This section of the Solution Architect Associate learning path introduces you to the core encryption concepts and services relevant to the SAA-C03 exam. We overview the AWS encryption options and how to select and apply AWS encryption services to meet relevant situations and scenarios.
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Learning Objectives
- Learn the fundamentals of Amazon's Key Management Service (KMS), including permissions, key policies, and key management
- Learn how the AWS Secrets Manager is used to implement security best practices by protecting secrets such as database credentials and API keys
- Learn the fundamentals of CloudHSM, how it's implemented, and how to use it as a Custom Key Store in KMS
- Learn how to implement server-side and client-side encryption
Client-Side Encryption with Customer Provided Keys, CSEC. The encryption process is as follows. Using an AWS SDK, such as the Java client, it will randomly generate a plain text data key which is used to encrypt the object data. The customer provided CMK is then used to encrypt this client-generated data key. The encrypted object data and encrypted data key are then sent to S3. S3 will then store the encrypted object data and associate the encrypted data key as metadata of the encrypted object data. The decryption process is as follows. A request is made by the client to S3 to retrieve the object data. S3 sends both the encrypted object data and the encrypted data key back to the client. The customer-provided CMK is then used to decrypt the encrypted data key. The plain text data key is then used to decrypt the object data. You should now have a deeper understanding of the process of encryption and decryption for each of the encryption methods that S3 offers.
It is a simple process to apply encryption, but understanding what's happening behind the scenes, is essential from a security standpoint. Especially when you are responsible for maintaining the integrity of the data stored in S3. Many of us have seen and heard the news whereby large, international organizations have failed to apply either correct level of permissions, or, indeed, an encryption mechanism to customer data which has been accidentally exposed. Causing a detrimental effect to all organizations involved.
To accompany this course, I've also created an infographic which shows all five encryption options and this can be found using the link on screen. I have also added this URL within the transcript of this lecture.
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Thank you for your time, and good luck with your continued learning of cloud computing. Thank you.
Stuart has been working within the IT industry for two decades covering a huge range of topic areas and technologies, from data center and network infrastructure design, to cloud architecture and implementation.
To date, Stuart has created 150+ courses relating to Cloud reaching over 180,000 students, mostly within the AWS category and with a heavy focus on security and compliance.
Stuart is a member of the AWS Community Builders Program for his contributions towards AWS.
He is AWS certified and accredited in addition to being a published author covering topics across the AWS landscape.
In January 2016 Stuart was awarded ‘Expert of the Year Award 2015’ from Experts Exchange for his knowledge share within cloud services to the community.
Stuart enjoys writing about cloud technologies and you will find many of his articles within our blog pages.