You are a solutions architect working for a social media company that provides a place for civil discussion of political and news-related events.
Due to the ever-changing regulatory requirements and restrictions placed on social media apps that provide these services, you need to build your app in a very highly flexible environment that you can change instantly without updating code.
You have chosen to build the REST API endpoints used by your social media app user interface code using Lambda.
How can you securely configure your Lambda functions so that you can achieve the flexibility required by your app? (Select TWO)
Click on the arrows to vote for the correct answer
A. B. C. D. E.Correct Answers: B and C.
Option A is incorrect.
Sending environment variables to your Lambda function as request parameters would expose the environment variables as plain text.
This is not a secure approach.
Option B is correct.
Lambda key configuration allows you to have your Lambda functions use an encryption key.
You create the key in AWS KMS.
The key is used to encrypt the environment variables that you can use to change your function without deploying any code.
Option C is correct.
Encryption helpers make your lambda function more secure by allowing you to encrypt your environment variables before they are sent to Lambda.
Option D is incorrect.
Lambda layers are used to package common code such as libraries, configuration files, or custom runtime images.
Layers will not give you the same flexibility as environment variables for use in managing change without deploying any code.
Option E is incorrect.
Lambda aliases are used to refer to a specific version of your Lambda function.
You could switch between many versions of your Lambda function, but you would have to deploy new code to create a different version of your Lambda function.
References:
Please see the AWS Lambda developer guide titled Data protection in AWS Lambda (https://docs.aws.amazon.com/lambda/latest/dg/security-dataprotection.html), the AWS Lambda developer guide titled Lambda concepts (https://docs.aws.amazon.com/lambda/latest/dg/gettingstarted-concepts.html#gettingstarted-concepts-layer), the AWS Lambda developer guide titled Lambda function aliases (https://docs.aws.amazon.com/lambda/latest/dg/configuration-aliases.html), and the AWS Lambda developer guide titled Using AWS Lambda environment variables (https://docs.aws.amazon.com/lambda/latest/dg/configuration-envvars.html)
Sure, I'd be happy to provide a detailed explanation of how you can securely configure your Lambda functions for a flexible environment in a social media app.
Firstly, it's important to note that Lambda provides a serverless compute service that allows you to run code without provisioning or managing servers. You only pay for the compute time that you consume, which makes it a cost-effective and flexible solution for a social media app that may experience varying traffic levels.
To securely configure your Lambda functions for flexibility, you can use the following two approaches:
Use Lambda Layers: Lambda Layers allow you to separate out common code from your Lambda functions and share it across multiple functions. This can help you achieve flexibility by enabling you to update your common code separately from your function code, without having to update the function code every time there is a change. You can use Layers to manage your dependencies, such as libraries and frameworks, and ensure that they are up-to-date and secure. By keeping your dependencies in Layers, you can quickly update them without changing your function code, which helps you achieve the flexibility you need. You can also use Layers to share security configurations and logging logic across your functions, which can help you maintain a consistent level of security and visibility across your application.
Use Lambda Aliases: Lambda Aliases allow you to create multiple versions of your Lambda function, each with a unique ARN (Amazon Resource Name), and map them to friendly names, such as "prod" or "test". You can use Aliases to achieve flexibility by enabling you to roll out new versions of your function without changing the function code or the ARN used by your clients. You can assign different weights to each version, which determines the percentage of traffic that each version receives, and gradually shift traffic from one version to another, which helps you achieve seamless updates and minimize the impact on your users. You can also use Aliases to manage your environment variables, such as database credentials and API keys, and ensure that they are securely stored and encrypted. By keeping your environment variables in Aliases, you can quickly update them without changing your function code, which helps you achieve the flexibility you need.
In summary, using Lambda Layers and Lambda Aliases can help you achieve a highly flexible environment for your social media app, while ensuring that your Lambda functions are secure and up-to-date. By separating out common code and managing your dependencies, and by creating multiple versions of your function and managing your environment variables, you can achieve flexibility without compromising on security.