Secure and Cost-Effective Solutions for AWS Redshift Cluster Encryption with On-Premise HSM
Question
A company needs to use a Redshift cluster in AWS.
The mandate is that all data is encrypted at rest.
It also needs to be ensured that the keys used for encryption for the Redshift cluster are from an on-premise HSM device.
Which of the following are most secure and cost-effective solutions? Choose 2 answers from the options given below.
Answers
Explanations
Click on the arrows to vote for the correct answer
A. B. C. D.Answer - A and C.
The AWS Documentation mentions the following.
Amazon Redshift uses a hierarchy of encryption keys to encrypt the database.
You can use either AWS Key Management Service (AWS KMS) or a hardware security module (HSM) to manage the top-level encryption keys in this hierarchy.
The process that Amazon Redshift uses for encryption differs depending on how you manage keys.
Amazon Redshift automatically integrates with AWS KMS but not with an HSM.
When you use an HSM, you must use client and server certificates to configure a trusted connection between Amazon Redshift and your HSM.
Option B is incorrect since using VPN involves encryption and will be more secure for transferring the encryption keys.
Option D is incorrect since the KMS service cannot be used for importing keys.
For more information on working with DB encryption, please visit the url.
https://docs.aws.amazon.com/redshift/latest/mgmt/working-with-db-encryption.htmlTo ensure that data is encrypted at rest in an Amazon Redshift cluster, customers can use Amazon Redshift's built-in encryption functionality. Amazon Redshift supports both AWS Key Management Service (KMS) and Hardware Security Module (HSM) for key management. Customers can use either KMS or HSM or both for key management.
However, in this case, the requirement is to use keys from an on-premise HSM device to encrypt data at rest in the Redshift cluster. To achieve this requirement, there are two most secure and cost-effective solutions:
Create a VPN connection between the VPC holding the cluster and the On-premise network: A VPN connection can be created between the VPC holding the Redshift cluster and the on-premise network to establish a secure connection between them. This connection will ensure that the data transmitted between the Redshift cluster and the on-premise HSM is encrypted and secure. The VPN connection will also allow the cluster to communicate with the on-premise HSM device, which can be used to store the encryption keys. This solution is cost-effective as it doesn't require any additional hardware or software.
Use client and server certificates to configure a trusted connection between Amazon Redshift and your HSM: This solution involves using client and server certificates to establish a trusted connection between Amazon Redshift and the on-premise HSM. The client and server certificates ensure that only authorized parties can access the HSM device and the keys stored within it. This solution is more secure than the VPN connection as it provides a higher level of authentication and authorization. However, this solution requires additional configuration and management of certificates, which can increase the overall cost of the solution.
Option D, Import the keys from the on-premise HSM device to KMS, is not a valid solution because it doesn't meet the requirement of using the on-premise HSM device to store the encryption keys. This solution would require the keys to be imported to KMS, which is a cloud-based key management service, and would not satisfy the mandate of using on-premise HSM for key management.
Option B, Create a Direct Connect connection between the VPC holding the cluster and the On-premise network, is also not a valid solution for this requirement. Direct Connect is a dedicated network connection between the customer's on-premise infrastructure and AWS. This solution is typically used for high-bandwidth and low-latency communication between the customer's data center and AWS. However, this solution does not meet the requirement of using the on-premise HSM device to store the encryption keys.
Therefore, the two most secure and cost-effective solutions for encrypting data at rest in a Redshift cluster using keys from an on-premise HSM device are to create a VPN connection between the VPC holding the cluster and the on-premise network, or to use client and server certificates to configure a trusted connection between Amazon Redshift and the on-premise HSM.
