AWS Cloud Security Monitoring & Incident Response Platform

ACTIVE

Platform Status: Monitoring 58 AWS accounts across 4 regions. Last incident: 2 hours ago (Low severity).

Project Overview

This enterprise security platform provides comprehensive threat detection, automated incident response, and compliance monitoring for multi-account AWS environments. The solution implements the AWS Well-Architected Framework with emphasis on the Security Pillar.

AWS Accounts

2.3m

Mean Time to Detect

4.7m

Mean Time to Respond

98.5%

Compliance Score

Architecture Design

Multi-Layer Security Architecture

Layer 1: Data Collection

CT AWS CloudTrail Enabled
VPC VPC Flow Logs Enabled
GD GuardDuty Enabled
SH Security Hub Enabled

Layer 2: Processing & Analysis

λ AWS Lambda 28 Functions
EB EventBridge 15 Rules
SF Step Functions 8 Workflows
SQS SQS Queues 5 Queues

Layer 3: Storage & Analytics

S3 Amazon S3 3 Buckets
OS OpenSearch 2.5 TB
CW CloudWatch Logs 15 Log Groups
ATH Athena Configured

Cross-Account Architecture

The platform uses AWS Organizations with Service Control Policies (SCPs) for centralized security governance. Each member account forwards security findings to a central security account for aggregation and analysis.

Account Type	Count	Purpose	Monthly Cost
Security Tooling	1	Central security monitoring and management	$1,850
Production	24	Business applications and services	$420 (avg)
Development	18	Development and testing environments	$180 (avg)
Sandbox	15	Experimental and POC environments	$75 (avg)

Implementation Details

Infrastructure as Code (IaC)

The entire platform is deployed using AWS Cloud Development Kit (CDK) with TypeScript. The infrastructure is version-controlled and deployed through CI/CD pipelines.

typescript
SecurityMonitoringStack.ts

// Main CDK Stack Definition
export class SecurityMonitoringStack extends cdk.Stack {
  constructor(scope: cdk.Construct, id: string, props?: cdk.StackProps) {
    super(scope, id, props);

    // Create central Security Hub
    const securityHub = new aws_securityhub.CfnHub(this, 'SecurityHub', {
      enableDefaultStandards: false
    });

    // Enable GuardDuty in all regions
    const guardDutyMaster = new aws_guardduty.CfnDetector(this, 'GuardDutyMaster', {
      enable: true,
      findingPublishingFrequency: 'FIFTEEN_MINUTES'
    });

    // Create centralized logging bucket with Object Lock
    const logBucket = new s3.Bucket(this, 'SecurityLogsBucket', {
      encryption: s3.BucketEncryption.S3_MANAGED,
      versioned: true,
      objectLockEnabled: true,
      objectLockConfiguration: {
        objectLockEnabled: 'Enabled',
        rule: {
          defaultRetention: {
            mode: 'GOVERNANCE',
            days: 365
          }
        }
      },
      lifecycleRules: [{
        transitions: [{
          storageClass: s3.StorageClass.GLACIER,
          transitionAfter: cdk.Duration.days(90)
        }]
      }]
    });

    // Lambda function for automated remediation
    const remediationFunction = new lambda.Function(this, 'RemediationHandler', {
      runtime: lambda.Runtime.PYTHON_3_9,
      handler: 'remediation.handler',
      code: lambda.Code.fromAsset('lambda/remediation'),
      timeout: cdk.Duration.seconds(300),
      memorySize: 1024,
      environment: {
        SECURITY_HUB_REGION: this.region,
        LOG_BUCKET: logBucket.bucketName
      }
    });

    // EventBridge rule for Security Hub findings
    new events.Rule(this, 'HighSeverityRule', {
      eventPattern: {
        source: ['aws.securityhub'],
        detailType: ['Security Hub Findings - Imported'],
        detail: {
          findings: {
            Severity: {
              Label: [{ 'equals-ignore-case': 'HIGH' }]
            }
          }
        }
      },
      targets: [new targets.LambdaFunction(remediationFunction)]
    });
              

Automated Response Playbooks

The platform implements 15 automated response playbooks for common security incidents. Each playbook is documented with detailed runbooks and escalation procedures.

Playbook ID	Incident Type	Automation Level	Response Time	Success Rate
PB-001	Unauthorized API Access	Full Automation	2.1 minutes	99.8%
PB-002	Cryptojacking Detection	Full Automation	3.4 minutes	98.7%
PB-003	S3 Bucket Policy Violation	Semi-Automated	5.2 minutes	97.3%
PB-004	IAM Policy Drift	Full Automation	1.8 minutes	99.5%
PB-005	Network Scanning Detected	Semi-Automated	4.7 minutes	96.8%

Machine Learning Integration

Custom machine learning models are deployed using Amazon SageMaker to analyze security findings and reduce false positives. The models are trained on historical security data and updated monthly.

ML Model Performance: 68% reduction in false positive rate, 92% accuracy in threat classification, models retrained every 30 days with new data.

Security Metrics & KPIs

Key Performance Indicators

99.99%

Platform Uptime

2.3m

Mean Time to Detect

4.7m

Mean Time to Respond

2.1%

False Positive Rate

Compliance Metrics

Framework	Control Coverage	Compliance Score	Last Assessment	Status
CIS AWS Foundations	100%	98.7%	2024-03-15	Compliant
NIST CSF	95%	96.2%	2024-03-10	Compliant
PCI DSS v4.0	88%	94.1%	2024-03-05	Partial
HIPAA	92%	97.3%	2024-03-12	Compliant
GDPR	85%	93.8%	2024-03-08	Partial

Threat Detection Statistics

Threat Category	Detections (30 days)	Automated Responses	Manual Interventions	False Positives
Unauthorized Access	142	138	4	3
Cryptojacking	28	28	0	1
Policy Violations	356	321	35	12
Network Attacks	87	76	11	8
Data Exfiltration	15	12	3	2

Cost Analysis & Optimization

Monthly Cost Breakdown

Service	Cost (Monthly)	Percentage	Optimization Status	Recommendations
GuardDuty	$1,250	32%	Optimized	Consolidated member accounts
OpenSearch	$980	25%	Review Needed	Consider moving cold data to S3
CloudTrail	$420	11%	Optimized	Selective event logging enabled
S3 Storage	$385	10%	Optimized	Lifecycle policies in place
Lambda	$310	8%	Optimized	Provisioned concurrency optimized
Security Hub	$285	7%	Optimized	Custom standards only
Other Services	$270	7%	Review Needed	Monitor Config rule evaluations

Cost Optimization Strategies

Data Retention Policies: Security logs are moved to S3 Glacier after 90 days, reducing OpenSearch costs by 40%
Selective Monitoring: GuardDuty only monitors production and critical development accounts
Lambda Optimization: Provisioned concurrency optimized based on usage patterns, reducing cold starts by 85%
S3 Intelligent Tiering: Automated movement of infrequently accessed security data
CloudTrail Event Selectors: Only log security-relevant API calls

ROI Calculation: The platform has prevented an estimated $2.8M in potential breach costs over 12 months, representing a 12:1 return on investment.

API Reference & Integration

REST API Endpoints

The platform exposes a RESTful API for integration with external systems and custom dashboards. All endpoints require IAM authentication.

http
API Endpoints

# Get security metrics
GET /api/v1/metrics
Authorization: AWS4-HMAC-SHA256 Credential=...
Response:
{
  "mttd": "2.3",
  "mttr": "4.7",
  "compliance_score": 98.5,
  "incidents_last_24h": 12,
  "false_positive_rate": 2.1
}

# Trigger manual remediation
POST /api/v1/remediate
Authorization: AWS4-HMAC-SHA256 Credential=...
Body:
{
  "incident_id": "inc-2024-03-15-001",
  "playbook": "PB-001",
  "resource_arn": "arn:aws:ec2:us-east-1:123456789012:instance/i-0abcdef1234567890",
  "severity": "HIGH"
}

Response:
{
  "remediation_id": "rem-2024-03-15-001",
  "status": "IN_PROGRESS",
  "estimated_completion": "2024-03-15T14:30:00Z"
}

# Get compliance report
GET /api/v1/compliance/{framework}
Authorization: AWS4-HMAC-SHA256 Credential=...
Response:
{
  "framework": "CIS",
  "assessment_date": "2024-03-15",
  "score": 98.7,
  "failed_controls": [
    {
      "control_id": "CIS-1.1",
      "description": "Avoid use of root account",
      "status": "FAILED",
      "remediation": "Enable IAM user with MFA"
    }
  ]
}
              

Event Schema

The platform emits events to EventBridge for integration with other AWS services. Below is the schema for security findings:

json
Event Schema

{
  "version": "1.0",
  "id": "security-finding-event",
  "detail-type": "Security Finding",
  "source": "com.security.platform",
  "account": "123456789012",
  "time": "2024-03-15T10:30:00Z",
  "region": "us-east-1",
  "resources": [
    "arn:aws:ec2:us-east-1:123456789012:instance/i-0abcdef1234567890"
  ],
  "detail": {
    "finding_id": "sec-2024-03-15-001",
    "severity": "HIGH",
    "confidence": 95,
    "title": "Unauthorized API Access Detected",
    "description": "Root account API call from unusual IP address",
    "category": "UnauthorizedAccess",
    "detection_source": "GuardDuty",
    "resource_type": "AWS::EC2::Instance",
    "resource_arn": "arn:aws:ec2:us-east-1:123456789012:instance/i-0abcdef1234567890",
    "first_seen": "2024-03-15T10:28:00Z",
    "last_seen": "2024-03-15T10:29:00Z",
    "remediation": {
      "playbook": "PB-001",
      "automated": true,
      "status": "PENDING"
    },
    "evidence": {
      "source_ip": "203.0.113.25",
      "user_agent": "AWS CLI",
      "api_call": "TerminateInstances",
      "aws_region": "us-east-1"
    }
  }
}
              

Integration Examples

Slack Integration: Real-time alerts to security channel with actionable buttons
Jira Integration: Automatic ticket creation for manual review items
Splunk Integration: Forwarding enriched security events to SIEM
PagerDuty Integration: On-call escalation for critical incidents
Custom Dashboards: Power BI/Tableau integration for executive reporting

Technical Specifications

Performance Requirements

Metric	Target	Actual	SLA
Event Processing Latency	< 60 seconds	42 seconds	99.9%
API Response Time	< 200ms	145ms	99.5%
Data Retention	365 days	365 days	100%
Concurrent Users	50+	32 (avg)	N/A
Data Processing Volume	10 TB/month	8.4 TB/month	95%

Deployment Regions

Primary: us-east-1 (N. Virginia) - Full deployment
Secondary: us-west-2 (Oregon) - DR deployment
Monitoring: eu-west-1 (Ireland) - European compliance
Backup: ap-southeast-1 (Singapore) - Asian compliance

Security & Compliance Features

End-to-end encryption (TLS 1.3 for transit, AES-256 for rest)
IAM roles with least privilege principle
VPC endpoints for all AWS services
Automatic key rotation every 90 days
Audit trails for all administrative actions
Regular penetration testing (quarterly)
Automated vulnerability scanning