AWS Shield

AWS Shield is a managed Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) protection service that safeguards applications running on AWS.

Why it is important:
In today's digital landscape, DDoS attacks are becoming increasingly common and can cause significant damage to businesses by overwhelming their resources and making their applications unavailable. AWS Shield provides an additional layer of protection against these attacks, ensuring the availability and performance of applications running on AWS.

What it is:
AWS Shield is a fully managed service that protects against DDoS attacks. It comes in two tiers: AWS Shield Standard and AWS Shield Advanced. AWS Shield Standard is automatically included at no extra cost with all AWS services and provides protection against the most common, frequently occurring network and transport layer DDoS attacks. AWS Shield Advanced is a paid service that provides additional features and benefits, including more advanced attack mitigation, visibility into attacks, and access to the AWS DDoS Response Team (DRT) for assistance during an attack.

How it works:
AWS Shield uses a combination of traffic signatures, anomaly algorithms, and other analysis techniques to detect and mitigate DDoS attacks. When an attack is detected, AWS Shield automatically applies mitigation techniques to minimize the impact of the attack and protect the targeted resources. These techniques include traffic filtering, rate limiting, and traffic diversion to AWS Shield's global network of edge locations for further inspection and mitigation.

How to answer questions regarding AWS Shield in an exam:
When answering questions about AWS Shield in an exam, it is important to understand the differences between AWS Shield Standard and AWS Shield Advanced. AWS Shield Standard provides automatic protection against common DDoS attacks at no extra cost, while AWS Shield Advanced offers more advanced features and support for a fee. It is also important to know that AWS Shield integrates with other AWS services, such as Amazon CloudFront, Amazon Route 53, and Elastic Load Balancing, to provide comprehensive DDoS protection.

Exam Tips: Answering Questions on AWS Shield

• Understand the differences between AWS Shield Standard and AWS Shield Advanced
• Know that AWS Shield Standard is included with all AWS services at no extra cost
• Remember that AWS Shield Advanced provides additional features, such as advanced attack mitigation and access to the DDoS Response Team
• Be aware of the AWS services that integrate with AWS Shield, such as Amazon CloudFront, Amazon Route 53, and Elastic Load Balancing
• Understand that AWS Shield uses various techniques, such as traffic filtering and rate limiting, to mitigate DDoS attacks