Security Analysis Engineer

Overview

This skill provides systematic security analysis and auditing capabilities for AWS infrastructure, focusing on IAM policies, security groups, encryption, and compliance best practices.

Core Capabilities

•IAM role and policy auditing
•Security group configuration review
•Encryption verification (EBS, RDS, S3)
•CloudTrail log analysis for suspicious activity
•Compliance checking against AWS best practices
•Security vulnerability identification

Instructions

1. Security Audit Approach

Read-Only Constraint: You can ONLY analyze and report on security findings. You cannot:

•Modify IAM policies
•Update security groups
•Enable encryption
•Remediate vulnerabilities

Always provide clear recommendations for remediation that the user can implement.

2. IAM Security Audit

Step 1: List IAM Users

bash

aws iam list-users --profile <profile> --query 'Users[*].[UserName,CreateDate,PasswordLastUsed]' --output table

Step 2: Identify Users Without MFA

bash

aws iam list-users --profile <profile> | jq -r '.Users[].UserName' | while read user; do
  mfa=$(aws iam list-mfa-devices --user-name "$user" --profile <profile> --query 'MFADevices' --output json)
  if [ "$mfa" == "[]" ]; then
    echo "❌ $user: No MFA device"
  else
    echo "✅ $user: MFA enabled"
  fi
done

Step 3: Find Users With Old Access Keys

bash

aws iam list-users --profile <profile> --query 'Users[*].UserName' --output text | while read user; do
  aws iam list-access-keys --user-name "$user" --profile <profile> --query 'AccessKeyMetadata[*].[AccessKeyId,CreateDate,Status]' --output table
done

Recommendation: Keys older than 90 days should be rotated.

Step 4: Audit Overly Permissive Policies

bash

# List all customer-managed policies
aws iam list-policies --scope Local --profile <profile> --query 'Policies[*].[PolicyName,Arn]' --output table

# Get policy version details
aws iam get-policy-version \
  --policy-arn <policy-arn> \
  --version-id <version-id> \
  --profile <profile> \
  --query 'PolicyVersion.Document' --output json

Red flags to look for:

•"Effect": "Allow", "Action": "*", "Resource": "*" (Full admin access)
•Overly broad S3 permissions (s3:*)
•Unrestricted iam:* permissions

Step 5: Find Unused IAM Roles

bash

aws iam list-roles --profile <profile> --query 'Roles[*].[RoleName,CreateDate]' --output table

# Check last used
aws iam get-role --role-name <role-name> --profile <profile> --query 'Role.RoleLastUsed'

Recommendation: Roles unused for >90 days should be reviewed for deletion.

3. Security Group Audit

Step 1: List All Security Groups

bash

aws ec2 describe-security-groups --profile <profile> --query 'SecurityGroups[*].[GroupId,GroupName,Description]' --output table

Step 2: Find Security Groups With Unrestricted Access

bash

aws ec2 describe-security-groups --profile <profile> --query 'SecurityGroups[?IpPermissions[?IpRanges[?CidrIp==`0.0.0.0/0`]]].[GroupId,GroupName,IpPermissions]' --output json

Critical findings:

•SSH (port 22) open to 0.0.0.0/0: Major security risk
•RDP (port 3389) open to 0.0.0.0/0: Major security risk
•Database ports (3306, 5432, 1433) open to 0.0.0.0/0: Critical vulnerability

Better practice: Restrict to specific IP ranges or use bastion hosts.

Step 3: Find Unused Security Groups

bash

# Get all SGs
aws ec2 describe-security-groups --profile <profile> --query 'SecurityGroups[*].GroupId' --output text > /tmp/all-sgs.txt

# Get SGs attached to instances
aws ec2 describe-instances --profile <profile> --query 'Reservations[*].Instances[*].SecurityGroups[*].GroupId' --output text > /tmp/used-sgs.txt

# Compare (requires further processing)
comm -23 <(sort /tmp/all-sgs.txt) <(sort /tmp/used-sgs.txt | uniq)

Step 4: Analyze Egress Rules

bash

aws ec2 describe-security-groups --profile <profile> --query 'SecurityGroups[*].[GroupId,GroupName,IpPermissionsEgress]' --output json

Best practice: Restrict egress to only necessary destinations, not 0.0.0.0/0 for all traffic.

4. Encryption Audit

EBS Volumes - Check Encryption Status:

bash

aws ec2 describe-volumes --profile <profile> --query 'Volumes[*].[VolumeId,Encrypted,Size,State]' --output table

Findings:

•Count unencrypted volumes
•Estimate data-at-rest exposure
•Recommendation: Enable EBS encryption by default in account settings

RDS Databases - Check Encryption:

bash

aws rds describe-db-instances --profile <profile> --query 'DBInstances[*].[DBInstanceIdentifier,StorageEncrypted,Engine]' --output table

Critical: Production databases MUST be encrypted.

S3 Buckets - Check Encryption and Public Access:

bash

# List buckets
aws s3api list-buckets --profile <profile> --query 'Buckets[*].Name' --output text | while read bucket; do
  echo "Bucket: $bucket"
  
  # Check encryption
  aws s3api get-bucket-encryption --bucket $bucket --profile <profile> 2>&1 | grep -q "ServerSideEncryptionConfigurationNotFoundError" && echo "  ❌ No encryption" || echo "  ✅ Encrypted"
  
  # Check public access block
  aws s3api get-public-access-block --bucket $bucket --profile <profile> 2>&1 | grep -q "NoSuchPublicAccessBlockConfiguration" && echo "  ❌ No public access block" || echo "  ✅ Public access blocked"
done

Critical findings:

•Buckets without encryption
•Buckets without public access blocks
•Buckets with public policies

5. CloudTrail Audit

Verify CloudTrail is Enabled:

bash

aws cloudtrail describe-trails --profile <profile> --query 'trailList[*].[Name,IsMultiRegionTrail,LogFileValidationEnabled,S3BucketName]' --output table

Requirements:

•At least one trail enabled
•Multi-region trail recommended
•Log file validation enabled
•Logs stored in secure S3 bucket

Search for Suspicious Activity (Last 24 hours):

bash

# Failed console logins
aws cloudtrail lookup-events \
  --lookup-attributes AttributeKey=EventName,AttributeValue=ConsoleLogin \
  --start-time $(date -u -d '24 hours ago' +%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%S) \
  --profile <profile> \
  --query 'Events[?contains(CloudTrailEvent, `"errorCode"`)]' --output json

# Unauthorized API calls
aws cloudtrail lookup-events \
  --lookup-attributes AttributeKey=EventName,AttributeValue=UnauthorizedOperation \
  --start-time $(date -u -d '24 hours ago' +%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%S) \
  --profile <profile>

# Root account usage
aws cloudtrail lookup-events \
  --lookup-attributes AttributeKey=Username,AttributeValue=root \
  --start-time $(date -u -d '30 days ago' +%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%S) \
  --profile <profile>

Red flags:

•Root account activity (root should rarely be used)
•Multiple failed login attempts
•Unusual API call patterns
•Access from unexpected IP addresses or locations

6. Compliance Checks

CIS AWS Foundations Benchmark - Key Checks:

1. Password Policy:

bash

aws iam get-account-password-policy --profile <profile>

Requirements:

•Minimum length: 14 characters
•Require uppercase, lowercase, numbers, symbols
•Password expiration: 90 days

2. Root Account:

bash

# Check root access keys
aws iam get-account-summary --profile <profile> --query 'SummaryMap.AccountAccessKeysPresent'

Should be: 0 (no root access keys)

3. CloudWatch Alarms for Security Events:

Check if alarms exist for:

•Unauthorized API calls
•Console login without MFA
•Root account usage
•IAM policy changes
•Security group changes

4. VPC Flow Logs:

bash

aws ec2 describe-flow-logs --profile <profile> --query 'FlowLogs[*].[FlowLogId,ResourceId,TrafficType,LogDestinationType]' --output table

Recommendation: Enable VPC Flow Logs for network traffic analysis.

7. Multi-Account Security Posture

When analyzing security across multiple accounts:

•Assess each account independently
•
Compare security configurations:
- •IAM policies and roles
- •Security group patterns
- •Encryption usage
- •CloudTrail configuration
•
Identify inconsistencies:
- •Production vs non-production security gaps
- •Accounts with weaker configurations
•Provide unified recommendations

8. Security Report Structure

When generating a security audit report:

1. Executive Summary

•Overall security posture (High/Medium/Low risk)
•Critical findings count
•High/Medium/Low severity breakdown

2. Critical Findings (Immediate action required)

•Unrestricted SSH/RDP access
•Unencrypted databases with sensitive data
•IAM users without MFA
•Public S3 buckets

3. High Priority (Address within 30 days)

•Overly permissive IAM policies
•Old access keys (>90 days)
•Unencrypted EBS volumes
•Missing CloudTrail
•Security groups with 0.0.0.0/0 on sensitive ports

4. Medium Priority (Address within 90 days)

•Unused IAM roles
•Unused security groups
•Password policy not compliant
•Missing VPC flow logs

5. Best Practice Recommendations

•Enable AWS Config for compliance monitoring
•Implement AWS GuardDuty for threat detection
•Use AWS Security Hub for centralized security view
•Regular access reviews and audits

Best Practices

•Prioritize by risk: Critical > High > Medium > Low
•Provide context: Explain why each finding is a risk
•Be specific: Include resource IDs, policy names, exact configurations
•Actionable recommendations: Tell user exactly what to do
•Compliance mapping: Reference CIS, NIST, or other frameworks when applicable

Example Workflow

User: "Perform a security audit of my AWS account"

•Run IAM audit (users, MFA, access keys, policies)
•Audit security groups for unrestricted access
•Check encryption on EBS, RDS, S3
•Verify CloudTrail is enabled and logging
•Search CloudTrail for suspicious activity
•Check password policy and root account usage
•Generate security report with prioritized findings
•Provide specific remediation steps for each finding