Question

Difficulty: HardShared Responsibility Model

A logistics company uses AWS Elastic Beanstalk to deploy and scale a web application. The platform automatically provisions Amazon EC2 instances, an Application Load Balancer, and an Auto Scaling group to support the workload. The company's security team is defining the operational boundaries for securing this deployment.

Which of the following tasks remains the sole responsibility of the customer under the AWS Shared Responsibility Model?

  1. Configuring security group rules to restrict network access to the EC2 instances and applying updates to the application code.Answer
  2. B
    Patching the underlying virtualization hypervisors and physical network devices hosting the EC2 instances.
  3. C
    Configuring stateless Network Access Control Lists (NACLs) inside the guest operating system of the EC2 instances to manage instance-level traffic.
  4. D
    Conducting physical security audits of the AWS data centers and managing the compliance certifications of the host facilities.

Answer

Configuring security group rules to restrict network access to the EC2 instances and applying updates to the application code.
The correct option is correct because managing security groups and application code are customer responsibilities (security 'in' the cloud). Even though AWS Elastic Beanstalk automates deployment, the provisioned EC2 instances run in the customer's environment, leaving network access rules (security groups) and code security under the customer's control.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Analyze the service model in the scenario.
AWS Elastic Beanstalk is a Platform as a Service (PaaS) that provisions standard Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) resources, including Amazon EC2 instances, under the customer's control.
Identifying the service model helps determine where the boundary of responsibility lies for the operating system and network settings.
2
Differentiate between security 'of' the cloud and security 'in' the cloud.
AWS manages the physical infrastructure, virtualization hypervisors, and data center facilities. The customer manages the guest operating system, network firewalls (security groups), and application code.
Applying the Shared Responsibility Model principles isolates customer duties from AWS duties.
3
Evaluate the choices based on the customer's operational responsibilities.
Configuring security groups and updating application code are customer duties (security 'in' the cloud), whereas physical security, hypervisor patching, and data center compliance belong to AWS.
Verifying each option ensures the correct option matches the customer's responsibility profile.

Key Concept

Under the AWS Shared Responsibility Model, customers retain control and responsibility for configuration tasks (such as security groups and application updates) on resources provisioned in their accounts, even when deployed through managed or platform-level services.
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