Security

Cloud security at Amazon Web Services (AWS) is the highest priority. As an AWS customer, you benefit from a data center and network architecture that is built to meet the requirements of the most security-sensitive organizations. Security is a shared responsibility between AWS and you. The Shared Responsibility Model describes this as Security of the Cloud and Security in the Cloud.

Security of the Cloud – AWS is responsible for protecting the infrastructure that runs all of the services offered in the AWS Cloud and providing you with services that you can use securely. Our security responsibility is the highest priority at AWS, and the effectiveness of our security is regularly tested and verified by third-party auditors as part of the AWS Compliance Programs.

Security in the Cloud – Your responsibility is determined by the AWS service you are using, and other factors including the sensitivity of your data, your organization’s requirements, and applicable laws and regulations.

Boto 3 follows the shared responsibility model through the specific AWS services it supports. For AWS service security information, see the AWS service security documentation page and AWS services that are in scope of AWS compliance efforts by compliance program.

Data Protection

For data protection purposes, we recommend that you protect AWS account credentials and set up individual user accounts with AWS Identity and Access Management (IAM), so that each user is given only the permissions necessary to fulfill their job duties. We also recommend that you secure your data in the following ways:

• Use multi-factor authentication (MFA) with each account.
• Use SSL/TLS to communicate with AWS resources.
• Set up API and user activity logging with AWS CloudTrail.
• Use AWS encryption solutions, along with all default security controls within AWS services.
• Use advanced managed security services such as Amazon Macie, which assists in discovering and securing personal data that is stored in Amazon S3.

We strongly recommend that you never put sensitive identifying information, such as your customers' account numbers, into free-form fields such as a Name field. This includes when you work with Boto 3 or other AWS services using the console, API, AWS CLI, or AWS SDKs. Any data that you enter into Boto 3 or other services might get picked up for inclusion in diagnostic logs. When you provide a URL to an external server, don't include credentials information in the URL to validate your request to that server.

For more information about data protection, see the AWS Shared Responsibility Model and GDPR blog post on the AWS Security Blog.

Identity and Access Management

AWS Identity and Access Management (IAM) is an AWS service that helps an administrator securely control access to AWS resources. IAM administrators control who can be authenticated (signed in) and authorized (have permissions) to use AWS resources. IAM is an AWS service that you can use with no additional charge.

To use Boto 3 to access AWS, you need an AWS account and AWS credentials. To increase the security of your AWS account, we recommend that you use an IAM user to provide access credentials instead of using your AWS account credentials.

For details about working with IAM, see IAM.

For an overview of IAM users and why they are important for the security of your account, see AWS Security Credentials in the Amazon Web Services General Reference.

Compliance Validation

The security and compliance of AWS services is assessed by third-party auditors as part of multiple AWS compliance programs. These include SOC, PCI, FedRAMP, HIPAA, and others. AWS provides a frequently updated list of AWS services in scope of specific compliance programs at AWS Services in Scope by Compliance Program.

Third-party audit reports are available for you to download using AWS Artifact. For more information, see Downloading Reports in AWS Artifact.

For more information about AWS compliance programs, see AWS Compliance Programs.

Your compliance responsibility when using Boto 3 to access an AWS service is determined by the sensitivity of your data, your organization’s compliance objectives, and applicable laws and regulations. If your use of an AWS service is subject to compliance with standards such as HIPAA, PCI, or FedRAMP, AWS provides resources to help:

• Security and Compliance Quick Start Guides – Deployment guides that discuss architectural considerations and provide steps for deploying security-focused and compliance-focused baseline environments on AWS.
• Architecting for HIPAA Security and Compliance Whitepaper – A whitepaper that describes how companies can use AWS to create HIPAA-compliant applications.
• AWS Compliance Resources – A collection of workbooks and guides that might apply to your industry and location.
• AWS Config – A service that assesses how well your resource configurations comply with internal practices, industry guidelines, and regulations.
• AWS Security Hub – A comprehensive view of your security state within AWS that helps you check your compliance with security industry standards and best practices.

Resilience

The AWS global infrastructure is built around AWS Regions and Availability Zones.

AWS Regions provide multiple physically separated and isolated Availability Zones, which are connected with low-latency, high-throughput, and highly redundant networking.

With Availability Zones, you can design and operate applications and databases that automatically fail over between Availability Zones without interruption. Availability Zones are more highly available, fault tolerant, and scalable than traditional single or multiple data center infrastructures.

For more information about AWS Regions and Availability Zones, see AWS Global Infrastructure.

Infrastructure Security

For information about AWS security processes, see the AWS: Overview of Security Processes whitepaper.