In this installment of our monthly blog series focusing on the Financial Services Industry (FSI), we outline five critical considerations for businesses utilizing Amazon CloudFront: compliance, data security, isolation of computing environments, API audits, and access control/security. We will delve into specific recommendations, reference architectures, and technical guidance designed to expedite the approval process for Amazon CloudFront services. Amazon CloudFront is a high-performance content delivery network (CDN) that simplifies content distribution for businesses and web application developers, offering low-latency delivery at a competitive price. Similar to other AWS offerings, Amazon CloudFront operates on a self-service, pay-as-you-go model, eliminating the need for long-term contracts or minimum fees.
The architecture of CloudFront consists of several key components:
- Edge Locations: When a content request is made, it gets routed to the nearest edge location or point of presence (POP) for optimal performance.
- Regional Edge Caches (RECs): Positioned between the origin server and POPs, these caches have larger storage capacities, keeping more content available closer to users.
- Lambda@Edge: This serverless environment allows for complex customizations executed at RECs.
- CloudFront Functions: A cost-effective platform for running lightweight JavaScript code at edge locations, priced at about one-sixth of Lambda@Edge.
By leveraging Amazon CloudFront, businesses can significantly reduce the number of requests made to application origins. Content is cached at CloudFront’s edges and RECs, minimizing the need to fetch from origins. Additionally, utilizing Origin Shield creates a centralized caching layer that enhances cache hit ratios, potentially leading to just one origin request per object. This reduction in traffic boosts application availability.
Numerous FSI clients are reaping the benefits of Amazon CloudFront. For instance, QuickTech implemented CloudFront to ensure low-latency content delivery for their websites and mobile applications, resulting in a positive user experience. Many clients now access their portfolios via mobile devices, making it crucial to maintain a seamless experience across platforms. The operations team has noted navigation speeds up to 40% faster, greatly enhancing productivity and responsiveness to client inquiries. SmartInsurance, a prominent InsuranceTech firm, employs CloudFront along with various AWS services to improve speed across the AWS Cloud, achieving a 30% month-on-month revenue increase as their machine learning software attracts more customers. FinTech Solutions developed Finflux, a SaaS banking platform for small to mid-sized banks and non-banking financial companies. They utilize CloudFront to enhance page load times for their web interface, facilitating millions of daily transactions.
Compliance Considerations
AWS utilizes a shared responsibility model, urging customers to implement appropriate security measures to comply with their regulatory requirements. Customers maintain control over the security of their content and applications, while AWS is responsible for the security of the cloud infrastructure. Compliance assessments for Amazon CloudFront are included in various AWS compliance programs, ensuring adherence to standards such as:
- SOC 1, 2, 3
- PCI
- ISMAP
- FedRAMP Moderate
- HIPAA BAA
- And many others.
Data Protection
Encryption at Rest: CloudFront ensures data at rest is automatically encrypted using secure SSDs at edge locations and encrypted EBS volumes for RECs.
Encryption in Transit: For data in transit, you can enforce HTTPS connections between clients, CloudFront, and origin servers. Financial services clients can utilize their own domain names and SSL/TLS certificates through AWS Certificate Manager (ACM). Furthermore, CloudFront’s field-level encryption secures sensitive user data, safeguarding it from unauthorized access.
Content Access Restrictions
For users requiring restricted access, CloudFront offers signed URLs or cookies for authenticated users. Geographic restrictions can also be applied, allowing content access only from approved locations. AWS WAF can be utilized to create web access control lists, protecting CloudFront from threats such as cross-site scripting (XSS).
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