Who should use Inspector? – Introduction to AWS Security Services

Who should use Inspector?

Inspector is particularly useful for:

• Highly regulated businesses: Organizations in sectors such as finance, healthcare, and government can benefit from Inspector’s automated assessments to demonstrate compliance
• Large enterprises: Those with complex and dynamic cloud environments can leverage Inspector for automated resource discovery and continual assessments
• Startups and SMBs: Smaller teams with limited security expertise can use Inspector as an easy-to-implement, cost-effective security solution
• Managed service providers: Firms offering security as a service can integrate Inspector into their portfolio, adding value to their client offerings

CloudTrail Lake and Security Lake—your AWS analytics powerhouses

Before the more recent introduction of AWS CloudTrail Lake and Amazon Security Lake, organizations mostly relied on Amazon Athena for security using AWS native services. While Athena is powerful, it required a more complex setup and longer operational times, making it less efficient for real-time security analytics. In this context, CloudTrail Lake and Security Lake are game-changers. These services are designed to provide a comprehensive solution for managing, storing, and analyzing your AWS activity logs, filling a crucial gap in the AWS security analytics landscape. Whether you are looking to audit your environment for compliance, investigate security incidents, or gain operational insights, these services offer a unified ecosystem to meet your analytics needs.

Key features, differences, and similarities

Let’s compare CloudTrail Lake and Security Lake’s key features to see how they differ and where they overlap:

• Unified ecosystem: Both CloudTrail Lake and Security Lake offer a unified platform for log management and analytics. However, CloudTrail Lake focuses on AWS-specific logs, integrating aggregation, storage, and querying into a single platform.
• Integrated querying versus custom data pipelines: CloudTrail Lake provides an in-built SQL experience within the CloudTrail console, while Security Lake allows you to create custom data pipelines using AWS Glue, Athena, and Amazon QuickSight.
• Real-time alerts: Both services can be configured to send real-time alerts based on custom queries, enhancing your ability to respond to incidents swiftly.
• Multi-source data collection: Security Lake stands out by allowing data collection from a broader range of sources, including third-party applications and on-premises systems.
• Data enrichment: Security Lake allows for the enrichment of data with additional metadata, providing more context for analytics.
• Scalability: Both services are designed to scale with your needs, but Security Lake offers more flexibility in handling data from multiple sources.
• User experience: CloudTrail Lake offers a more streamlined user experience for those who are focused solely on AWS services, while Security Lake provides a more versatile interface for handling diverse data sources.
• Integration: Both CloudTrail Lake and Security Lake integrate with Security Hub to provide a comprehensive viewreal-world application of your security posture. Additionally, CloudTrail Lake integrates with QuickSight to enable interactive dashboards and visualizations, while Security Lake integrates with Amazon Elasticsearch Service to enable advanced queries and analysis.