month of September, continued to see this new type of HTTP/2 request flood. AWS customers who had built DDoS-resilient architectures with services like Amazon CloudFront and AWS Shield were able to protect their applications’ availability.
Figure 1. Global HTTP requests per second, September 13 – 16
Overview of HTTP/2 rapid reset attacks
HTTP/2 allows for multiple distinct logical connections to be multiplexed over a single HTTP session. This is a change from HTTP 1.x, in which each HTTP session was logically distinct. HTTP/2 rapid reset attacks consist of multiple HTTP/2 connections with requests and resets in rapid succession. For example, a series of requests for multiple streams will be transmitted followed up by a reset for each of those requests. The targeted system will parse and act upon each request, generating logs for a request that is then reset, or cancelled, by a client. The system performs work generating those logs even though it doesn’t have to send any data back to a client. A bad actor can abuse this process by issuing a massive volume of HTTP/2 requests, which can overwhelm the targeted system, such as a website or application.
Keep in mind that HTTP/2 rapid reset attacks are just a new type of HTTP request flood. To defend against these sorts of DDoS attacks, you can implement an architecture that helps you specifically detect unwanted requests as well as scale to absorb and block those malicious HTTP requests.
Building DDoS resilient architectures
As an AWS customer, you benefit from both the security built into the global cloud infrastructure of AWS as well as our commitment to continuously improve the security, efficiency, and resiliency of AWS services. For prescriptive guidance on how to improve DDoS resiliency, AWS has built tools such as the AWS Best Practices for DDoS Resiliency. It describes a DDoS-resilient reference architecture as a guide to help you protect your application’s availability. While several built-in forms of DDoS mitigation are included automatically with AWS services, your DDoS resilience can be improved by using an AWS architecture with specific services and by implementing additional best practices for each part of the network flow between users and your application.
For example, you can use AWS services that operate from edge locations, such as Amazon CloudFront, AWS Shield, Amazon Route 53, and Route 53 Application Recovery Controller to build comprehensive availability protection against known infrastructure layer attacks. These services can improve the DDoS resilience of your application when serving any type of application traffic from edge locations distributed around the world. Your application can be on-premises or in AWS when you use these AWS services to help you prevent unnecessary requests reaching your origin servers. As a best practice, you can run your applications on AWS to get the additional benefit of reducing the exposure of your application endpoints to DDoS attacks and to protect your application’s availability and optimize the performance of your application for legitimate users. You can use Amazon CloudFront (and its HTTP caching capability), AWS WAF, and Shield Advanced automatic application layer protection to help prevent unnecessary requests reaching your origin during application layer DDoS attacks.
Putting our knowledge to work for AWS customers
AWS remains vigilant, working to help prevent security issues from causing disruption to your business. We believe it’s important to share not only how our services are designed, but also how our engineers take deep, proactive ownership of every aspect of our services. As we work to defend our infrastructure and your data, we look for ways to help protect you automatically. Whenever possible, AWS Security and its systems disrupt threats where that action will be most impactful; often, this work happens largely behind the scenes. We work to mitigate threats by combining our global-scale threat intelligence and engineering expertise to help make our services more resilient against malicious activities. We’re constantly looking around corners to improve the efficiency and security of services including the protocols we use in our services, such as Amazon CloudFront, as well as AWS security tools like AWS WAF, AWS Shield, and Amazon Route 53 Resolver DNS Firewall.
In addition, our work extends security protections and improvements far beyond the bounds of AWS itself. AWS regularly works with the wider community, such as computer emergency response teams (CERT), internet service providers (ISP), domain registrars, or government agencies, so that they can help disrupt an identified threat. We also work closely with the security community, other cloud providers, content delivery networks (CDNs), and collaborating businesses around the world to isolate and take down threat actors. For example, in the first quarter of 2023, we stopped over 1.3 million botnet-driven DDoS attacks, and we traced back and worked with external parties to dismantle the sources of 230 thousand L7/HTTP DDoS attacks. The effectiveness of our mitigation strategies relies heavily on our ability to quickly capture, analyze, and act on threat intelligence. By taking these steps, AWS is going beyond just typical DDoS defense, and moving our protection beyond our borders. To learn more behind this effort, please read How AWS threat intelligence deters threat actors.
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Our mission at AWS Security Assurance Services is to ease Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) compliance for Amazon Web Services (AWS) customers. We work closely with AWS customers to answer their questions about understanding compliance on the AWS Cloud, finding and implementing solutions, and optimizing their controls and assessments. The most frequent and foundational questions have been compiled to create the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) v4.0 on AWS Compliance Guide. The guide is an overview of concepts and principles to help customers build PCI DSS–compliant applications and adhere to the updated version 4.0 requirements. Each section is thoroughly referenced to source AWS documentation, to support PCI DSS reporting requirements. The guide includes AWS best practices and technologies and updates that are applicable to the new PCI DSS v4.0 requirements.
The guide helps customers who are developing payment applications, compliance teams that are preparing to manage assessments of cloud applications, internal assessment teams, and PCI Qualified Security Assessors (QSA) supporting customers who use AWS.
What’s in the guide?
The objective of the guide is to provide customers with the information they need to plan for and document the PCI DSS compliance of their AWS workloads.
The guide includes:
The Shared Responsibility Model and its impact on PCI DSS requirements
What the AWS PCI DSS Level 1 Service Provider status means for customers
Scoping your cardholder data environment
Required diagrams for assessments
Requirement-by-requirement guidance
The guide is most useful for people who are developing solutions on AWS, but it also will help QSAs, internal security assessors (ISAs), and internal audit teams better understand the assessment of cloud applications. It provides examples of the diagrams required for assessments and includes links to AWS source documentation to support assessment evidence requirements.
Compliance at cloud scale
More customers than ever are running PCI DSS–compliant workloads on AWS, with thousands of compliant applications. New security and governance tools available from AWS and the AWS Partner Network (APN) enable building business-as-usual compliance and automated security tasks so you can shift your focus to scaling and innovating your business.
If you have questions or want to learn more, contact your account representative, or leave a comment below.
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AWS Cryptography is pleased to announce that today, the National Institute for Standards and Technology (NIST) awarded AWS-LC its validation certificate as a Federal Information Processing Standards (FIPS) 140-3, level 1, cryptographic module. This important milestone enables AWS customers that require FIPS-validated cryptography to leverage AWS-LC as a fully owned AWS implementation.
AWS-LC is an open source cryptographic library that is a fork from Google’s BoringSSL. It is tailored by the AWS Cryptography team to meet the needs of AWS services, which can require a combination of FIPS-validated cryptography, speed of certain algorithms on the target environments, and formal verification of the correctness of implementation of multiple algorithms. FIPS 140 is the technical standard for cryptographic modules for the U.S. and Canadian Federal governments. FIPS 140-3 is the most recent version of the standard, which introduced new and more stringent requirements over its predecessor, FIPS 140-2. The AWS-LC FIPS module underwent extensive code review and testing by a NIST-accredited lab before we submitted the results to NIST, where the module was further reviewed by the Cryptographic Module Validation Program (CMVP).
Our goal in designing the AWS-LC FIPS module was to create a validated library without compromising on our standards for both security and performance. AWS-LC is validated on AWS Graviton2 (c6g, 64-bit AWS custom Arm processor based on Neoverse N1) and Intel Xeon Platinum 8275CL (c5, x86_64) running Amazon Linux 2 or Ubuntu 20.04. Specifically, it includes low-level implementations that target 64-bit Arm and x86 processors, which are essential to meeting—and even exceeding—the performance that customers expect of AWS services. For example, in the integration of the AWS-LC FIPS module with AWS s2n-tls for TLS termination, we observed a 27% decrease in handshake latency in Amazon Simple Storage Service (Amazon S3), as shown in Figure 1.
Figure 1: Amazon S3 TLS termination time after using AWS-LC
AWS-LC integrates CPU-Jitter as the source of entropy, which works on widely available modern processors with high-resolution timers by measuring the tiny time variations of CPU instructions. Users of AWS-LC FIPS can have confidence that the keys it generates adhere to the required security strength. As a result, the library can be run with no uncertainty about the impact of a different processor on the entropy claims.
AWS-LC is a high-performance cryptographic library that provides an API for direct integration with C and C++ applications. To support a wider developer community, we’re providing integrations of a future version of the AWS-LC FIPS module, v2.0, into the AWS Libcrypto for Rust (aws-lc-rs) and ACCP 2.0 libraries . aws-lc-rs is API-compatible with the popular Rust library named ring, with additional performance enhancements and support for FIPS. Amazon Corretto Crypto Provider 2.0 (ACCP) is an open source OpenJDK implementation interfacing with low-level cryptographic algorithms that equips Java developers with fast cryptographic services. AWS-LC FIPS module v2.0 is currently submitted to an accredited lab for FIPS validation testing, and upon completion will be submitted to NIST for certification.
Today’s AWS-LC FIPS 140-3 certificate is an important milestone for AWS-LC, as a performant and verified library. It’s just the beginning; AWS is committed to adding more features, supporting more operating environments, and continually validating and maintaining new versions of the AWS-LC FIPS module as it grows.
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Security is our top priority at Amazon Web Services (AWS). To that end, I’m excited to share that AWS is further strengthening the default security posture of our customers’ environments by requiring the use of multi-factor authentication (MFA), beginning with the most privileged users in their accounts. MFA is one of the simplest and most effective ways to enhance account security, offering an additional layer of protection to help prevent unauthorized individuals from gaining access to systems or data.
Beginning in mid-2024, customers signing in to the AWS Management Console with the root user of an AWS Organizations management account will be required to enable MFA to proceed. Customers who must enable MFA will be notified of the upcoming change through multiple channels, including a prompt when they sign in to the console.
We will expand this program throughout 2024 to additional scenarios such as standalone accounts (those outside an organization in AWS Organizations) as we release features that make MFA even easier to adopt and manage at scale. That said, there’s no need to wait for 2024 to take advantage of the benefits of MFA. You can visit our AWS Identity and Access Management (IAM) user guide to learn how to enable MFA on AWS now, and eligible customers can request a free security key through our ordering portal.
Verifying that the most privileged users in AWS are protected with MFA is just the latest step in our commitment to continuously enhance the security posture of AWS customers. To help more customers get started on their MFA journey, in fall 2021, we began offering a free MFA security key to eligible AWS account owners in the United States. And in November 2022, we launched support for customers to register up to eight MFA devices per account root user or per IAM user in AWS, creating additional flexibility and resiliency for your MFA strategy.
We recommend that everyone adopts some form of MFA, and additionally encourage customers to consider choosing forms of MFA that are phishing-resistant, such as security keys. While the requirement to enable MFA for root users of Organizations management accounts is coming in 2024, we strongly encourage our customers to get started today by enabling MFA not only for their root users, but for all user types in their environments. For example, you can enable multiple MFA options, including passkeys and authenticator apps, for AWS IAM Identity Center. You can visit our AWS IAM Identity Center MFA user guide to learn more.
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Every day across the Amazon Web Services (AWS) cloud infrastructure, we detect and successfully thwart hundreds of cyberattacks that might otherwise be disruptive and costly. These important but mostly unseen victories are achieved with a global network of sensors and an associated set of disruption tools. Using these capabilities, we make it more difficult and expensive for cyberattacks to be carried out against our network, our infrastructure, and our customers. But we also help make the internet as a whole a safer place by working with other responsible providers to take action against threat actors operating within their infrastructure. Turning our global-scale threat intelligence into swift action is just one of the many steps that we take as part of our commitment to security as our top priority. Although this is a never-ending endeavor and our capabilities are constantly improving, we’ve reached a point where we believe customers and other stakeholders can benefit from learning more about what we’re doing today, and where we want to go in the future.
Global-scale threat intelligence using the AWS Cloud
With the largest public network footprint of any cloud provider, our scale at AWS gives us unparalleled insight into certain activities on the internet, in real time. Some years ago, leveraging that scale, AWS Principal Security Engineer Nima Sharifi Mehr started looking for novel approaches for gathering intelligence to counter threats. Our teams began building an internal suite of tools, given the moniker MadPot, and before long, Amazon security researchers were successfully finding, studying, and stopping thousands of digital threats that might have affected its customers.
MadPot was built to accomplish two things: first, discover and monitor threat activities and second, disrupt harmful activities whenever possible to protect AWS customers and others. MadPot has grown to become a sophisticated system of monitoring sensors and automated response capabilities. The sensors observe more than 100 million potential threat interactions and probes every day around the world, with approximately 500,000 of those observed activities advancing to the point where they can be classified as malicious. That enormous amount of threat intelligence data is ingested, correlated, and analyzed to deliver actionable insights about potentially harmful activity happening across the internet. The response capabilities automatically protect the AWS network from identified threats, and generate outbound communications to other companies whose infrastructure is being used for malicious activities.
Systems of this sort are known as honeypots—decoys set up to capture threat actor behavior—and have long served as valuable observation and threat intelligence tools. However, the approach we take through MadPot produces unique insights resulting from our scale at AWS and the automation behind the system. To attract threat actors whose behaviors we can then observe and act on, we designed the system so that it looks like it’s composed of a huge number of plausible innocent targets. Mimicking real systems in a controlled and safe environment provides observations and insights that we can often immediately use to help stop harmful activity and help protect customers.
Of course, threat actors know that systems like this are in place, so they frequently change their techniques—and so do we. We invest heavily in making sure that MadPot constantly changes and evolves its behavior, continuing to have visibility into activities that reveal the tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs) of threat actors. We put this intelligence to use quickly in AWS tools, such as AWS Shield and AWS WAF, so that many threats are mitigated early by initiating automated responses. When appropriate, we also provide the threat data to customers through Amazon GuardDuty so that their own tooling and automation can respond.
Three minutes to exploit attempt, no time to waste
Within approximately 90 seconds of launching a new sensor within our MadPot simulated workload, we can observe that the workload has been discovered by probes scanning the internet. From there, it takes only three minutes on average before attempts are made to penetrate and exploit it. This is an astonishingly short amount of time, considering that these workloads aren’t advertised or part of other visible systems that would be obvious to threat actors. This clearly demonstrates the voracity of scanning taking place and the high degree of automation that threat actors employ to find their next target.
As these attempts run their course, the MadPot system analyzes the telemetry, code, attempted network connections, and other key data points of the threat actor’s behavior. This information becomes even more valuable as we aggregate threat actor activities to generate a more complete picture of available intelligence.
Disrupting attacks to maintain business as usual
In-depth threat intelligence analysis also happens in MadPot. The system launches the malware it captures in a sandboxed environment, connects information from disparate techniques into threat patterns, and more. When the gathered signals provide high enough confidence in a finding, the system acts to disrupt threats whenever possible, such as disconnecting a threat actor’s resources from the AWS network. Or, it could entail preparing that information to be shared with the wider community, such as a computer emergency response team (CERT), internet service provider (ISP), a domain registrar, or government agency so that they can help disrupt the identified threat.
As a major internet presence, AWS takes on the responsibility to help and collaborate with the security community when possible. Information sharing within the security community is a long-standing tradition and an area where we’ve been an active participant for years.
In the first quarter of 2023:
We used 5.5B signals from our internet threat sensors and 1.5B signals from our active network probes in our anti-botnet security efforts.
We stopped over 1.3M outbound botnet-driven DDoS attacks.
We shared our security intelligence findings, including nearly a thousand botnet C2 hosts, with relevant hosting providers and domain registrars.
We traced back and worked with external parties to dismantle the sources of 230k L7/HTTP(S) DDoS attacks.
Three examples of MadPot’s effectiveness: Botnets, Sandworm, and Volt Typhoon
Recently, MadPot detected, collected, and analyzed suspicious signals that uncovered a distributed denial of service (DDoS) botnet that was using the domain free.bigbots.[tld] (the top-level domain is omitted) as a command and control (C2) domain. A botnet is made up of compromised systems that belong to innocent parties—such as computers, home routers, and Internet of Things (IoT) devices—that have been previously compromised, with malware installed that awaits commands to flood a target with network packets. Bots under this C2 domain were launching 15–20 DDoS attacks per hour at a rate of about 800 million packets per second.
As MadPot mapped out this threat, our intelligence revealed a list of IP addresses used by the C2 servers corresponding to an extremely high number of requests from the bots. Our systems blocked those IP addresses from access to AWS networks so that a compromised customer compute node on AWS couldn’t participate in the attacks. AWS automation then used the intelligence gathered to contact the company that was hosting the C2 systems and the registrar responsible for the DNS name. The company whose infrastructure was hosting the C2s took them offline in less than 48 hours, and the domain registrar decommissioned the DNS name in less than 72 hours. Without the ability to control DNS records, the threat actor could not easily resuscitate the network by moving the C2s to a different network location. In less than three days, this widely distributed malware and the C2 infrastructure required to operate it was rendered inoperable, and the DDoS attacks impacting systems throughout the internet ground to a halt.
MadPot is effective in detecting and understanding the threat actors that target many different kinds of infrastructure, not just cloud infrastructure, including the malware, ports, and techniques that they may be using. Thus, through MadPot we identified the threat group called Sandworm—the cluster associated with Cyclops Blink, a piece of malware used to manage a botnet of compromised routers. Sandworm was attempting to exploit a vulnerability affecting WatchGuard network security appliances. With close investigation of the payload, we identified not only IP addresses but also other unique attributes associated with the Sandworm threat that were involved in an attempted compromise of an AWS customer. MadPot’s unique ability to mimic a variety of services and engage in high levels of interaction helped us capture additional details about Sandworm campaigns, such as services that the actor was targeting and post-exploitation commands initiated by that actor. Using this intelligence, we notified the customer, who promptly acted to mitigate the vulnerability. Without this swift action, the actor might have been able to gain a foothold in the customer’s network and gain access to other organizations that the customer served.
For our final example, the MadPot system was used to help government cyber and law enforcement authorities identify and ultimately disrupt Volt Typhoon, the widely-reported state-sponsored threat actor that focused on stealthy and targeted cyber espionage campaigns against critical infrastructure organizations. Through our investigation inside MadPot, we identified a payload submitted by the threat actor that contained a unique signature, which allowed identification and attribution of activities by Volt Typhoon that would otherwise appear to be unrelated. By using the data lake that stores a complete history of MadPot interactions, we were able to search years of data very quickly and ultimately identify other examples of this unique signature, which was being sent in payloads to MadPot as far back as August 2021. The previous request was seemingly benign in nature, so we believed that it was associated with a reconnaissance tool. We were then able to identify other IP addresses that the threat actor was using in recent months. We shared our findings with government authorities, and those hard-to-make connections helped inform the research and conclusions of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) of the U.S. government. Our work and the work of other cooperating parties resulted in their May 2023 Cybersecurity advisory. To this day, we continue to observe the actor probing U.S. network infrastructure, and we continue to share details with appropriate government cyber and law enforcement organizations.
Putting global-scale threat intelligence to work for AWS customers and beyond
At AWS, security is our top priority, and we work hard to help prevent security issues from causing disruption to your business. As we work to defend our infrastructure and your data, we use our global-scale insights to gather a high volume of security intelligence—at scale and in real time—to help protect you automatically. Whenever possible, AWS Security and its systems disrupt threats where that action will be most impactful; often, this work happens largely behind the scenes. As demonstrated in the botnet case described earlier, we neutralize threats by using our global-scale threat intelligence and by collaborating with entities that are directly impacted by malicious activities. We incorporate findings from MadPot into AWS security tools, including preventative services, such as AWS WAF, AWS Shield, AWS Network Firewall, and Amazon Route 53 Resolver DNS Firewall, and detective and reactive services, such as Amazon GuardDuty, AWS Security Hub, and Amazon Inspector, putting security intelligence when appropriate directly into the hands of our customers, so that they can build their own response procedures and automations.
But our work extends security protections and improvements far beyond the bounds of AWS itself. We work closely with the security community and collaborating businesses around the world to isolate and take down threat actors. In the first half of this year, we shared intelligence of nearly 2,000 botnet C2 hosts with relevant hosting providers and domain registrars to take down the botnets’ control infrastructure. We also traced back and worked with external parties to dismantle the sources of approximately 230,000 Layer 7 DDoS attacks. The effectiveness of our mitigation strategies relies heavily on our ability to quickly capture, analyze, and act on threat intelligence. By taking these steps, AWS is going beyond just typical DDoS defense, and moving our protection beyond our borders.
We’re glad to be able to share information about MadPot and some of the capabilities that we’re operating today. For more information, see this presentation from our most recent re:Inforce conference: How AWS threat intelligence becomes managed firewall rules, as well as an overview post published today, Meet MadPot, a threat intelligence tool Amazon uses to protect customers from cybercrime, which includes some good information about the AWS security engineer behind the original creation of MadPot. Going forward, you can expect to hear more from us as we develop and enhance our threat intelligence and response systems, making both AWS and the internet as a whole a safer place.
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Yanzhu Ji is a Product Manager in the Amazon Redshift team. She has experience in product vision and strategy in industry-leading data products and platforms. She has outstanding skill in building substantial software products using web development, system design, database, and distributed programming techniques. In her personal life, Yanzhu likes painting, photography, and playing tennis.
Milind Oke is a Data Warehouse Specialist Solutions Architect based out of New York. He has been building data warehouse solutions for over 15 years and specializes in Amazon Redshift.
Jialin Ding is an Applied Scientist in the Learned Systems Group, specializing in applying machine learning and optimization techniques to improve the performance of data systems such as Amazon Redshift.
Aish Gunasekar is a Specialist Solutions Architect with a focus on Amazon OpenSearch Service. Her passion at AWS is to help customers design highly scalable architectures and help them in their cloud adoption journey. Outside of work, she enjoys hiking and baking.
Satish Nandi is a Senior Technical Product Manager for Amazon OpenSearch Service.
Jon Handler is a Senior Principal Solutions Architect at Amazon Web Services based in Palo Alto, CA. Jon works closely with OpenSearch and Amazon OpenSearch Service, providing help and guidance to a broad range of customers who have search and log analytics workloads that they want to move to the AWS Cloud. Prior to joining AWS, Jon’s career as a software developer included 4 years of coding a large-scale, ecommerce search engine. Jon holds a Bachelor of the Arts from the University of Pennsylvania, and a Master of Science and a PhD in Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence from Northwestern University.
