Five Common AWS Security Risks and How to Avoid Them

In helping organizations transition to AWS, one recurring theme stands out: while the cloud provides tremendous scalability and flexibility, it also requires shared responsibility for security. AWS offers a solid security foundation, but misconfigurations on the customer side can expose your environment to unnecessary risk.

Below are five common AWS security risks and challenges, along with practical guidance to help you mitigate them and improve your cloud security posture.

1. Understand and Defend Against Server-Side Request Forgery (SSRF)

SSRF occurs when attackers manipulate an application to send unauthorized requests, potentially gaining access to internal resources like the instance metadata service (IMDS). If IMDSv1 is used, attackers may be able to retrieve sensitive credentials.

How to reduce the risk:

• Use IMDSv2, which requires session-based tokens and offers stronger protection than IMDSv1.
• Apply the principle of least privilege to all IAM roles, limiting what an attacker could access if a role is compromised.
• Validate all user input to prevent unexpected HTTP requests from being processed.

2. Secure Your S3 Buckets Against Public Access

Misconfigured S3 permissions continue to be one of the most common causes of data exposure in AWS. Sensitive information is often left publicly accessible due to overly permissive settings.

Steps to protect S3 data:

• Enable block public access settings at both the account and bucket level to prevent unintentional exposure.
• Use bucket policies and access points to manage permissions with precision.
• Run regular audits using AWS tools or third-party solutions to review and tighten S3 access.

3. Monitor and Analyze Your Logs Consistently

Logging is only useful if it’s reviewed and acted upon. While services like AWS CloudTrail and CloudWatch offer detailed logging capabilities, failing to monitor these logs can delay detection of malicious activity.

Best practices for log management:

• Enable AWS CloudTrail to capture all account activity.
• Use CloudWatch Alarms to receive real-time alerts for suspicious behavior.
• Consider third-party log analysis tools that provide deeper visibility and alerting capabilities.

4. Limit Use of the AWS Root Account

The root user has full control over your AWS account, making it a prime target for attackers and a risky tool for day-to-day use.

Recommendations for safer access control:

• Enable multi-factor authentication (MFA) on the root account immediately.
• Create IAM users or roles for all administrators, assigning only the permissions they need.
• Set up alerts for any activity involving the root account, since it should rarely be used.

5. Encrypt Data in Transit and at Rest

Storing or transmitting data without encryption exposes it to theft or misuse in the event of a breach. AWS provides built-in encryption tools, but they must be configured and actively managed.

Ways to improve AWS data protection:

• Use AWS Key Management Service (KMS) to create and manage encryption keys.
• Enable encryption for services such as S3, EBS, and RDS to secure data at rest.
• Use Transport Layer Security (TLS) for all data sent over networks.

Unsure if you enforce AWS best practices?

AWS gives you powerful tools to build and scale, but it’s your responsibility to configure them securely. Addressing common risks like SSRF vulnerabilities, S3 misconfigurations, insufficient log monitoring, overuse of the root account, and lack of encryption can significantly reduce your exposure.

If you’re unsure whether your environment meets best practices to avoid AWS security risks, let’s talk. Contact Adam Lisowski at Freed Maxick Risk Advisory Services by emailing adam.lisowski@freedmaxick.com or calling 716.362.6203. Together, we can evaluate and strengthen your AWS implementation.