AWS is also embracing AI, but for security

AWS CISO Chris Betz

Chris Betz, AWS's chief information security officer, laid out the company's security-first philosophy in stark terms.

"Security is not just the security team's job – it's a distributed responsibility," Betz said. This ethos extends throughout the company, with security considerations built into every product roadmap and engineering plan.

When it comes to AI, AWS is taking a measured approach. While acknowledging the transformative potential of the technology, the company is prioritising customer control and data protection.

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Its Amazon Bedrock service, for instance, allows customers to customise AI models while maintaining full control over their data.

AWS is also leveraging generative AI to enhance its existing security tools.

A new natural language query capability for AWS CloudTrail Lake promises to simplify log analysis, while the AWS Audit Manager now includes a framework for auditing generative AI implementations on Amazon SageMaker.

Proactive stance on security

The company's proactive stance on security is evident in its behind-the-scenes efforts to thwart cyberattacks.

Betz revealed that between May 2023 and April 2024, AWS's Sonaris tool prevented 2.6 trillion attempts to discover vulnerable services on customers' virtual servers.

"We've seen a big spike in the number of people adding MFA to their AWS accounts since the passkey launch," said Mark Ryland, director of Amazon Security.

Support for passkeys as a second factor authentication measure for AWS Identity and Access Management (IAM) was announced at re:Inforce.

Not forgetting the importance of basic security measures, AWS is taking steps to enforce multi-factor authentication (MFA) for certain high-privilege accounts.

The company is even offering free MFA security keys to some customers.

As Ryland noted, "We're the first major cloud provider to actually require MFA in these scenarios."

These developments align with a growing emphasis on resilience in the cybersecurity community.

Adam Mikeal, Chief Information Security Officer at Texas A&M University, encapsulates this shift: "It's a guarantee there will be some kind of event. What defines you is how you respond to it."

Ciso perspective

This perspective, increasingly common among Cisos, prioritises rapid recovery capabilities over the pursuit of impenetrable prevention.
Mikeal's outlook – "something will happen – I just want to recover from it quickly" – reflects a pragmatic approach to modern cybersecurity challenges.

It suggests that even as companies like AWS bolster their defences, they must also focus on minimising impact and ensuring swift recovery from inevitable breaches.

For businesses considering their cloud strategy, AWS's security-centric approach offers food for thought.

As Betz noted, "Security reduces risk, reinforces resilience, and empowers customers to innovate faster and with confidence."

An age of data breaches

In a time where data breaches can be catastrophic, this focus on security as a business enabler rather than a hindrance could prove to be a significant competitive advantage.

However, the true test of these initiatives will be in their real-world implementation.

As cyber threats continue to evolve, AWS and its customers will need to remain vigilant and adaptable.

AWS's approach to security enables innovation by emphasising resilience and rapid recovery strategies in the face of generative AI and evolving cyber threats.

It also fosters closer collaboration between cloud providers and customers on security issues.