Let's learn MFA, Password Policy, AWS Budgets and Alerts !

Just read the news that new Jamtara-like case a group has allegedly swindled the director of a security services firm and looted Rs 50 lakhs via a fraudulent transfer

As data is the fuel today, we need to secure our data too, so for today let's learn what is MFA, Password policy, Budgets and how to set up these for your AWS Account

Multi-Factor Authentication, is a security measure that helps keep your online accounts safe. It means that when you sign in to your account, you need to provide more than just your username and password. For example, you might also need to enter a code that is sent to your phone or enter a fingerprint on a special device. This extra step makes it harder for someone else to access your account without your permission. MFA is like having a guard at the door of your online accounts, making sure that only you can get in.

To set up multi-factor authentication (MFA) for your AWS account, you need to do the following:

1. Sign in to the AWS Management Console with your account credentials.

2. From the navigation bar, choose your account name and then choose "My Security Credentials".

3. In the "Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA)" section, choose "Manage MFA".

4. On the "Manage MFA" page, choose "Activate MFA".

5. Choose the type of virtual MFA device you want to use (such as a smartphone app or a hardware token) and then follow the instructions to set up the device.

I use an app named Authenticator App

6. Open your Authenticator app and scan the QR code showing up in your AWS Account?

7. Enter the code showing up in Authenticator app, wait to expire it and then enter another code?

Once you have set up your MFA device, you will be prompted to enter the MFA code from your device whenever you sign in to the AWS Management Console.

To set up a password policy for your AWS account, you need to do the following:

1. Sign in to the AWS Management Console with your account credentials.

2. From the navigation bar, choose your account name and then choose "My Security Credentials".

3. In the "Account Settings" section, choose "Password Policy".

4. On the "Password Policy" page, you can choose the password policy settings that you want to apply to your account. This includes the minimum password length, the number of previous passwords that users are not allowed to reuse, and other settings.

5. You can customize according to your wish, check attached picture for available options

6. Once you have chosen the password policy settings that you want to apply, choose "Save Changes" to save your changes.

?Important Note: you need to be signed in with the root user account to set the password policy for your AWS account. If you are signed in with an IAM user account, you will need to sign in with the root user account or ask the account owner to set the password policy for you.

To set up a budget and alert in your Amazon Web Services (AWS) account, you can follow these steps:

1. Sign in to your AWS Management Console and navigate to the Billing and Cost Management page.

2. In the navigation menu on the left, click on Budgets.

3. Click on the Create budget button to create a new budget.

You can also explore other links present over there to understand better about Budget

4. On the next page, select the type of budget you want to create. For example, you can create a monthly budget to track your monthly costs or create a usage budget to track your usage of a specific AWS service.

5. Once you have selected the type of budget, you can specify the details of the budget, such as the budget amount, the time period, and the notification threshold.

6. After you have specified the details of the budget, you can select the actions you want AWS to take when your budget is exceeded. For example, you can choose to receive an email notification or stop a specific AWS service when the budget is exceeded.

7. Click on the Create button to create the budget.

To set up alerts for your budget, click on the Alerts tab on the Budgets page.

1. Click on the Create alert button to create a new alert.

2. On the next page, select the type of alert you want to create. For example, you can create an alert to notify you when your budget is exceeded or when your estimated charges reach a certain amount.

3. Once you have selected the type of alert, you can specify the details of the alert, such as the notification threshold and the recipients of the alert.

I've selected Zero Budget Threshold, and given my email id so that it can give notification whenever billing is greater than 0 $?

4. Click on the Create button to create the alert.

5. After you have set up a budget and alert in your AWS account, you can monitor your costs and usage to ensure that you are staying within your budget and taking appropriate actions when your budget is exceeded.

It will take 24 hrs to populate your billing data to the billing Dashboards

So come back after a day to see this data

You can edit, delete or add new budgets too?

Keep looking for this space, I will be adding more concepts through blogs and on my LinkedIn page https://www.dhirubhai.net/in/abhishek-kumar01

If you read it till the end, Thank you!...

This article is part of AWS Career Growth Program (AWS-CGP) by Pravin Mishra

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