Protecting Your Applications on AWS: Exploring the Features and Benefits of AWS Shield

If you're starting your journey on AWS and looking to understand how to protect your applications against malicious attacks, you've come to the right place. Today, we're going to delve into the features and benefits of AWS Shield, AWS's line of defense against Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks.

What is AWS Shield?

AWS Shield is a managed service that provides protection against DDoS attacks for applications running on AWS. There are two versions of the service: AWS Shield Standard, which is automatically activated and free for all AWS customers, and AWS Shield Advanced, which offers additional protection for applications with higher security requirements.

DDoS attacks?!

DDoS attacks attempt to overload your application with malicious traffic, preventing legitimate users from accessing your services.

AWS Shield provides protection against a wide range of known and unknown attack vectors, ensuring that your application remains available and responsive

Integration with other AWS Services

AWS Shield works in conjunction with other AWS services such as Amazon CloudFront, Elastic Load Balancing (ELB), Route 53, Elastic IP, and AWS Global Accelerator to provide a robust security barrier. This means you can benefit from comprehensive protection without the need to manage complex security solutions.

Cost and Efficiency Comparison

When evaluating AWS Shield, it's crucial to understand the pros and cons of the Standard and Advanced versions to determine which best fits the security needs of your application:

AWS Shield?Standard

Pros:

• Free: AWS Shield Standard is automatically activated for all AWS customers at no additional cost, providing a layer of protection against the most common and frequent DDoS attacks.
• Automatic Protection: It provides dynamic detection and automatic inline mitigation, minimizing downtime and application latency, without the need to involve AWS support to benefit from DDoS protection.

Cons:

• Blocking Limitations: Although it provides protection against infrastructure attacks (layers 3 and 4), AWS Shield Standard has limitations regarding customization of specific protections for your applications. It sets static limits for each type of AWS resource but does not provide custom protections.

AWS Shield?Advanced

Pros:

• Advanced Features: In addition to protection against network and transport layer attacks, AWS Shield Advanced offers additional detection and mitigation against large and sophisticated DDoS attacks, near real-time visibility of attacks.
• Specialized Support: AWS Shield Advanced customers have 24/7 access to the AWS Shield Response Team (SRT) for attack management and mitigation, as well as protection against cost spikes related to DDoS attacks.
• Custom Detection: Provides custom detection based on application traffic patterns, using additional region-specific and resource-specific monitoring techniques, improving accuracy in detecting smaller and application layer attacks.
• Cost Protection: AWS Shield Advanced offers protection against potential cost increases resulting from DDoS attacks. If infrastructure scales as a result of a DDoS attack, AWS Shield Advanced ensures protection against these unexpected costs.

Cons:

• Additional Cost: AWS Shield Advanced requires a minimum 1-year commitment and has a monthly fee of $3,000, plus possible additional data transfer fees depending on the type of protected resource and the amount of data transferred.
• 1-Year Commitment: The requirement of a minimum 1-year commitment can be a limiting factor for organizations with variable security needs or for those in the evaluation phase of different security solutions

The choice between AWS Shield Standard and AWS Shield Advanced depends on the specific security needs of your application, available budget, and tolerance to DDoS attack risk. For critical applications requiring the highest level of protection and support, AWS Shield Advanced may be the right choice despite the additional cost. On the other hand, for applications with less stringent security requirements or for organizations seeking a DDoS protection solution without additional costs, AWS Shield Standard provides a basic layer of security that may be sufficient.

Caso de?uso

Challenge: A technology company was dealing with frequent Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks targeting its web application and APIs. These attacks threatened the availability and performance of its critical services, potentially resulting in significant periods of downtime and loss of trust among users. Solution with AWS Shield Advanced: To combat these threats, the company turned to AWS Shield Advanced for a more robust defense. AWS Shield Advanced is designed to provide comprehensive protection against even the most complex DDoS attacks.

Conclusion

AWS Shield is an essential tool for protecting your applications on AWS against DDoS attacks. With its two versions, it offers flexibility to meet the security needs of a wide range of applications, from personal blogs to critical enterprise applications. By utilizing AWS Shield, you can ensure that your applications remain secure, available, and resilient against today's most common cyber threats. We hope this post has helped clarify what AWS Shield is and how it can benefit your applications on AWS. If you're ready to take the next step in protecting your application, consider diving deeper into AWS Shield and how it can fit into your cloud security strategy.

https://aws.amazon.com/solutions/case-studies/bitbank-cloudfront-case-study/

https://aws.amazon.com/shield/getting-started/?source=post_page-----55b2456d3ec8--------------------------------

https://docs.aws.amazon.com/waf/latest/developerguide/ddos-overview.html?source=post_page-----55b2456d3ec8--------------------------------