AWS Shield for DDoS protection - Cheat Sheet & Quick Revision

Recall & Review

beginner

What is AWS Shield?

AWS Shield is a managed service that protects applications running on AWS from Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks.

beginner

What are the two tiers of AWS Shield?

AWS Shield has two tiers: Standard, which provides automatic protection for all AWS customers at no extra cost, and Advanced, which offers additional detection and mitigation for complex attacks with 24/7 support.

beginner

How does AWS Shield Standard protect your resources?

AWS Shield Standard automatically protects AWS resources like Amazon CloudFront and Elastic Load Balancing from common, frequently occurring network and transport layer DDoS attacks without any user action.

intermediate

What additional benefits does AWS Shield Advanced provide over Standard?

AWS Shield Advanced offers enhanced detection and mitigation, near real-time visibility into attacks, integration with AWS WAF, cost protection against scaling charges during attacks, and 24/7 access to the AWS DDoS Response Team.

beginner

Why is AWS Shield important for cloud applications?

AWS Shield helps keep cloud applications available and responsive by protecting them from DDoS attacks that can overwhelm resources and cause downtime or slow performance.

Which AWS Shield tier is automatically enabled for all AWS customers at no extra cost?

A Premium

B Advanced

C Enterprise

D Standard

AWS Shield Standard is automatically enabled for all AWS customers and provides basic DDoS protection at no additional cost.

What type of attacks does AWS Shield primarily protect against?

A Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks

B Phishing attacks

C Malware infections

D SQL injection attacks

AWS Shield is designed to protect against Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks that aim to overwhelm resources.

Which AWS Shield tier provides 24/7 access to the AWS DDoS Response Team?

A Advanced

B Standard

C Basic

D Developer

AWS Shield Advanced includes 24/7 access to the AWS DDoS Response Team for expert help during attacks.

AWS Shield Advanced integrates with which AWS service to provide customizable web traffic filtering?

A Amazon S3

B AWS Lambda

C AWS WAF

D Amazon EC2

AWS Shield Advanced integrates with AWS WAF (Web Application Firewall) to allow custom rules for filtering web traffic.

What is a key benefit of AWS Shield protecting your cloud application?

A Improves application design

B Keeps applications available during DDoS attacks

C Prevents unauthorized data access

D Reduces storage costs

AWS Shield helps keep applications available and responsive by mitigating DDoS attacks that could cause downtime.

Explain the difference between AWS Shield Standard and AWS Shield Advanced.

Think about features and support levels.

Describe why DDoS protection is important for applications hosted on AWS.

Consider the impact of attacks on availability.

Practice

1. What is the main purpose of AWS Shield?

easy

A. To protect AWS resources from DDoS attacks

B. To store data securely in the cloud

C. To monitor user activity on AWS

D. To manage AWS billing and costs

Solution

1. Step 1: Understand AWS Shield's function

   AWS Shield is designed to protect AWS resources from Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks that try to overwhelm services.

2. Step 2: Compare options with AWS Shield's purpose

   Only To protect AWS resources from DDoS attacks correctly describes AWS Shield's main role as protection against DDoS attacks.

3. Final Answer:

   To protect AWS resources from DDoS attacks -> Option A

4. Quick Check:

   AWS Shield = DDoS protection [OK]

Hint: AWS Shield = DDoS defense for AWS resources [OK]

Common Mistakes:

• Confusing AWS Shield with storage services
• Thinking AWS Shield manages billing
• Assuming AWS Shield monitors user activity

2. Which AWS Shield tier provides additional support and advanced protections?

easy

A. AWS Shield Standard

B. AWS Shield Basic

C. AWS Shield Advanced

D. AWS Shield Premium

Solution

1. Step 1: Identify AWS Shield tiers

   AWS Shield has two main tiers: Basic and Advanced. Basic offers automatic protection, Advanced adds extra features and support.

2. Step 2: Match tier with advanced features

   Only AWS Shield Advanced provides additional protections and 24/7 support.

3. Final Answer:

   AWS Shield Advanced -> Option C

4. Quick Check:

   Advanced tier = extra protection and support [OK]

Hint: Advanced = extra protection and support [OK]

Common Mistakes:

• Confusing Basic with Advanced tier
• Assuming Standard or Premium tiers exist
• Mixing up tier names

3. Given this AWS Shield setup code snippet, what resource is being protected?

aws_shield_protection = {
  "Name": "MyCloudFrontDistribution",
  "ResourceArn": "arn:aws:cloudfront::123456789012:distribution/EDFDVBD632BHDS5"
}

medium

A. An EC2 instance

B. An RDS database

C. An S3 bucket

D. A CloudFront distribution

Solution

1. Step 1: Analyze the ResourceArn

   The ARN contains "cloudfront" and "distribution", indicating the resource is a CloudFront distribution.

2. Step 2: Match resource type to options

   Only A CloudFront distribution matches a CloudFront distribution; others are different AWS services.

3. Final Answer:

   A CloudFront distribution -> Option D

4. Quick Check:

   ResourceArn with cloudfront = CloudFront distribution [OK]

Hint: Look for 'cloudfront' in ARN to identify resource type [OK]

Common Mistakes:

• Assuming EC2 or S3 from ARN without checking
• Ignoring ARN format details
• Confusing resource types

4. You configured AWS Shield Advanced but your Elastic Load Balancer (ELB) is still not protected. What is the likely issue?

medium

A. AWS Shield does not support ELB protection

B. You forgot to associate the ELB with AWS Shield protection

C. You need to enable AWS Shield Basic first

D. AWS Shield only protects EC2 instances

Solution

1. Step 1: Understand AWS Shield Advanced usage

   AWS Shield Advanced requires you to explicitly associate resources like ELB to enable protection.

2. Step 2: Evaluate options for ELB protection

   You forgot to associate the ELB with AWS Shield protection correctly identifies the missing association step. Options B, C, and D are incorrect because ELB is supported, Basic is automatic, and Shield protects multiple resource types.

3. Final Answer:

   You forgot to associate the ELB with AWS Shield protection -> Option B

4. Quick Check:

   Associate resources to Shield Advanced for protection [OK]

Hint: Associate ELB explicitly with Shield Advanced [OK]

Common Mistakes:

• Assuming ELB is auto-protected
• Thinking Shield only protects EC2
• Believing Shield Basic must be enabled first

5. Your company wants to protect a global web application using AWS Shield Advanced. Which combination of AWS services should you protect to ensure best DDoS defense?

hard

A. Protect CloudFront distributions and Elastic Load Balancers

B. Protect only EC2 instances running the web servers

C. Protect S3 buckets storing static content

D. Protect RDS databases and DynamoDB tables

Solution

1. Step 1: Identify key services for global web app delivery

   CloudFront distributes content globally and ELB balances traffic to servers, both critical for DDoS protection.

2. Step 2: Evaluate protection targets

   Protecting CloudFront and ELB covers edge and traffic distribution points. Protecting only EC2 misses edge protection. S3 and databases are less exposed to DDoS.

3. Final Answer:

   Protect CloudFront distributions and Elastic Load Balancers -> Option A

4. Quick Check:

   Shield Advanced protects CloudFront + ELB for best defense [OK]

Hint: Protect edge (CloudFront) and traffic points (ELB) [OK]

Common Mistakes:

• Protecting only backend servers
• Ignoring CloudFront's role
• Trying to protect databases for DDoS