Overview
Automated Security Response on AWS is an AWS Solution that enhances AWS Security Hub by automatically addressing common security issues across your organization's AWS environment. When Security Hub identifies a potential security concern, this solution initiates pre-defined responses to resolve the issue efficiently. It also operates across multiple AWS accounts for comprehensive security coverage. This solution logs all actions taken, sends notifications to your relevant parties, and can integrate with your existing ticketing services. By automating the remediation of your Security Hub findings, you can maintain a strong security posture with reduced manual effort, aligning with industry best practices and compliance standards while streamlining your overall security management process.
Benefits
Initiate remediations and findings using custom actions in the Security Hub console.
Configure AWS Foundations Benchmarks or AWS Foundational Security Best Practices.
Deploy a predefined set of response and remediation actions to respond to threats automatically.
Extend this solution with custom remediation and playbook implementations. Or, deploy a custom playbook for a new set of controls.
Technical details
You can automatically deploy this architecture using the implementation guide and the accompanying AWS CloudFormation template.
Overview: Security Hub findings aggregated in the delegated administrator account initiate AWS Step Functions. The orchestrator invokes a remediation SSM automation document in the member account containing the resource that produced the AWS Security Hub finding.
1. Detect: Security Hub provides you with a comprehensive view of their AWS security state. It helps you to measure your environment against security industry standards and best practices. It works by collecting events and data from other AWS services, such as AWS Config, Amazon GuardDuty, and AWS Firewall Manager.
These events and data are analyzed against security standards, such as CIS AWS Foundations Benchmark. Exceptions are asserted as findings in the Security Hub console. New findings are sent as Amazon EventBridge.
2. Initiate: You can initiate events against findings using custom actions, which result in Amazon EventBridge Events. AWS Security Hub Custom Actions and Amazon EventBridge rules initiate Automated Security Response on AWS playbooks to address findings. One EventBridge rule is deployed to match the custom action event, and one EventBridge Event Rule is deployed for each supported control (deactivated by default) to match the real-time finding event.
You can use the Security Hub Custom Action menu to initiate automated remediation, or after careful testing in a non-production environment, you can activate automated remediations. This can be activated per remediation—it is not necessary to activate automatic initiations on all remediations.
3. Preparation: The orchestrator in the admin account processes the remediation event and prepares it to be scheduled.
4. Schedule: The Scheduling AWS Lambda function is invoked to place the remediation event in the Amazon DynamoDB State Table.
5. Orchestrate: Using cross-account AWS Identity and Access Management (IAM) roles, the orchestrator in the admin account invokes the remediation in the member account containing the resource that produced the security finding.
6. Remediate: An AWS Systems Manager Automation Document in the member account performs the action required to remediate the finding on the target resource, such as disabling Lambda public access.
You can enable the Action Log feature in the Member stacks, which will capture actions taken by the solution in your Member accounts and display them in this solution's Amazon CloudWatch dashboard.
7. (Optional) Ticketing: If you choose to enable ticketing in the Admin stack, this solution will invoke the provided Ticket Generator Lambda function to create a ticket in your ticketing service of choice once the remediation has successfully executed in the Member account. We provide stacks for easy integration with Jira and ServiceNow.
8. Notify and log: The playbook logs the results to an Amazon CloudWatch Logs group, sends a notification to an Amazon Simple Notification Service (Amazon SNS) topic, and updates the Security Hub finding. An audit trail of actions taken is maintained in the finding notes.
On the Security Hub dashboard, the finding workflow status is changed from NEW to RESOLVED. The security finding notes are updated to reflect the remediation performed.
Overview: Security Hub findings aggregated in the delegated administrator account initiate AWS Step Functions. The orchestrator invokes a remediation SSM automation document in the member account containing the resource that produced the AWS Security Hub finding.
1. Detect: Security Hub provides you with a comprehensive view of their AWS security state. It helps you to measure your environment against security industry standards and best practices. It works by collecting events and data from other AWS services, such as AWS Config, Amazon GuardDuty, and AWS Firewall Manager.
These events and data are analyzed against security standards, such as CIS AWS Foundations Benchmark. Exceptions are asserted as findings in the Security Hub console. New findings are sent as Amazon EventBridge.
2. Initiate: You can initiate events against findings using custom actions, which result in Amazon EventBridge Events. AWS Security Hub Custom Actions and Amazon EventBridge rules initiate Automated Security Response on AWS playbooks to address findings. One EventBridge rule is deployed to match the custom action event, and one EventBridge Event Rule is deployed for each supported control (deactivated by default) to match the real-time finding event.
You can use the Security Hub Custom Action menu to initiate automated remediation, or after careful testing in a non-production environment, you can activate automated remediations. This can be activated per remediation—it is not necessary to activate automatic initiations on all remediations.
3. Preparation: The orchestrator in the admin account processes the remediation event and prepares it to be scheduled.
4. Schedule: The Scheduling AWS Lambda function is invoked to place the remediation event in the Amazon DynamoDB State Table.
5. Orchestrate: Using cross-account AWS Identity and Access Management (IAM) roles, the orchestrator in the admin account invokes the remediation in the member account containing the resource that produced the security finding.
6. Remediate: An AWS Systems Manager Automation Document in the member account performs the action required to remediate the finding on the target resource, such as disabling Lambda public access.
You can enable the Action Log feature in the Member stacks, which will capture actions taken by the solution in your Member accounts and display them in this solution's Amazon CloudWatch dashboard.
7. (Optional) Ticketing: If you choose to enable ticketing in the Admin stack, this solution will invoke the provided Ticket Generator Lambda function to create a ticket in your ticketing service of choice once the remediation has successfully executed in the Member account. We provide stacks for easy integration with Jira and ServiceNow.
8. Notify and log: The playbook logs the results to an Amazon CloudWatch Logs group, sends a notification to an Amazon Simple Notification Service (Amazon SNS) topic, and updates the Security Hub finding. An audit trail of actions taken is maintained in the finding notes.
On the Security Hub dashboard, the finding workflow status is changed from NEW to RESOLVED. The security finding notes are updated to reflect the remediation performed.
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