Designing a secured Landing Zone in AWS

When adopting cloud computing, securing your cloud infrastructure should be a top priority. Starting with a landing zone provides the foundational infrastructure for all workloads and applications. This should also include designing for security in your landing zone.

In this post, we'll discuss how to design a secure landing zone in AWS and the best practices to follow.

1. Create a multi-account structure: Creating a multi-account structure is a best practice for securing your landing zone in AWS. This allows you to separate workloads, limit blast radius, and apply specific security controls to each account, or set of accounts. You can use AWS Organizations to create and manage multiple accounts in your AWS environment.

2. Define your security requirements: Before designing your landing zone, you should first define your security requirements. This will help you determine what security controls you need to put in place. Identify the type of data you will be storing (i.e. data classification), who will have access to it (i.e. data access), and the compliance regulations you must comply with (i.e. data compliance). The security controls are applied in what is referred to as the Security Baseline or Layer.

3. Use AWS Identity and Access Management (IAM): IAM is a service that enables you to manage user access and permissions to AWS resources.  You should use IAM to enforce the principle of least privilege and ensure that users only have access to the resources they need. You should also enable multi-factor authentication (MFA) for added security. These service resources are applied in what is referred to as the Identity Baseline or Layer.

4. Implement encryption: Encryption is the process of encoding data so that only authorized parties can access it. You should encrypt all sensitive data at rest and in transit. AWS offers a variety of encryption options, including Amazon S3 encryption, AWS Key Management Service (KMS), and AWS Certificate Manager. The encryption key service is applied in the Data Protection Baseline or Layer.

5. Use AWS Config and AWS CloudTrail: AWS Config and AWS CloudTrail are services that provide visibility and auditing capabilities for your AWS environment. AWS Config helps you monitor resource configuration changes, while AWS CloudTrail provides a detailed record of all API activity in your AWS account. These services are applied in the Logging Baseline or Layer, and are dependent upon the Data Protection Baseline to provide the encryption keys necessary to encrypt log data.

6. Implement network segmentation: Network segmentation is the process of dividing your network into smaller, more secure segments. This helps to prevent lateral movement and limit the impact of a security breach. You can use Virtual Private Cloud (VPC) to create network segments in AWS. This capability is applied in the Network Baseline or Layer, and is dependent upon the previous deployed Logging Baseline and Data Protection Baseline to provide logging and encryption keys respectively.

7. Implement automated security checks: You should implement automated security checks to ensure that your landing zone remains secure over time. AWS provides a range of automated security tools, including AWS Security Hub, AWS Config Rules, and Amazon Inspector. This capability is implemented in the Compliance Baseline or Layer.

In conclusion, designing a secure landing zone in AWS requires careful planning and attention to detail. By following the best practices outlined above, you can create a landing zone that is secure, scalable, and easy to manage. Remember to regularly review your security controls and update them as necessary to keep up with changing security threats.

Understanding Cloud Foundations

 “Cloud foundations" generally refers to the fundamental building blocks or components of cloud computing infrastructure. There are a few key aspects typically included in cloud foundations, such as:

1. Virtualization: Cloud computing relies heavily on virtualization technology to provide a layer of abstraction between physical resources (like servers, storage devices, and networks) and the software applications that use those resources. Virtualization allows for more efficient use of resources, greater flexibility, and easier management of cloud environments.
2. Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS): IaaS is a cloud service model that provides virtualized computing resources over the internet, including servers, storage, and networking. Cloud providers like Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud Platform (GCP) offer IaaS services that customers can use to build and deploy their own applications and services.
3. Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS): PaaS is another cloud service model that provides a platform for developing, testing, and deploying applications without having to worry about the underlying infrastructure. PaaS providers like Heroku, Google App Engine, and AWS Elastic Beanstalk offer preconfigured platforms that include operating systems, programming languages, databases, and other tools.
4. Software-as-a-Service (SaaS): SaaS is a cloud service model that allows users to access software applications over the internet, typically through a web browser or mobile app. Examples of SaaS applications include Google Workspace, Salesforce, and Microsoft Office 365.
5. Cloud security: As with any computing environment, security is a critical consideration in the cloud. Cloud providers offer various security features and services to help customers protect their data and applications, including encryption, access controls, firewalls, and threat detection.

Overall, cloud foundations are the underlying technologies, services, and practices that enable cloud computing to work effectively and efficiently.

If you want to learn more about cloud foundations and what a practical implementation entails, stay tuned here as I will be detailing the components that would go into a real-world cloud deployment.

What is a landing zone and why you should be using one

Cloud computing has become so common place that the question is no longer “should?”, but “why not?”. Now as you, like so many others, begin your journey to the cloud, trying to decipher the many technical terms and jargon, and ensuring you follow best practices for security, cost efficiency and operations, you will likely come across the term, “landing zone”. So what is a landing zone, and why would I need one? A landing zone is a best practice in cloud computing for establishing a secure and well-architected foundation that can help you scale and manage your cloud environment effectively. You can definitely get started without one, get your services up and running and be productive. But unless you are a one-person shop, you are more typically going to run into challenges at some point, and start asking questions like:

• How do I better isolate my environments for improved security and protection from mistakes?
• How do I provide the appropriate access to persons, making sure they have the right access level, to the right things?

There are several reasons why a landing zone is important when starting out in cloud computing:

1. Security: A landing zone provides a secure foundation for your cloud environment by establishing security controls and best practices from the outset. This helps to reduce the risk of security breaches, data leaks, and other security incidents.

2. Compliance: A landing zone can help you meet compliance requirements for your industry or region, by establishing policies and controls that are specific to your compliance needs.

3. Scalability: A landing zone provides a scalable foundation that can grow with your cloud environment. By establishing a set of repeatable patterns and configurations (or blueprints), you can reduce the time and effort required to deploy new workloads and applications in your cloud environment.

4. Cost optimization: A landing zone can help you optimize costs by establishing cost controls and best practices from the outset. By implementing cost optimization strategies early on, you can avoid common cost pitfalls and ensure that your cloud environment is cost-effective over the long term.

5. Management and governance: A landing zone can help you establish management and governance policies that are specific to your business needs. By creating a set of standardized practices for deploying and managing resources in your cloud environment, you can ensure that your environment is consistent, well-organized, and easy to manage.

Overall, a landing zone provides a foundation for a secure, compliant, scalable, and cost-effective cloud environment. It can help you get started with cloud computing on the right foot and avoid common pitfalls and challenges that can arise in cloud environments.

If you found this useful, please follow along as I will provide future posts on the details of a landing zone, such as AWS Control Tower, custom, third-party, and provide some lessons learned.