Curriculum Overview: AWS Incident Response

This curriculum focuses on the technical execution of incident response within an AWS environment, specifically addressing the critical phases of containment, eradication, and recovery as defined in the SCS-C03 exam guide.

Prerequisites

To successfully engage with this module, students should possess:

• Foundational AWS Security Knowledge: Understanding of the Shared Responsibility Model and AWS Identity and Access Management (IAM).
• Networking Competency: Proficiency in VPC components, specifically Security Groups, Network Access Control Lists (NACLs), and VPC Flow Logs.
• Monitoring Awareness: Familiarity with AWS security services such as Amazon GuardDuty, AWS Security Hub, and AWS CloudTrail.
• Scripting Basics: Basic understanding of JSON/YAML for CloudFormation and Python/Node.js for AWS Lambda functions.

Module Breakdown

Learning Objectives per Module

Module 1: Containment Strategies

• Differentiate between Source Containment (filtering access from malicious IPs) and Destination Containment (isolating the affected resource).
• Implement immediate network blocks using NACLs to deny both inbound and outbound traffic for compromised subnets.
• Utilize Security Groups to restrict instance communication to a specific forensic security group.

Module 2: Isolation & Forensics

• Automate the creation of a Forensic AWS Account using AWS Control Tower and CloudFormation.
• Execute "isolation-in-place" by detaching compromised instances from Auto Scaling Groups (ASG) and Elastic Load Balancers (ELB).
• Capture forensic artifacts including EBS snapshots and memory dumps without contaminating evidence.

Module 3: Automated Remediation

• Design Event-Driven Response architectures using Amazon EventBridge and AWS Lambda.
• Create SSM Automation Runbooks to automatically revoke IAM sessions or rotate compromised access keys.
• Use AWS Step Functions to coordinate multi-step remediation workflows (e.g., Isolate -> Snapshot -> Terminate).

Module 4: Recovery & Restoration

• Configure AWS Backup for cross-account and cross-region recovery to protect against ransomware.
• Implement S3 Object Lock and Versioning to ensure data integrity during restoration.
• Validate resource health using Route 53 Application Recovery Controller before shifting traffic back to recovered resources.

Module 5: Post-Incident & Validation

• Perform Root Cause Analysis (RCA) using Amazon Detective to visualize API call patterns and resource interactions.
• Use AWS Fault Injection Service (FIS) to simulate security incidents and test the effectiveness of response runbooks.

Visual Overview

The Incident Response Lifecycle

Infrastructure Isolation Geometry

Success Metrics

1. Mean Time to Contain (MTTC): Ability to isolate a compromised EC2 instance within < 5 minutes of a GuardDuty alert.
2. Automation Coverage: At least 60% of common security findings (e.g., exposed keys, unauthorized port opening) are mapped to automated remediation Lambda functions.
3. Restoration Integrity: Successful recovery of a multi-tier application from an S3-protected backup within the defined Recovery Time Objective (RTO).
4. Forensic Validity: Demonstration of a "Clean Room" environment where logs are centralized in a read-only account using S3 Object Lock.

Real-World Application

• Ransomware Mitigation: In a real-world scenario, an attacker encrypts an EBS volume. The student applies the curriculum by immediately snapshots the volume, isolating the instance via NACL, and restoring from a protected AWS Backup vault.
• Credential Leakage: If an IAM Access Key is leaked to a public repository, the student uses an automated Step Function to deactivate the key, revoke existing sessions, and notify the security team.
• DDoS Containment: Using AWS Shield Advanced and WAF, students implement rate-limiting and IP-based blocking to contain an application-layer attack before it exhausts backend resources.

[!IMPORTANT] Incident response is not just about technology; it is about preparation. Always ensure your response plans are codified as Infrastructure as Code (IaC) to ensure consistency during high-pressure events.