3.1.2. Shared Responsibility: Customer's Role

💡 First Principle: The customer is responsible for "security in the cloud," securing their data, applications, and configurations within AWS services, like application code, data encryption, and IAM permissions.

In the AWS Shared Responsibility Model, the customer's responsibility is for "security in the cloud." This means customers are responsible for securing everything they put into and configure within the AWS Cloud, specifically concerning their applications and data.

Key Customer Responsibilities ("Security in the Cloud"):

• Data Security: Encrypting application data (at rest and in transit), data integrity, data classification.
• Access Management: IAM configuration, least privilege application, Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA).
• Network Configuration: Security Groups and Network ACLs for application endpoints and traffic flow control.
• Operating System (if using EC2): Guest OS patches, security updates, firewall configurations on EC2 instances.
• Application Security: Writing secure application code, addressing vulnerabilities, and configuring application-level security features.
• Configuration of Managed Services: Properly configuring security settings for services like Amazon S3 bucket policies (e.g., preventing public access unless intended) or Amazon DynamoDB table access.

Scenario: When deploying a web application on an EC2 instance, you are responsible for patching the guest operating system, configuring its security groups to allow only necessary web traffic, and ensuring your application code is free of vulnerabilities.

Reflection Question: How does failing to implement secure coding practices or misconfiguring security groups directly demonstrate a failure in the customer's responsibility for "security in the cloud" within the Shared Responsibility Model?