Welcome to The Hidden Port
Cloud Security, Automation, Best Practices, and Beyond.
EKS Security Monitoring: Visibility, Runtime Detection & Best Practices
Amazon EKS introduces new monitoring challenges: pods, containers, audit logs, runtime threats. This guide covers AWS-native monitoring tools, open-source Falco integration, and best practices to secure Kubernetes workloads.
From Cloud Security to Pentesting: My eJPTv2 Journey
For the past years, most of my focus has been on cloud security — hardening AWS environments, responding to incidents, and making sure access is tightly controlled. But lately, I’ve felt the urge to explore a different side of the equation: ethical hacking. That’s why I’ve decided to take the eJPTv2 (Junior Penetration Tester) certification. This post is a mix of personal motivation, my preparation strategy, and how I see pentesting tying directly back into the work I’ve done in AWS and incident response. ...
What Is IDOR? Finding and Preventing Insecure Direct Object References in AWS APIs
Learn what IDOR is, why it’s so common (and dangerous), see real AWS-related examples, and discover prevention and detection methods for robust API security.
Getting Started with Amazon GuardDuty: Setup, Findings, and SIEM Integration
A comprehensive guide to setting up Amazon GuardDuty, interpreting its findings, and integrating with SIEM systems to bolster AWS security.
Detecting Privilege Escalation in AWS Using CloudTrail and EventBridge
A deep technical guide to setting up AWS-native detection for privilege escalation using CloudTrail, EventBridge, and minimal infrastructure.
Building a Hardened Amazon Linux 2 AMI for Secure EC2 Deployments
Step-by-step guide to build a hardened Amazon Linux 2 AMI with EC2 Image Builder including CIS benchmarks, IMDSv2 enforcement, auditd, and logging configuration.
Enforcing Least Privilege in AWS IAM with Access Analyzer and Last Access Data
This article shows how to audit and refine IAM permissions using Access Analyzer, CloudTrail, and service access history — enforcing least privilege the right way in AWS.
Securing EC2 Access with AWS Systems Manager Session Manager: Eliminating SSH
Introduction Traditional SSH access to EC2 instances poses several security challenges, including the management of SSH keys, exposure of ports, and lack of centralized auditing. AWS Systems Manager Session Manager offers a secure and auditable alternative, allowing you to manage EC2 instances without opening inbound ports or maintaining bastion hosts. This guide provides a step-by-step approach to configuring Session Manager for secure EC2 access, aligning with AWS’s official documentation and best practices. ...
Hardening EC2 Instances for AWS Security: A Practical Guide
This guide delves into the technical aspects of hardening EC2 instances, covering topics from instance selection to monitoring and automation, aligning with AWS’s security recommendations.
AWS Incident Response Toolkit: Resources & Templates
After publishing my free AWS IR checklist, I decided to go one step further — a full incident response toolkit with Terraform code, automation scripts, and ready-to-use templates. Here’s what’s inside.