AWS Shield

AWS Shield is a managed Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) protection service that safeguards applications running on AWS. It provides two levels of protection: AWS Shield Standard and AWS Shield Advanced, ensuring comprehensive security against DDoS attacks.

Key Features

• Global Threat Environment: Provides continuous monitoring and automatic inline mitigations to minimize application downtime and latency during DDoS attacks.
• AWS Shield Standard: Automatically included with AWS services like Amazon CloudFront and Route 53, offering protection against common network and transport layer DDoS attacks.
• AWS Shield Advanced: Offers advanced protection for larger and more sophisticated attacks, with 24/7 access to the AWS DDoS Response Team (DRT), real-time visibility, and cost protection.
• DDoS Cost Protection: Shields against scaling charges resulting from DDoS-related traffic spikes, preventing unexpected costs during an attack.
• Automatic Application Layer DDoS Mitigations: Uses AWS WAF in conjunction with Shield Advanced to automatically mitigate complex application layer attacks.
• Comprehensive Attack Analytics: Provides detailed reports on attack vectors, mitigations, and other critical metrics, helping in post-attack analysis and improvements.
• Global Coverage: Offers protection across AWS regions, ensuring consistent security for global applications.

Common Use Cases

• Web Application Protection: AWS Shield is commonly used to protect web applications from DDoS attacks, ensuring availability and minimizing downtime.
• API Protection: Ideal for protecting APIs hosted on AWS, particularly those exposed to the internet, from various DDoS threats.
• Enterprise Applications: Used by enterprises to safeguard critical applications and services from sophisticated attacks.
• Global Infrastructure Protection: Provides a global defense layer for applications and services deployed across multiple AWS regions.
• Regulatory Compliance: Helps organizations meet regulatory requirements related to DDoS protection and security.

Architecture Overview

The following diagram illustrates the architecture of AWS Shield:

• AWS Shield Standard: Integrated with AWS services like CloudFront and Route 53, providing network and transport layer protection by default.
• AWS Shield Advanced: Offers additional protection layers, including application layer defenses through AWS WAF, detailed attack visibility, and 24/7 support from the AWS DDoS Response Team.
• Attack Mitigation: Shield automatically detects and mitigates DDoS attacks, ensuring minimal impact on application availability and performance.
• Cost Protection: In the event of a DDoS attack, AWS Shield Advanced helps absorb the costs associated with scaling your resources to handle the increased traffic.
• Global Protection: AWS Shield protects applications and services across all AWS regions, providing a unified defense against DDoS threats.

Integration with Other AWS Services

AWS Shield integrates seamlessly with various AWS services to enhance protection and streamline management:

• Amazon CloudFront: Shield integrates with CloudFront to protect against network and transport layer DDoS attacks, ensuring low-latency content delivery.
• Amazon Route 53: Protects DNS services from DDoS attacks, ensuring reliable domain resolution during an attack.
• AWS WAF: Works alongside Shield Advanced to mitigate application layer attacks, offering customizable rule sets and automatic protections.
• AWS Firewall Manager: Centralizes security management across AWS accounts, allowing for easier configuration and enforcement of Shield protections.
• AWS Elastic Load Balancing: Shield protects ELB instances by mitigating large-scale DDoS attacks, ensuring application availability.
• AWS CloudTrail: Provides logs and audit trails for DDoS events, helping with compliance and post-attack analysis.

Things to Remember for the Exam

• Protection Levels: Understand the difference between AWS Shield Standard and AWS Shield Advanced:
  • AWS Shield Standard: Automatically protects against common network and transport layer attacks, included with CloudFront and Route 53.
  • AWS Shield Advanced: Provides additional protection for more complex attacks, with features like cost protection, advanced reporting, and access to the AWS DDoS Response Team.
• Integration with AWS WAF: Know how AWS Shield Advanced works with AWS WAF to mitigate application layer DDoS attacks.
• Cost Protection: Remember that AWS Shield Advanced offers cost protection against scaling charges during a DDoS attack.
• Global Coverage: Understand that AWS Shield provides global protection across AWS regions, making it ideal for applications with a global footprint.
• Regulatory Compliance: Be aware that AWS Shield helps meet regulatory compliance for DDoS protection.
• Common Use Cases: Know the common scenarios where AWS Shield is deployed, such as web application protection, API protection, and enterprise application defense.