Amazon GuardDuty is a machine studying (ML)-based safety monitoring and clever menace detection service that analyzes and processes numerous AWS information sources, constantly screens your AWS accounts and workloads for malicious exercise, and delivers detailed safety findings for visibility and remediation.

I really like the function of GuardDuty Runtime Monitoring that analyzes working system (OS)-level, community, and file occasions to detect potential runtime threats for particular AWS workloads in your surroundings. I first launched the final availability of this function for Amazon Elastic Kubernetes Service (Amazon EKS) assets in March 2023. Seb wrote concerning the enlargement of the Runtime Monitoring function to supply menace detection for Amazon Elastic Container Service (Amazon ECS) and AWS Fargate in addition to the preview for Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (Amazon EC2) workloads in Nov 2023.

At present, we’re saying the final availability of Amazon GuardDuty EC2 Runtime Monitoring to develop menace detection protection for EC2 cases at runtime and complement the anomaly detection that GuardDuty already offers by constantly monitoring VPC Circulation Logs, DNS question logs, and AWS CloudTrail administration occasions. You now have visibility into on-host, OS-level actions and container-level context into detected threats.

With GuardDuty EC2 Runtime Monitoring, you’ll be able to establish and reply to potential threats that may goal the compute assets inside your EC2 workloads. Threats to EC2 workloads typically contain distant code execution that results in the obtain and execution of malware. This might embrace cases or self-managed containers in your AWS surroundings which are connecting to IP addresses related to cryptocurrency-related exercise or to malware command-and-control associated IP addresses.

GuardDuty Runtime Monitoring offers visibility into suspicious instructions that contain malicious file downloads and execution throughout every step, which can assist you uncover threats throughout preliminary compromise and earlier than they change into business-impacting occasions. You may also centrally allow runtime menace detection protection for accounts and workloads throughout the group utilizing AWS Organizations to simplify your safety protection.

Configure EC2 Runtime Monitoring in GuardDuty
With just a few clicks, you’ll be able to allow GuardDuty EC2 Runtime Monitoring within the GuardDuty console. On your first use, you should allow Runtime Monitoring.

Any prospects which are new to the EC2 Runtime Monitoring function can attempt it for free for 30 days and achieve entry to all options and detection findings. The GuardDuty console exhibits what number of days are left within the free trial.

Now, you’ll be able to arrange the GuardDuty safety agent for the person EC2 cases for which you need to monitor the runtime conduct. You possibly can select to deploy the GuardDuty safety agent both robotically or manually. At GA, you’ll be able to allow Automated agent configuration, which is a most well-liked choice for many prospects because it permits GuardDuty to handle the safety agent on their behalf.

The agent might be deployed on EC2 cases with AWS Programs Supervisor and makes use of an Amazon Digital Personal Cloud (Amazon VPC) endpoint to obtain the runtime occasions related together with your useful resource. If you wish to handle the GuardDuty safety agent manually, go to Managing the safety agent Amazon EC2 occasion manually within the AWS documentation. In multiple-account environments, delegated GuardDuty administrator accounts handle their member accounts utilizing AWS Organizations. For extra info, go to Managing a number of accounts within the AWS documentation.

Whenever you allow EC2 Runtime Monitoring, you will discover the lined EC2 cases listing, account ID, and protection standing, and whether or not the agent is ready to obtain runtime occasions from the corresponding useful resource within the EC2 occasion runtime protection tab.

Even when the protection standing is Unhealthy, that means it’s not at the moment capable of obtain runtime findings, you continue to have protection in depth to your EC2 occasion. GuardDuty continues to supply menace detection to the EC2 occasion by monitoring CloudTrail, VPC circulation, and DNS logs related to it.

Try GuardDuty EC2 Runtime safety findings
When GuardDuty detects a possible menace and generates safety findings, you’ll be able to view the main points of the wholesome info.

Select Findings within the left pane if you wish to discover safety findings particular to Amazon EC2 assets. You should utilize the filter bar to filter the findings desk by particular standards, akin to a Useful resource sort of Occasion. The severity and particulars of the findings differ primarily based on the useful resource function, which signifies whether or not the EC2 useful resource was the goal of suspicious exercise or the actor performing the exercise.

With right now’s launch, we assist over 30 runtime safety findings for EC2 cases, akin to detecting abused domains, backdoors, cryptocurrency-related exercise, and unauthorized communications. For the total listing, go to Runtime Monitoring discovering varieties within the AWS documentation.

Resolve your EC2 safety findings
Select every EC2 safety discovering to know extra particulars. You will discover all the data related to the discovering and look at the useful resource in query to find out whether it is behaving in an anticipated method.

If the exercise is permitted, you should use suppression guidelines or trusted IP lists to stop false constructive notifications for that useful resource. If the exercise is surprising, the safety greatest observe is to imagine the occasion has been compromised and take the actions detailed in Remediating a doubtlessly compromised Amazon EC2 occasion within the AWS documentation.

You possibly can combine GuardDuty EC2 Runtime Monitoring with different AWS safety providers, akin to AWS Safety Hub or Amazon Detective. Or you should use Amazon EventBridge, permitting you to make use of integrations with safety occasion administration or workflow programs, akin to Splunk, Jira, and ServiceNow, or set off automated and semi-automated responses akin to isolating a workload for investigation.

Whenever you select Examine with Detective, you will discover Detective-created visualizations for AWS assets to shortly and simply examine safety points. To be taught extra, go to Integration with Amazon Detective within the AWS documentation.

Issues to know
GuardDuty EC2 Runtime Monitoring assist is now out there for EC2 cases operating Amazon Linux 2 or Amazon Linux 2023. You could have the choice to configure most CPU and reminiscence limits for the agent. To be taught extra and for future updates, go to Stipulations for Amazon EC2 occasion assist within the AWS documentation.

To estimate the day by day common utilization prices for GuardDuty, select Utilization within the left pane. Through the 30-day free trial interval, you’ll be able to estimate what your prices might be after the trial interval. On the finish of the trial interval, we cost you per vCPU hours tracked month-to-month for the monitoring brokers. To be taught extra, go to the Amazon GuardDuty pricing web page.

Enabling EC2 Runtime Monitoring additionally permits for a cost-saving alternative in your GuardDuty price. When the function is enabled, you gained’t be charged for GuardDuty foundational safety VPC Circulation Logs sourced from the EC2 cases operating the safety agent. This is because of comparable, however extra contextual, community information out there from the safety agent. Moreover, GuardDuty would nonetheless course of VPC Circulation Logs and generate related findings so you’ll proceed to get network-level safety protection even when the agent experiences downtime.

Now out there
Amazon GuardDuty EC2 Runtime Monitoring is now out there in all AWS Areas the place GuardDuty is offered, excluding AWS GovCloud (US) Areas and AWS China Areas. For a full listing of Areas the place EC2 Runtime Monitoring is offered, go to Area-specific function availability.

Give GuardDuty EC2 Runtime Monitoring a attempt within the GuardDuty console. For extra info, go to the Amazon GuardDuty Person Information and ship suggestions to AWS re:Submit for Amazon GuardDuty or by your regular AWS assist contacts.

— Channy