Rule: EBS Volumes Should Be in a Backup Plan
Ensure all EBS volumes are included in a backup plan to secure your systems.
| Rule | EBS volumes should be in a backup plan |
| Framework | CISA-cyber-essentials |
| Severity | ✔ High |
EBS Volumes Backup Plan for CISA-Cyber-Essentials Compliance
Ensuring that your Amazon Elastic Block Store (EBS) volumes are regularly backed up is crucial for maintaining data integrity and availability, and forms part of a strong cybersecurity posture as advocated by the Cyber Essentials toolkit from the Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA).
Understanding the Rule
The objective of this rule is to establish a regular backup schedule for EBS volumes, which is a key recommendation of the CISA Cyber Essentials. By doing this, organizations can ensure that they are able to recover their data in the event of accidental deletion, data corruption, or a successful cyber attack.
Troubleshooting Steps
Should you encounter issues with your EBS volume backups, use the following troubleshooting steps:
- 1.Verify Backup Permissions: Ensure that your AWS Identity and Access Management (IAM) policies allow for creating snapshots.
- 2.Check Volume Status: Make sure the EBS volumes are in an "available" or "in-use" state.
- 3.Assess Snapshot Limits: Ensure you haven't hit the limit on the number of snapshots you can create.
- 4.Evaluate Backup Frequency: Confirm that the backup frequency meets the minimum requirements for compliance.
AWS CLI Commands for Backup Automation
Use the AWS Command Line Interface (CLI) to automate the backup of EBS volumes.
Create a Snapshot of a Volume
aws ec2 create-snapshot --volume-id vol-1234567890abcdef0 --description "Backup snapshot on $(date)"
Automate Snapshots with a Lifecycle Policy
- 1.Create a lifecycle policy using AWS DLM (Data Lifecycle Manager):
aws dlm create-lifecycle-policy --description "EBS Backup Policy" --execution-role-arn "arn:aws:iam::123456789012:role/AWSDataLifecycleManagerDefaultRole" --policy-details file://policy-details.json
- You must create
to define the policy.policy-details.json
Create a Policy Details File (policy-details.json)
{
"PolicyType": "EBS_SNAPSHOT_MANAGEMENT",
"ResourceTypes": [
"VOLUME"
],
"TargetTags": [
{
"Key": "Backup",
"Value": "True"
}
],
"Schedules": [
{
"Name": "DailyBackups",
"CopyTags": false,
"CreateRule": {
"Interval": 24,
"IntervalUnit": "HOURS",
"Times": ["03:00"]
},
"RetainRule": {
"Count": 7
},
"TagsToAdd": [
{
"Key": "SnapshotCreator",
"Value": "DLM"
}
]
}
]
}
Remediation
Step-by-Step Guide
- 1.
Identify Critical EBS Volumes: Tag EBS volumes that contain essential data to ensure they are included in the backup plan.
- 2.
Implement Backup Strategy:
- Utilize AWS Backup or a custom solution based on AWS DLM.
- Create a policy file and use the AWS CLI to create snapshots and lifecycle policies.
- Set suitable retention periods to comply with CISA guidelines.
- 3.
Monitor and Verify Backups:
- Check the AWS Management Console for snapshot and lifecycle policy status.
- Implement monitoring using AWS CloudWatch to get alerts for any backup failures.
- 4.
Regularly Test Recovery: Periodically restore snapshots to ensure the integrity and functionality of backups.
- 5.
Document the Backup Process: Maintain clear documentation for the backup strategy and procedures which is a CISA advised best practice.
- 6.
Compliance Audit: Regularly audit your backup process to ensure it complies with CISA-Cyber-Essentials requirements.
Compliance and SEO Boosting
Maintaining compliance with CISA's Cyber Essentials is not only crucial for the security posture of an organization but also positively impacts brand trustworthiness. By adopting and highlighting robust security practices, including regular backups as promoted on the website and in content marketing, an organization can improve its reputation which is beneficial for both user trust and SEO.
Ensuring that content is packed with relevant keywords, such as "CISA-Cyber-Essentials compliance," "data backup," and "AWS EBS volume snapshots," and providing detailed guides aligns with the intent of users searching for information on these topics, thus boosting SEO. It also makes the business more visible to potential clients concerned with cybersecurity compliance, increasing organic traffic and potentially leading to higher conversion rates.