1. Introduction
Context: The shift of financial institutions' infrastructure to the cloud and the stringent security requirements.
What is NIST? A brief introduction to NIST (especially NIST CSF and NIST SP 800-53) - the gold standard for information security.
Why choose AWS? AWS is the cloud provider offering the most comprehensive ecosystem of compliance-supported services.
2. Shared Responsibility Model & NIST
Explain that AWS is responsible for the security of the "of" the cloud (physical infrastructure, data centers), while the customer is responsible for the security "within" the cloud (configuration, data, identities).
Emphasize: Using AWS does not automatically guarantee NIST compliance; businesses need to configure it correctly.
3. Key pillars when deploying NIST on AWS
The organization should be divided according to the most important NIST Controls:
A. Identity and Access Management
NIST Control: AC (Access Control), IA (Identification and Authentication).
AWS Solution:
Use AWS IAM with the "Least Privilege" principle.
Require MFA for all accounts.
Use AWS IAM Identity Center (SSO) for centralized management.
B. Data Protection
NIST Control: SC (System and Communications Protection), MP (Media Protection).
AWS Solutions:
At-rest and in-transit data encryption.
Utilizing AWS KMS or AWS CloudHSM (suitable for BFSI customers requiring physical key management).
Managing SSL/TLS certificates via AWS Certificate Manager (ACM).
C. Audit & Accountability
NIST Control: AU (Audit and Accountability).
AWS Solutions:
AWS CloudTrail: Records all API activity for verification purposes.
Amazon CloudWatch: Monitors performance and provides log alerts.
AWS Config: Tracks the history of resource configuration changes (This is the most important service for demonstrating NIST compliance).
D. Network Security
NIST Control: SC (System and Communications Protection).
AWS Solution:
Multi-layer VPC design (Public/Private Subnet).
Using AWS WAF to protect against Layer 7 web attacks.
AWS Shield for DDoS protection.
Network Firewall to control traffic flow to and from the system.
4. Compliance as Code
AWS Artifact: A portal for downloading AWS compliance reports (SOC, PCI-DSS, NIST).
AWS Audit Manager: Automatically gathers evidence for verification against the NIST SP 800-53 framework.
AWS Security Hub: Provides a comprehensive overview of security and compliance scoring based on best practices.
5. Best Practices
Current situation assessment: Compare the current infrastructure with the NIST checklist.
Landing Zone Design: Use AWS Control Tower to set up a standard multi-account environment from the start.
Blueprint Implementation: Use readily available templates (AWS Quick Starts for NIST) for rapid deployment.
Continuous Monitoring: This isn't a one-time task; continuous monitoring via Security Hub and Config is necessary.
Top comments (0)