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HashiCorp has announced the general availability of the Terraform AWS provider version 6.0, which enhances multi-region support and simplifies infrastructure management across AWS. This update allows users to define AWS resources with a single configuration file, improving workflow efficiency and reducing memory usage.
AWS CEO Matt Garman criticized the idea of replacing junior staff with AI, calling it "the dumbest thing I've ever heard." He emphasized the importance of hiring and training new talent to ensure future innovation and problem-solving skills, while also advising that education should focus on critical thinking and adaptability rather than just specific technical skills.
Misconfigured AWS Private API Gateways can be exploited by attackers from external AWS accounts due to overly permissive resource-based policies. This vulnerability allows them to access internal resources and potentially launch further attacks, emphasizing the need for strict policy configurations and monitoring. Proper security measures, such as limiting access to specific VPCs and implementing API authentication, are crucial to protect against these threats.
Salesforce Commerce Cloud successfully transitioned from a self-hosted Prometheus monitoring system to Amazon Managed Service for Prometheus, achieving a 40% reduction in AWS costs while enhancing system reliability and reducing maintenance overhead. This migration allowed the team to focus more on innovation and customer service rather than managing infrastructure. The new solution scales seamlessly across multiple Amazon EKS clusters and regions, consolidating metrics effectively and improving operational efficiency.
AWS Lambda response streaming has increased its maximum response payload size to 200 MB, ten times the previous limit, enhancing performance for latency-sensitive applications. This improvement allows for direct processing of large datasets and media files without the need for intermediate services, thereby reducing time to first byte (TTFB) for end-users. The new limit is applicable across all supported AWS Regions and compatible with both Node.js managed and custom runtimes.
AWS has launched SRA Verify, an open-source assessment tool designed to help organizations evaluate their alignment with the AWS Security Reference Architecture (AWS SRA). The tool automates checks across various AWS services to ensure that security configurations adhere to best practices, with plans for future enhancements and contributions from the community.
Explore the essential tools and technical guidance for enhancing observability and application performance monitoring (APM) on AWS. The article highlights free-to-try observability tools that integrate seamlessly with AWS workflows, emphasizing the importance of monitoring capabilities in Site Reliability Engineering (SRE) and offering a pay-as-you-go pricing model for scalable use.
Amazon Redshift will discontinue support for Python user-defined functions (UDFs) after June 30, 2026, encouraging users to migrate to Lambda UDFs which offer better integration, scalability, and security. The article provides a detailed guide on how to transition existing Python UDFs to Lambda UDFs, including setup, testing, and monitoring through AWS tools.
Amazon has introduced the Application Recovery Controller (ARC) Region switch, a fully managed service that allows organizations to effectively plan and execute multi-Region application recovery. This service enables users to orchestrate and automate recovery tasks across AWS Regions, ensuring confidence in their failover strategies while streamlining the process of switching operations during operational events. It features a centralized dashboard, customizable recovery plans, and various execution blocks to enhance the recovery process.
AWS CIRT has launched the Threat Technique Catalog for AWS, aimed at providing customers with insights into adversarial tactics and techniques observed during security investigations. This catalog, developed in collaboration with MITRE, categorizes specific threats to AWS and offers guidance on mitigation and detection to enhance customer security.
The article discusses the integration of AWS VPC endpoints with AWS CloudTrail, highlighting how this setup enhances security and monitoring by enabling users to log and audit VPC endpoint activity. It also provides insights into the benefits of using CloudTrail for tracking API calls made by VPC endpoints, ensuring compliance and better resource management.
Small misconfigurations in IAM role trust policies can create significant privilege escalation risks in AWS, allowing low-privileged users to assume high-privileged roles. The article highlights the lack of clear documentation on trust policies and discusses two common misconfigurations that can lead to severe security implications. Understanding these risks is essential for maintaining a secure AWS environment.
Effective cloud incident response requires proper infrastructure setup across major platforms like Microsoft Azure, AWS, and Google Cloud. Key recommendations include centralized log management, configuring alerts, and leveraging specific services for incident containment and eradication. The article emphasizes the importance of preparing these systems to streamline incident analysis and response efforts.
AWS provides guidance on securely implementing and managing Amazon Bedrock API keys, recommending the use of temporary security credentials via AWS STS whenever possible. It outlines best practices for using short-term and long-term API keys, including monitoring, protection strategies, and the importance of adhering to security policies through service control policies (SCPs).
dAWShund is a suite of tools designed to enumerate, evaluate, and visualize AWS IAM policies to ensure comprehensive access management and mitigate misconfigurations. It consolidates Identity-Based Policies and Resource-Based Policies, simulates effective permissions, and provides visual representations of access levels within AWS environments using Neo4j. Contributions to enhance the tool are encouraged, and it operates under the BSD3 License.
A German insurance broker is modernizing their input management for physical letters, processing around 8,500 pages monthly without APIs. The article details the implementation of end-to-end testing within a CI/CD pipeline using the Cloud Development Kit (CDK), highlighting the importance of testing strategies and infrastructure setup to ensure quality in their event-based architecture.
Amazon Web Services is set to unveil an updated Graviton4 chip featuring 600 gigabits per second of network bandwidth, the highest in the public cloud. This advancement positions AWS to compete more effectively against Nvidia in the AI infrastructure market, as the company aims to reduce AI training costs and enhance performance with its upcoming Trainium3 chip. AWS's focus on custom chips illustrates its strategy to dominate the AI infrastructure stack and challenge traditional semiconductor companies like Intel and AMD.
Amazon CloudWatch has introduced a feature that enables customers to automatically activate Amazon VPC flow logs across their entire AWS Organization. This allows for the creation of enablement rules that can apply to the whole organization or specific accounts, ensuring consistent monitoring of network traffic for existing and new VPCs based on defined criteria.
AWS is establishing an independent European governance structure for its European Sovereign Cloud, launching a new region in Brandenburg, Germany, by the end of 2025. This initiative aims to meet stringent digital sovereignty requirements, ensuring that customer data remains within the EU and is managed by EU-based personnel, while also providing a comprehensive suite of AWS services. The move reflects a broader trend in Europe towards technological sovereignty and reducing reliance on non-European cloud providers.
AWS has introduced automatic application layer (L7) DDoS protection through AWS WAF, enabling faster detection and mitigation of DDoS events. This enhancement allows cloud security administrators to protect applications with reduced operational overhead by automatically applying rules based on traffic anomalies. The feature is available for AWS WAF and AWS Shield Advanced subscribers across most regions, with configurations customizable to specific application needs.
Integrating Amazon ECR as a remote cache for AWS CodeBuild can significantly reduce Docker image build times by providing a reliable long-term storage solution for build caches. This method allows for the reuse of cached layers across builds, enhancing efficiency in the development process. The article outlines the implementation steps and prerequisites for setting up this caching mechanism.
AWS ECS tasks running on EC2 instances face weak task-level isolation, leading to potential security risks like credential theft. The article highlights the importance of hardening configurations, particularly by restricting access to the EC2 Instance Metadata Service (IMDS), and discusses various networking modes and methods to effectively block IMDS access for ECS tasks.
Amazon Web Services has donated $60,000 in cloud credits to the Jenkins project, significantly aiding its infrastructure and services. AWS's support has been crucial for various functions, including the recent migration of ci.jenkins.io to their platform, ensuring a stable environment for users. The Jenkins community expresses gratitude for AWS's ongoing commitment to open-source software.
A DNS race condition in Amazon's DynamoDB system caused a significant outage that disrupted major websites and services, resulting in potential damages reaching hundreds of billions of dollars. The issue stemmed from a failure in the automated DNS management system, leading to widespread DNS failures and affecting various AWS services. Amazon has since disabled the affected systems and is working to implement safeguards against a recurrence.
AWS Lambda now integrates with GitHub Actions, allowing automatic deployment of Lambda functions whenever code changes are pushed to GitHub repositories. This new feature simplifies the CI/CD process by eliminating the need for custom scripts and manual configurations, supporting both .zip file and container image deployments while streamlining permissions and error handling.
The article discusses how Amazon Web Services (AWS) S3 scales effectively by utilizing tens of millions of hard drives to manage vast amounts of data. It highlights the architecture and technology behind S3's storage system, emphasizing its reliability and performance in handling large-scale data storage requirements.
Amazon has laid off at least hundreds of employees in its Amazon Web Services (AWS) division, following a warning from CEO Andy Jassy about workforce reductions due to the rise of generative AI. This move aligns with trends in the tech industry, where companies are increasingly automating tasks to reduce costs.
AWS has launched three new enhanced security services to help organizations manage emerging threats in the generative AI era, introduced at the AWS re:Inforce conference. Notable features include AWS Security Hub for centralized threat management, AWS Shield for proactive network security, and Amazon GuardDuty's Extended Threat Detection for container-based applications. These tools aim to simplify security management and enhance protection for cloud environments.
Enhancing application resiliency is crucial in today's digital landscape, and Amazon Q Developer serves as a generative AI-powered assistant that provides tailored recommendations to improve application architecture. It offers insights on resilient design patterns, disaster recovery planning, custom resiliency testing, and failure mode evaluation, helping developers minimize downtime and optimize system availability.
Efficient management of inter-AZ traffic in AWS Kubernetes workloads is essential for performance and cost savings, as data transfer incurs charges. Cilium, utilizing eBPF technology, provides solutions like topology-aware routing and advanced IPAM to minimize these costs while enhancing network visibility and control. Implementing Cilium can lead to significant savings on AWS data transfer by optimizing traffic routing within the same Availability Zone.
OpenAI's models are now available on Amazon Web Services (AWS) for the first time, allowing users to integrate these advanced AI capabilities into their applications. This partnership aims to enhance the accessibility and scalability of OpenAI's technologies for developers and organizations.
Amazon EC2 Auto Scaling now allows users to force cancel instance refreshes immediately, enhancing control during critical updates by enabling rapid deployment changes without waiting for ongoing instance activities. This feature is particularly useful in emergencies when service disruptions occur. Users can implement this by setting the WaitForTransitioningInstances parameter to false in the CancelInstanceRefresh API call.
Amazon ElastiCache now supports Valkey 8.1, introducing new features such as native Bloom filter support, enhanced hash table implementation, and the COMMANDLOG feature for improved performance and observability. These updates aim to enhance application responsiveness while reducing infrastructure costs. The new version is available at no extra cost and allows for easy upgrades without downtime.
AWS Identity and Access Management (IAM) Roles Anywhere allows external workloads to authenticate to AWS using digital certificates, enhancing security by eliminating the need for long-term credentials. However, organizations must carefully configure access permissions to avoid vulnerabilities, as the default settings can be overly permissive, potentially exposing cloud environments to risks. Implementing additional restrictions and adhering to the principle of least privilege is crucial for secure deployment.
Envilder is a CLI tool that automates .env and secret management using AWS SSM Parameter Store, streamlining environment setup for development teams. It addresses common issues like outdated secrets, manual onboarding, and security risks by centralizing secrets management, generating consistent .env files, and enhancing CI/CD workflows. Envilder ensures secure, efficient, and idempotent management of environment variables across various environments, making it ideal for DevOps practices.
Securing cloud-native applications necessitates a comprehensive, security-first strategy that incorporates zero-trust principles and the right tools to protect against evolving threats, especially as AI advances. AWS offers a range of on-demand security tools that are free to try and can be scaled based on usage, helping organizations enhance their security posture effectively. Technical resources are also available to assist in deploying these cloud security tools within AWS environments.
IAM Identity Center has launched a new SDK plugin that simplifies the token exchange process with external identity providers like Microsoft EntraID and Okta. This plugin automates the creation of IAM Identity Center tokens and user identity-aware credentials, facilitating easier access control to AWS resources. It is available for Java 2.0 and JavaScript v3 SDKs at no additional cost across supported AWS regions.
AWS has launched a simplified console experience for AWS WAF, reducing web application security configuration steps by up to 80% and providing expert-level protection. This new feature allows security teams to implement comprehensive protection quickly through pre-configured packs tailored to specific application types, enhancing security monitoring and response capabilities.
Amazon Web Services (AWS) has integrated formal methods, particularly TLA+ and the P programming language, into their development practices to ensure system correctness and improve performance. By evolving their software testing strategies and adopting lightweight formal methods, AWS has successfully enhanced both developer efficiency and the reliability of their services. The introduction of tools like PObserve and the Fault Injection Service (FIS) further bridges the gap between design-time validation and production implementation.
A comprehensive solution for automating resource tagging across AWS Organizations is presented, utilizing CloudFormation, Lambda functions, and AWS Config to maintain consistent tags across multiple accounts. The implementation streamlines compliance monitoring and resource governance by automating the tagging process and propagating tags from organizational units to child accounts. Key components include cross-account role management and error handling, ensuring effective resource management in production environments.
Amazon EC2 Capacity Manager is a new centralized solution that simplifies the monitoring, analyzing, and managing of capacity usage across all AWS accounts and regions from a single interface. It aggregates capacity data, provides insights into usage patterns, optimizes costs by identifying underutilized resources, and eliminates the need for custom automation or manual data collection. The service also offers detailed dashboards and export capabilities for enhanced analysis and decision-making.
Verified Entity Identity Lock is a tool that identifies IAM principals in an AWS account that can assume specific permissions, facilitating the auditing of trust relationships. It outputs results in JSON format, allowing users to see who has access and to compare account IDs against a trusted list. The tool can be installed via the Go toolchain or by downloading a pre-built binary.
AWS has launched new compute-optimized Amazon EC2 C8i and C8i-flex instances, featuring custom Intel Xeon 6 processors with enhanced performance metrics, including up to 15% better price-performance and significant improvements in memory bandwidth. These instances are tailored for compute-intensive workloads, providing options for both standard and flexible usage to optimize costs. They are currently available in several AWS regions with various purchasing options.
An AWS outage caused significant disruptions to various popular services, including Alexa, Fortnite, and Snapchat, leaving many users unable to access these platforms. The incident highlights the reliance on cloud services and the potential impact of downtime on everyday activities and businesses.
The article provides insights into effective AWS policies and where to locate them, focusing on best practices for managing permissions and access in cloud environments. It emphasizes the importance of tailored and secure policies to enhance operational efficiency and security compliance.
Grafana has updated its Prometheus data source to better align with specific cloud services, deprecating AWS and Microsoft Azure authentication in favor of dedicated plugins for Amazon and Azure. This move reflects Grafana's commitment to a "big tent" philosophy, emphasizing interoperability and tailored solutions for diverse observability tools while continuing to support the open-source community.
PowerUserAccess in AWS environments can inadvertently grant attackers opportunities similar to those provided by AdministratorAccess, especially in complex setups. The article emphasizes the importance of adhering to the Principle of Least Privilege and advocates for regular IAM audits and the use of custom policies to mitigate risks associated with privilege escalation.
Amazon EKS Pod Identity now offers streamlined cross-account access for Kubernetes applications, allowing pods to access AWS resources in different accounts without complex configurations. The feature simplifies the process by enabling users to specify both source and target IAM roles during Pod Identity association creation, leveraging IAM role chaining for seamless access to resources like S3 and DynamoDB.
A significant AWS outage on October 19-20, 2025, caused by a DNS failure in the DynamoDB API, led to widespread disruptions across over 140 AWS services, affecting major platforms and clients. The incident highlights the importance of observability in quickly detecting and resolving such failures, emphasizing that organizations using Full-Stack Observability can mitigate financial losses and improve response times during outages. Effective monitoring and real-time visibility into service impacts are crucial for managing risks in cloud environments.
AWS has introduced the MCP Server for Apache Spark History Server, enabling AI-driven debugging and optimization of Spark applications by allowing engineers to interactively query performance data using natural language. This open-source tool simplifies the traditionally complex process of performance troubleshooting, reducing the reliance on deep technical expertise and manual workflows. The MCP Server integrates seamlessly with existing Spark infrastructures, enhancing observability and operational efficiency.
AWS MCP servers are revolutionizing database development by enabling AI assistants to interact with various databases through a standardized protocol. This integration simplifies the development process, enhances productivity, and facilitates real-time insights into database structures, ultimately transforming how developers manage and utilize data across different platforms.
A critical vulnerability in AWS Lambda functions allows attackers to exploit OS command injection through S3 file uploads, potentially compromising AWS credentials and enabling further malicious actions such as phishing via AWS SES. The article highlights the importance of proper configuration and vulnerability scanning to prevent such attacks in event-driven architectures.
AWS has introduced the Data Processing MCP Server and Agent, open-source tools designed to streamline the development of analytics environments by simplifying workflows through natural language interactions. By leveraging the Model Context Protocol (MCP), these tools enhance productivity, enabling AI assistants to guide developers in managing complex data processing tasks across various AWS services. The integration with AWS Glue, Amazon EMR, and Athena allows for intelligent recommendations and improved observability of analytics operations.
Amazon Web Services (AWS) has announced a price reduction of up to 45% for its NVIDIA GPU-accelerated Amazon EC2 instances, including P4 and P5 instance types. This reduction applies to both On-Demand and Savings Plan pricing across various regions, aimed at making advanced GPU computing more accessible to customers. Additionally, AWS is introducing new EC2 P6-B200 instances for large-scale AI workloads.
AWS Transform is a new agentic AI service designed to modernize legacy mainframe and VMware workloads, addressing the complexities and risks associated with such migrations. It automates key processes such as code analysis, documentation, and deployment, enabling organizations to transition to cloud-based architectures more efficiently. The service aims to reduce technical debt and streamline modernization efforts, allowing businesses to innovate and scale effectively.
Amazon Route 53 Resolver endpoints now support DNS delegation for private hosted zones, allowing users to delegate authority for subdomains between on-premises infrastructure and the cloud. This simplifies DNS management for organizations by removing the need for complex conditional forwarding rules. The feature is globally available at no additional cost in supported AWS regions.
AWS Lambda requires careful consideration for observability due to its serverless nature, which complicates monitoring and debugging. This guide explores the challenges of implementing OpenTelemetry with AWS Lambda, offers insights into instrumentation methods like AWS Distro for OpenTelemetry (ADOT) and custom SDKs, and discusses deployment options for telemetry data collection, all while emphasizing the importance of understanding the Lambda execution lifecycle.
The article discusses the use of AWS tags to effectively enumerate and manage cloud resources, highlighting their importance in organizing and automating cloud infrastructure. It emphasizes best practices for tagging to enhance resource visibility and streamline management processes. The author provides insights on implementing a comprehensive tagging strategy to maximize operational efficiency in cloud environments.
Intrusion Shield for AWS offers an automated cloud firewall that utilizes decades of threat intelligence to block risky network traffic without the need for manual rule management. It analyzes all network traffic in real-time, generates firewall rules, and provides prioritized recommendations for addressing security risks. Available on AWS Marketplace, it simplifies security for lean teams by minimizing alerts and streamlining threat management.
AWS has introduced specialized Model Context Protocol (MCP) servers for Amazon ECS, EKS, and AWS Serverless, enhancing AI-assisted development by providing real-time contextual responses and service-specific guidance. These open-source solutions streamline application development, enabling faster deployments and more accurate interactions with AWS services through natural language commands. The MCP servers aid in managing deployments, troubleshooting, and leveraging the latest AWS features effectively.
Airbnb has successfully implemented a distributed database cluster on Kubernetes to achieve high availability and scalability, overcoming challenges associated with stateful services. By utilizing custom Kubernetes operators, AWS EBS, and deploying across multiple availability zones, they have enhanced reliability while managing the complexities of node replacements and upgrades. Their approach showcases the potential of open-source databases in cloud environments, achieving 99.95% availability with substantial data handling capabilities.
Automating certificate management is crucial for organizations using AWS Private CA, especially to handle custom validity periods and monitor expiration dates. Utilizing AWS services like EventBridge, Lambda, and SNS, a scalable solution is proposed to generate audit reports that track certificate statuses and notify stakeholders of upcoming expirations. This approach enhances operational security and ensures timely compliance with certificate management needs.
AWS has announced the general availability of Amazon Elastic VMware Service (Amazon EVS), enabling users to run VMware Cloud Foundation directly within their Amazon Virtual Private Cloud. The service offers flexibility, control, and the ability to retain familiar VCF software while leveraging AWS's infrastructure and services, including various consumption models for cost optimization. Amazon EVS is now available in six AWS Regions and supports VCF version 5.2.1.
Threat Designer is an AI-powered tool that automates threat modeling for secure system design, utilizing large language models to analyze architectures and identify security threats. It offers a browser-based interface for quick assessments and supports deployment for more advanced features, including an AI assistant and threat catalog management. Developers can choose between Amazon Bedrock and OpenAI models during setup.
Organizations can enhance file security by using AWS Transfer Family and Amazon GuardDuty to scan files uploaded via SFTP for malware. This managed solution eliminates the need for manual updates and infrastructure, ensuring that files are safely processed after thorough scanning for threats. The implementation involves AWS Lambda and Step Functions to automate the workflow, along with notifications for both successful and malicious uploads.
The article discusses misconceptions about AWS and its expected developments by 2025, highlighting how the cloud landscape is evolving and what businesses should anticipate. It emphasizes the need for organizations to adapt to these changes and rethink their cloud strategies accordingly.
The article discusses creating a dynamic DNS solution using AWS Route 53 and native tools like AWS CLI, bash, and jq, focusing on minimizing dependencies and maintaining security through a least privilege IAM policy. It outlines the setup process, including a cron job with SystemD for periodic IP updates without relying on outdated third-party tools. The author emphasizes the concept of "living-off-the-land" in cybersecurity, using legitimate software to build safer systems.
Organizations can automate the disabling of compromised user accounts in AWS Managed Microsoft Active Directory by utilizing Amazon GuardDuty for threat detection. The article outlines a step-by-step process to set up GuardDuty, configure AWS Systems Manager, and use AWS Step Functions to streamline the response to suspicious activities detected in EC2 instances. This automation minimizes human error and enhances security against potential data breaches.
Amazon CloudFront has enhanced its IPv6 capabilities by introducing support for IPv6 origins, allowing for end-to-end IPv6 content delivery to origin servers. This update helps customers meet their IPv6 adoption requirements and improves network performance while alleviating concerns about IPv4 address exhaustion. Users can configure their origins to use IPv4-only, IPv6-only, or dual-stack connectivity in all supported AWS Commercial Regions, except for Amazon S3 and VPC origins.
Amazon has introduced Amazon Nova Reel 1.1, an enhanced video generation model that allows users to create multi-shot videos up to 2 minutes long from text prompts and optional reference images. The update improves video quality and reduces generation latency, making it ideal for marketing and creative projects through Amazon Bedrock. Users can choose between automated and manual modes for greater control over video composition.
AWS has launched AWS RTB Fabric, a fully managed service designed for real-time bidding (RTB) advertising workloads, enabling AdTech companies to connect seamlessly with partners while achieving low-latency performance and reduced networking costs. The service features a dedicated network environment, built-in traffic management modules, and a transaction-based pricing model that aligns with programmatic advertising economics. AWS RTB Fabric is now available in multiple regions, simplifying operations and enhancing performance in real-time bidding processes.
AWS default IAM roles have been identified as posing security risks, enabling unauthorized access and potential data breaches. Researchers discovered that these roles could allow malicious actors to exploit vulnerabilities in cloud environments. Immediate action is recommended to review and tighten role permissions to enhance security.
Recreating an IAM role in AWS does not restore the original trust relationship, which can lead to unexpected permission issues. Understanding the nuances of role ARNs and trust policies is crucial for effective identity and access management in cloud environments. Proper management practices can prevent security risks associated with misconfigured roles.
Rami Sinno, a leading chip designer at Amazon Web Services known for his work on Trainium and Inferentia, has reportedly returned to Arm Holdings as the company aims to expand into silicon production. Arm, traditionally an IP design house, is exploring the development of complete chip designs and may venture into producing its own silicon, which could lead to competition with major clients.
Firecracker, an open-source software developed by AWS, enables the creation and management of lightweight virtual machines that enhance the performance and security of serverless applications like AWS Lambda. The article discusses its applications in Amazon Bedrock AgentCore for AI agents and the Aurora DSQL serverless relational database, highlighting the benefits of session isolation, fast VM cloning, and efficient memory management.
AWS has introduced a new refactor feature in the AWS Cloud Development Kit (CDK) that enables cloud engineers to safely rename and reorganize their infrastructure as code without the risk of data loss or downtime. This feature simplifies the refactoring process by leveraging AWS CloudFormation's capabilities, allowing developers to focus on code rather than resource configuration. However, experts advise using this feature judiciously and highlight that other Infrastructure as Code tools have different approaches to similar challenges.
Implementing Karpenter on Amazon EKS requires setting up an AWS EKS cluster, creating IAM roles for both the control plane and worker nodes, and deploying Karpenter using Terraform. The article provides a detailed, step-by-step guide for these processes, including the necessary configurations and commands to run.
Privilege escalation risks in AWS's Bedrock AgentCore arise from its Code Interpreter tool, which allows non-agent identities to execute code and potentially gain unauthorized access to IAM roles. Without proper access controls like resource policies, these risks can lead to significant security vulnerabilities, necessitating the use of Service Control Policies for centralized management. Enhanced monitoring and auditing are also essential to prevent misuse of these powerful tools.
A startup experienced a silent crash in AWS Lambda, where Node.js functions failed mid-execution without any logs or errors. Despite extensive evidence and escalation through AWS support channels, the company received no constructive engagement and was ultimately blamed for the issue, leading them to migrate their entire infrastructure to Azure.
Elastic and AWS have announced a five-year strategic collaboration agreement aimed at enhancing AI innovation in generative AI applications, making AI application development easier and more cost-effective. The partnership will leverage tools like Elasticsearch and Amazon Bedrock, focusing on industry-specific solutions and advanced security capabilities to support customers in adopting these technologies.
The article discusses the importance of enforcing least privilege in AWS environments to enhance security and minimize risks. It highlights best practices for implementing this principle effectively, including proper IAM role configurations and regular audits. By following these strategies, organizations can better protect their resources and data from unauthorized access.
The article discusses the creation of an AI agent designed to automate the triage of AWS GuardDuty alerts using tools and structured outputs. It outlines the technologies used, including PydanticAI and Discord integration, and describes the agent's functionality in assessing alerts, retrieving contextual information, and providing structured responses. The author shares insights from testing the agent with various GuardDuty findings, highlighting its ability to classify alerts accurately based on context.
A scalable mass email service was built using AWS services including SES, SQS, Lambda, S3, and CloudWatch to efficiently handle high volumes of emails while ensuring reliability and deliverability. The article provides an overview of the architecture, real-world use cases, pricing predictions, and step-by-step implementation details, along with challenges faced and solutions implemented during the project. Future improvements are suggested, such as adding a user-friendly interface and analytics functionality.
AWS EventBridge's cross-account capabilities can introduce significant security vulnerabilities if not configured properly, allowing attackers to infiltrate or exfiltrate data. The article outlines various attack patterns, including persistent beaconing, command and control, and reconnaissance, highlighting the stealthy nature of these threats and the importance of securing EventBridge configurations. Practical guidance for mitigating these risks is also provided.
Amazon Managed Service for Apache Flink simplifies the application lifecycle management for stream processing by providing a fully managed environment for running Flink jobs. Users can create, configure, start, stop, and update applications using AWS APIs or the console while leveraging features like snapshots for state consistency. The article also introduces core concepts and the normal operational workflow of an application in this managed service.
AWS Fargate now supports network fault injection experiments through the AWS Fault Injection Service, allowing organizations to simulate network disruptions and improve the resilience of containerized applications. By introducing controlled failures like latency and packet loss, teams can test their applications' behavior and validate disaster recovery procedures, ultimately enhancing system robustness against real-world network issues. The article provides a practical guide for implementing these experiments within an Amazon ECS Fargate application environment.
Amazon's cloud service, AWS, experienced a significant outage affecting numerous popular websites and applications, including Snapchat and Reddit. While services have returned to normal, a backlog of messages is still being processed, highlighting the vulnerabilities in the reliance on a few major cloud providers.
AWS ECS Fargate can struggle with sudden traffic spikes due to slow autoscaling, leading to potential 503 errors. To mitigate this, the article suggests offloading traffic to a Lambda function during high-traffic periods by creating an additional target group and using CloudWatch metrics to trigger scaling actions. This setup allows existing Fargate tasks to handle the load more effectively while new tasks are being provisioned.
AWS CDK will end support for Node.js 18.x on November 30, 2025, following its end of life on April 30, 2025. Users are strongly encouraged to upgrade to Node.js 22.x to continue receiving security updates, new features, and technical support, as remaining on an unsupported version poses security risks and compatibility challenges. A transition period is provided until December 1, 2025, to facilitate this migration.
A significant ransomware campaign has exploited over 1,200 unique AWS access keys to encrypt files in S3 storage buckets, leaving ransom notes demanding payment in Bitcoin. The attackers are using AWS's own encryption features to hide their activities, making it difficult for victims to detect breaches or recover their data.
Setting up a secure environment for malware analysis on AWS involves addressing unique security, compliance, and operational challenges. Key elements include creating isolated sandboxes, enforcing strict access controls, and implementing robust monitoring and lifecycle management to prevent misuse and maintain adherence to AWS policies.
Amazon Web Services (AWS) and HUMAIN have announced a collaborative investment exceeding $5 billion to establish an innovative "AI Zone" in Saudi Arabia, aimed at enhancing the country's AI capabilities and aligning with its Vision 2030 goals. This initiative will focus on developing AI infrastructure, training programs, and fostering a vibrant startup ecosystem, ultimately positioning Saudi Arabia as a global AI leader.
A massive outage at Amazon Web Services (AWS) on October 20, 2025, caused widespread disruptions to various internet services globally, affecting numerous businesses and users. The incident highlighted the reliance on cloud services and raised concerns over their stability and resilience. Users experienced significant interruptions, leading to discussions about the implications for digital infrastructure.
The article discusses how to monitor agentic AI applications using Amazon CloudWatch, highlighting the importance of observability for ensuring reliability and performance. It details the setup of a sample Weather Forecaster application built with Strands Agents SDK, which utilizes CloudWatch to collect telemetry data, including metrics, traces, and logs, for comprehensive analysis. Additionally, it provides a step-by-step guide for deploying the application and analyzing the generated telemetry data in the CloudWatch console.
Amazon SageMaker's lakehouse architecture now automates the optimization of Apache Iceberg tables on Amazon S3, simplifying maintenance through catalog-level configuration. This enhancement allows data lake administrators to enable automated table optimizations, such as compaction and orphan file deletion, across all Iceberg tables with a single setting, improving performance and cost efficiency.
AWS announced significant price reductions for the Amazon S3 Express One Zone storage class, effective April 10, 2025, including up to 85% off GET request prices and 60% off data upload and retrieval charges. Designed for high-performance workloads, S3 Express One Zone offers faster data access and supports a wide range of applications, enhancing both performance and cost efficiency for users. Customers have already reported improved performance and reduced costs using this storage solution.
The AWS Asia Pacific (New Zealand) Region has officially launched, featuring three Availability Zones and enabling local data residency to improve service delivery for New Zealand customers. With a NZD $7.5 billion investment, this development is expected to boost the local economy significantly and enhance cloud capabilities, including support for generative AI and sustainability initiatives. Organizations like MATTR and Sharesies are already leveraging the new infrastructure for innovation and operational efficiency.
AWS has been named a Leader in the 2025 Gartner Magic Quadrant for Strategic Cloud Platform Services for the fifteenth consecutive year, recognized for its ability to execute and commitment to innovation. Gartner highlighted AWS's strengths, including its large cloud community, custom silicon designs, and global operational capabilities, which facilitate enterprise digital transformation. The report serves as a guide for organizations in choosing cloud providers that can drive innovation.
Amazon ECS now allows customers to update capacity provider configurations for existing services without the need for service recreation, reducing operational overhead and preventing service disruptions. This enhancement enables seamless transitions between compute configurations, such as switching from EC2 to Fargate, through the UpdateService API or AWS Management Console. The new capability is available across all AWS Regions.
A vulnerability in AWS Trusted Advisor allowed attackers to bypass checks for unprotected S3 buckets, misleading users about their security status. AWS has since addressed the issue and advised customers to review their S3 bucket permissions to align with security best practices.