4.3.2. EBS and RDS Encryption for Persistent Storage
First Principle: Encrypting EBS volumes and RDS databases at rest using AWS KMS fundamentally protects sensitive data on persistent storage, ensuring confidentiality and meeting compliance requirements.
For security specialists, ensuring that data stored on persistent block storage (Amazon EBS) and relational databases (Amazon RDS) is encrypted at rest is a critical security and compliance requirement.
Key Concepts of EBS and RDS Encryption for Persistent Storage:
- Amazon EBS Encryption:
- Concept: Encrypts data at rest on EBS volumes and their snapshots.
- Mechanism: Uses AWS Key Management Service (KMS) for key management. You can choose to encrypt volumes with AWS-managed keys or Customer Managed Keys (CMKs).
- Benefits: All data at rest, disk I/O, and snapshots are encrypted automatically. Easily enable encryption by default for all new EBS volumes in an AWS Region.
- Amazon RDS Encryption:
- Concept: Encrypts your Amazon RDS database instances and their snapshots, automated backups, and Read Replicas.
- Mechanism: Also uses AWS KMS for key management. You can use AWS-managed keys or KMS CMKs.
- Benefits: Protects all data within the database and its associated storage.
- AWS Key Management Service (KMS): The centralized service that manages the encryption keys for both EBS and RDS encryption.
Scenario: You need to ensure all sensitive customer data stored on EBS volumes attached to EC2 instances and in Amazon RDS databases is encrypted at rest to meet stringent compliance requirements. You want to use customer-managed keys for increased control.
Reflection Question: How does encrypting EBS volumes and RDS databases at rest, leveraging AWS KMS for key management (e.g., using CMKs), fundamentally protect sensitive data on persistent storage, ensuring confidentiality and meeting compliance requirements for your AWS workloads?