The Shared Responsibility Model
Security and Compliance is a
shared
responsibility between AWS and the customer. AWS is
responsible for protecting the infrastructure that runs all of the
services offered in the AWS Cloud, known as Security
of the Cloud. This
infrastructure is composed of the hardware, software, networking,
and facilities that run AWS Cloud services. The customer’s
responsibility is determined by the AWS Cloud services they select.
This determines the amount of configuration work the customer must
perform as part of their security responsibilities, known as
Security in the
Cloud. For example, for Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud
(EC2) service, the customer will be responsible for the necessary
security configurations and management from its networking,
operating system, and application configuration including its
patching and permissions. However, for abstracted services like
Amazon Simple Storage Service (S3) where AWS operates the
infrastructure, operating system and environment, the customer is
provided access endpoints to use, store, and retrieve data. The
customer will be responsible for managing the stored data to include
applying encryption and appropriate access permissions. Applying
this shared responsibility model to telco workloads means that,
while AWS provides a secure infrastructure, CSPs and their Virtual
Network Function/Container Network Function (VNF/CNF) vendors should
implement security measures to protect the workload. They can do
this by adopting AWS security best practices and recommendations,
and by following telco security standards as defined by multiple
standard organizations such as
3GPP,
ETSI, and
IETF at the
application level, to verify that the overall system is secured from
each layer.
Shared responsibility varies when using AWS
services residing in a customer’s data center; for example, when the
Radio Access Network (RAN) functions such as Virtual Distributed
Unit (vDU) are deployed on
AWS Outposts. AWS Outposts is a family of fully-managed solutions
delivering AWS infrastructure and services to virtually any
on-premises or edge location. In AWS Outposts, the customer takes
the responsibility of securing the physical infrastructure to host
the AWS Outposts equipment in their own data centers. As a managed
service, it inherits our well-tested security procedures, and
includes built-in tampering and dedicated security components such
as the
Nitro
Security card and key.
The preceding figure summarizes the shared responsibility model between AWS and the
customer. AWS operates, manages, and controls the components from the host operating system
and virtualization layer down to the physical security of the facilities owned by AWS. The
customer assumes responsibility and management of the guest operating system and associated
application or network functions as well as the configuration of the AWS services used.
The preceding figure shows an edge model with AWS Outposts, where
the responsibility of the physical security, networking, cooling,
and electricity for AWS Outposts is owned by the customer.
