Cloud Security Configuration Overview
Cloud security requires comprehensive strategies spanning identity management, encryption, network controls, compliance, and threat detection. Implement defense-in-depth with multiple layers of protection and continuous monitoring.
When to Use Protecting sensitive data in cloud Compliance with regulations (GDPR, HIPAA, PCI-DSS) Implementing zero-trust security Securing multi-cloud environments Threat detection and response Identity and access management Network isolation and segmentation Encryption and key management Implementation Examples 1. AWS Security Configuration
Enable GuardDuty (threat detection)
aws guardduty create-detector \ --enable \ --finding-publishing-frequency FIFTEEN_MINUTES
Enable CloudTrail (audit logging)
aws cloudtrail create-trail \ --name organization-trail \ --s3-bucket-name audit-bucket \ --is-multi-region-trail
Enable S3 bucket encryption by default
aws s3api put-bucket-encryption \ --bucket my-bucket \ --server-side-encryption-configuration '{ "Rules": [{ "ApplyServerSideEncryptionByDefault": { "SSEAlgorithm": "aws:kms", "KMSMasterKeyID": "arn:aws:kms:region:account:key/key-id" }, "BucketKeyEnabled": true }] }'
Enable VPC Flow Logs
aws ec2 create-flow-logs \ --resource-type VPC \ --resource-ids vpc-12345 \ --traffic-type ALL \ --log-destination-type cloud-watch-logs \ --log-group-name /aws/vpc/flowlogs
Configure Security Groups
aws ec2 authorize-security-group-ingress \ --group-id sg-12345 \ --protocol tcp \ --port 443 \ --cidr 0.0.0.0/0
Enable MFA for root account
aws iam get-account-summary
Create password policy
aws iam update-account-password-policy \ --minimum-password-length 14 \ --require-symbols \ --require-numbers \ --require-uppercase-characters \ --require-lowercase-characters \ --allow-users-to-change-password \ --expire-passwords \ --max-password-age 90
- Terraform Security Configuration
security.tf
terraform { required_providers { aws = { source = "hashicorp/aws" version = "~> 5.0" } } }
provider "aws" { region = var.aws_region }
KMS key for encryption
resource "aws_kms_key" "main" { description = "Master encryption key" deletion_window_in_days = 10 enable_key_rotation = true
tags = { Name = "master-key" } }
resource "aws_kms_alias" "main" { name = "alias/master-key" target_key_id = aws_kms_key.main.key_id }
Secrets Manager for sensitive data
resource "aws_secretsmanager_secret" "db_password" { name_prefix = "db/" recovery_window_in_days = 7 kms_key_id = aws_kms_key.main.id }
resource "aws_secretsmanager_secret_version" "db_password" { secret_id = aws_secretsmanager_secret.db_password.id secret_string = random_password.db.result }
IAM role with least privilege
resource "aws_iam_role" "app_role" { assume_role_policy = jsonencode({ Version = "2012-10-17" Statement = [{ Action = "sts:AssumeRole" Effect = "Allow" Principal = { Service = "ec2.amazonaws.com" } }] }) }
resource "aws_iam_role_policy" "app_policy" { role = aws_iam_role.app_role.id
policy = jsonencode({ Version = "2012-10-17" Statement = [ { Effect = "Allow" Action = [ "s3:GetObject", "s3:ListBucket" ] Resource = [ aws_s3_bucket.data.arn, "${aws_s3_bucket.data.arn}/" ] }, { Effect = "Allow" Action = [ "kms:Decrypt", "kms:DescribeKey" ] Resource = aws_kms_key.main.arn }, { Effect = "Allow" Action = [ "secretsmanager:GetSecretValue" ] Resource = aws_secretsmanager_secret.db_password.arn }, { Effect = "Allow" Action = [ "logs:CreateLogGroup", "logs:CreateLogStream", "logs:PutLogEvents" ] Resource = "arn:aws:logs:::" } ] }) }
VPC with security
resource "aws_vpc" "main" { cidr_block = "10.0.0.0/16" enable_dns_hostnames = true enable_dns_support = true
tags = { Name = "main-vpc" } }
Public subnet
resource "aws_subnet" "public" { vpc_id = aws_vpc.main.id cidr_block = "10.0.1.0/24" availability_zone = data.aws_availability_zones.available.names[0] map_public_ip_on_launch = false
tags = { Name = "public-subnet" } }
Private subnet
resource "aws_subnet" "private" { vpc_id = aws_vpc.main.id cidr_block = "10.0.10.0/24" availability_zone = data.aws_availability_zones.available.names[0]
tags = { Name = "private-subnet" } }
Network ACL for defense in depth
resource "aws_network_acl" "main" { vpc_id = aws_vpc.main.id
ingress { protocol = "tcp" rule_no = 100 action = "allow" cidr_block = "0.0.0.0/0" from_port = 443 to_port = 443 }
ingress { protocol = "tcp" rule_no = 110 action = "allow" cidr_block = "0.0.0.0/0" from_port = 80 to_port = 80 }
egress { protocol = "-1" rule_no = 100 action = "allow" cidr_block = "0.0.0.0/0" from_port = 0 to_port = 0 } }
Security group
resource "aws_security_group" "app" { name_prefix = "app-" vpc_id = aws_vpc.main.id
# Egress rule (deny by default) egress { from_port = 0 to_port = 0 protocol = "-1" cidr_blocks = ["0.0.0.0/0"] } }
WAF Web ACL
resource "aws_wafv2_web_acl" "main" { scope = "REGIONAL" name = "app-waf"
default_action { allow {} }
rule { name = "AWSManagedRulesCommonRuleSet" priority = 1
action {
block {}
}
statement {
managed_rule_group_statement {
name = "AWSManagedRulesCommonRuleSet"
vendor_name = "AWS"
}
}
visibility_config {
cloudwatch_metrics_enabled = true
metric_name = "AWSManagedRulesCommonRuleSet"
sampled_requests_enabled = true
}
}
visibility_config { cloudwatch_metrics_enabled = true metric_name = "app-waf" sampled_requests_enabled = true } }
GuardDuty for threat detection
resource "aws_guardduty_detector" "main" { enable = true
datasources { flow_logs { enable = true } s3_logs { enable = true } kubernetes { audit_logs { enable = true } } } }
CloudTrail for audit logging
resource "aws_cloudtrail" "main" { name = "organization-trail" s3_bucket_name = aws_s3_bucket.audit_logs.id include_global_service_events = true is_multi_region_trail = true enable_log_file_validation = true depends_on = [aws_s3_bucket_policy.audit_logs]
event_selector { read_write_type = "All" include_management_events = true
data_resource {
type = "AWS::S3::Object"
values = ["arn:aws:s3:::*/"]
}
} }
Audit logs bucket
resource "aws_s3_bucket" "audit_logs" { bucket = "audit-logs-${data.aws_caller_identity.current.account_id}" }
resource "aws_s3_bucket_policy" "audit_logs" { bucket = aws_s3_bucket.audit_logs.id
policy = jsonencode({ Version = "2012-10-17" Statement = [ { Sid = "AllowCloudTrailAcl" Effect = "Allow" Principal = { Service = "cloudtrail.amazonaws.com" } Action = "s3:GetBucketAcl" Resource = aws_s3_bucket.audit_logs.arn }, { Sid = "AllowCloudTrailPutObject" Effect = "Allow" Principal = { Service = "cloudtrail.amazonaws.com" } Action = "s3:PutObject" Resource = "${aws_s3_bucket.audit_logs.arn}/*" Condition = { StringEquals = { "s3:x-amz-acl" = "bucket-owner-full-control" } } } ] }) }
Config for compliance monitoring
resource "aws_config_configuration_recorder" "main" { name = "main" role_arn = aws_iam_role.config.arn depends_on = [aws_iam_role_policy_attachment.config]
recording_group { all_supported = true include_global = true } }
resource "aws_config_configuration_recorder_status" "main" { name = aws_config_configuration_recorder.main.name depends_on = [aws_config_delivery_channel.main] is_enabled = true start_recording = true }
Config delivery channel
resource "aws_config_delivery_channel" "main" { name = "main" s3_bucket_name = aws_s3_bucket.config.id depends_on = [aws_config_configuration_recorder.main] }
CloudWatch for security monitoring
resource "aws_cloudwatch_metric_alarm" "unauthorized_actions" { alarm_name = "unauthorized-api-calls" comparison_operator = "GreaterThanOrEqualToThreshold" evaluation_periods = 1 metric_name = "UnauthorizedOperationCount" namespace = "CloudTrailMetrics" period = 300 statistic = "Sum" threshold = 5 alarm_description = "Alert on unauthorized API calls" }
Data source
data "aws_caller_identity" "current" {} data "aws_availability_zones" "available" { state = "available" }
Random password
resource "random_password" "db" { length = 16 special = true }
IAM role for Config
resource "aws_iam_role" "config" { assume_role_policy = jsonencode({ Version = "2012-10-17" Statement = [{ Action = "sts:AssumeRole" Effect = "Allow" Principal = { Service = "config.amazonaws.com" } }] }) }
resource "aws_iam_role_policy_attachment" "config" { role = aws_iam_role.config.name policy_arn = "arn:aws:iam::aws:policy/service-role/ConfigRole" }
resource "aws_s3_bucket" "config" { bucket = "config-bucket-${data.aws_caller_identity.current.account_id}" }
- Azure Security Configuration
Enable Azure Security Center
az security auto-provisioning-setting update \ --auto-provision on
Enable Azure Defender
az security atp storage update \ --storage-account myaccount \ --is-enabled true
Configure NSG rules
az network nsg rule create \ --resource-group mygroup \ --nsg-name mynsg \ --name AllowHTTPS \ --priority 100 \ --direction Inbound \ --access Allow \ --protocol Tcp \ --source-address-prefixes '' \ --source-port-ranges '' \ --destination-address-prefixes '*' \ --destination-port-ranges 443
Enable Azure Policy
az policy assignment create \ --name EnforceHttps \ --policy /subscriptions/{subscription}/providers/Microsoft.Authorization/policyDefinitions/{policyId}
Create Key Vault
az keyvault create \ --resource-group mygroup \ --name mykeyvault \ --enable-rbac-authorization
- GCP Security Configuration
Enable Cloud Armor
gcloud compute security-policies create my-policy \ --description "Security policy"
Add rules
gcloud compute security-policies rules create 100 \ --security-policy=my-policy \ --action "deny-403" \ --expression "origin.country_code == 'CN'"
Enable Cloud KMS
gcloud kms keyrings create my-keyring --location us-east1
gcloud kms keys create my-key \ --location us-east1 \ --keyring my-keyring \ --purpose encryption
Set IAM bindings
gcloud projects add-iam-policy-binding MY_PROJECT \ --member=serviceAccount:my-sa@MY_PROJECT.iam.gserviceaccount.com \ --role=roles/container.developer
Enable Binary Authorization
gcloud container binauthz policy import policy.yaml
VPC Service Controls
gcloud access-context-manager perimeters create my-perimeter \ --resources=projects/MY_PROJECT
Best Practices ✅ DO Implement least privilege access Enable MFA everywhere Use service accounts for applications Encrypt data at rest and in transit Enable comprehensive logging Implement network segmentation Use secrets management Enable threat detection Regular security assessments Keep systems patched ❌ DON'T Use root/default credentials Store secrets in code Over-permissive security groups Disable encryption Ignore logs and monitoring Share credentials Skip compliance requirements Trust unverified data sources Compliance Standards GDPR: Data protection HIPAA: Healthcare data PCI-DSS: Payment card data SOC 2: Security controls ISO 27001: Information security CIS Benchmarks: Security hardening Security Layers Identity & Access: IAM, MFA, SSO Network: VPCs, Security Groups, WAF Data: Encryption, Secrets, DLP Application: Input validation, patches Monitoring: Logging, Alerting, Threat Detection Resources AWS Security Hub Azure Security Benchmark GCP Security Best Practices NIST Cybersecurity Framework CIS Cloud Security Benchmarks