3.1.1. Shared Responsibility: AWS's Role
š” First Principle: AWS is responsible for "security of the cloud," protecting the underlying infrastructure: hardware, software, networking, and facilities.
In the AWS Shared Responsibility Model, AWS's responsibility is to protect the global infrastructure that runs all of the services offered in the AWS Cloud. This "security of the cloud" means AWS manages and controls the components from the host operating system and virtualization layer down to the physical security of the facilities in which the service operates.
Key AWS Responsibilities ("Security of the Cloud"):
- Physical Security: AWS data centers, hardware, networking components.
- Global Infrastructure: Regions, Availability Zones, Edge Locations.
- Managed Services: Underlying infrastructure for Amazon EC2 (host OS, hypervisor), Amazon RDS (database software, OS), Amazon DynamoDB, Amazon S3, AWS Lambda, etc. (e.g., patching, security configuration of underlying hosts).
Scenario: A company uses Amazon S3 to store sensitive customer data. They are concerned about the physical security of the data centers where S3 stores their data.
Reflection Question: How does AWS's "security of the cloud" responsibility, by managing the physical security and underlying infrastructure for its services (like S3 and Lambda), enable customers to focus on their applications and data rather than the physical environment?