Product Overview: Security Monkey
Security Monkey is an open-source tool developed by Netflix to enhance the security and compliance of cloud-based applications and infrastructure. Here’s a detailed look at what it does and its key features.
Purpose and Functionality
Security Monkey is designed to continuously monitor and track changes to cloud resource configurations across various platforms, including Amazon Web Services (AWS), Google Cloud Platform (GCP), OpenStack public and private clouds, and GitHub organizations, teams, and repositories. The primary goal is to detect and alert on insecure configurations, security risks, and policy violations, thereby improving the overall cloud security posture of an organization.
Key Features
- Continuous Monitoring: Security Monkey continuously scans cloud resources to uncover potential security vulnerabilities, policy violations, and configuration changes. This proactive approach allows for early detection and mitigation of security issues before they can be exploited.
- Automated Detection: The tool uses predefined rules and regulations to automatically identify security risks, policy violations, and other security-related concerns. This automation reduces the reliance on manual inspections and periodic security reviews.
- Centralized Visibility: Security Monkey provides a unified user interface (UI) to browse and search through all accounts, regions, and cloud services. It maintains a record of previous states, enabling users to see exactly what changes have occurred and when.
- Customization: The tool can be extended with custom account types, custom watchers, custom auditors, and custom alerters. This flexibility allows organizations to tailor Security Monkey to their specific security needs and integrate it with existing security tools and processes.
- Compliance and Security Controls: Security Monkey helps organizations comply with various security standards and regulations such as PCI DSS, HIPAA, and GDPR by continuously checking for compliance issues. It also enforces security controls and policies across the cloud environment, ensuring consistent security practices.
- Alerts and Reporting: The tool generates alerts, reports, and actionable insights to assist security teams in making informed decisions and responding effectively to identified vulnerabilities. This centralized visibility and actionable data enable faster incident response times.
- Multi-Platform Support: Security Monkey can run on AWS, GCP, OpenStack instances, and monitor GitHub organizations. The setup and installation process varies slightly depending on the platform, with specific IAM configuration and permissions required for each.
Implementation and Deployment
- Setup and Installation: Security Monkey can be installed on a server instance on AWS, GCP, or OpenStack. The Quickstart guide provides initial setup instructions, but for production deployments, additional steps such as autostarting and tuning the watchers are necessary.
- User Guide and Resources: Comprehensive documentation, including a User Guide, Quickstart, and troubleshooting resources, is available to help users navigate the features and deployment of Security Monkey.
Current Status
While Security Monkey is a powerful tool, it is important to note that Netflix’s support for it has been reduced to minor bug fixes only, and it was initially planned to be end-of-life in 2020. However, the community is still encouraged to contribute by fixing bugs and adding new features.
In summary, Security Monkey is a robust tool for continuous security monitoring and compliance in cloud environments, offering automated detection, centralized visibility, and customizable features to enhance an organization’s cloud security posture.