Advanced Security Monitoring and Alerting in AWS

EXPERT
220 minutes
5 tasks

In this lab, you will set up comprehensive security monitoring and alerting solutions using multiple AWS services. You will configure AWS CloudWatch, AWS GuardDuty, AWS Security Hub, and AWS SNS to track security events and automate threat identification and notification. This lab simulates a real-world scenario where a company's sensitive data and operational stability depend on timely and effective reactions to potential security threats. You'll gain hands-on experience with configuring alert thresholds, integrating various AWS services for seamless operations, and implementing best practices for incident response.

Scenario

You are a security engineer at TechGuard, a company dealing with highly sensitive financial and customer information. Due to increasing threats, the company's executive board mandates implementing an advanced security monitoring and alerting system that seamlessly integrates with existing AWS infrastructure. Timely detection and response to security incidents without impacting performance or customer trust are the primary goals.

Learning Objectives

  • Integrate AWS CloudWatch with AWS GuardDuty for security monitoring.
  • Implement AWS SNS for automated alert notifications.
  • Configure AWS Security Hub to aggregate and prioritize security findings.
  • Design alert thresholds based on business security requirements.
  • Implement best practices for incident response and management.

tasks (5)

task 1: Enable AWS CloudWatch monitoring on all EC2 instances.

45 min

task 2: Enable AWS GuardDuty and configure finding types to alert on.

60 min

task 3: Configure AWS Security Hub for centralizing security alerts.

40 min

task 4: Set up SNS for automated alerts and notifications.

35 min

task 5: Define alert thresholds and optimize based on business rules.

60 min

Prerequisites

  • Understanding of EC2 instance configurations
  • Familiarity with AWS Identity and Access Management (IAM) roles and policies
  • Basic knowledge of AWS Simple Notification Service (SNS)
  • Experience setting up AWS CloudWatch alarms and metrics
  • Knowledge of AWS Security Hub integration capabilities

Skills Tested

AWS CloudWatch configuration and detailed monitoringAWS GuardDuty findings setup and alert managementCentralizing security alerts with AWS Security HubSNS topic creation and subscription managementSetting optimized alert thresholds in AWS CloudWatch