Does it really matter if it is Amazon EC2 or any other instance from any other cloud computing service? Well, of course it does because you have chosen Amazon EC2 keeping in mind its merits, but what about security? It is true that Amazon EC2 is supposed to be more secured compared too many other cloud computing services, but being the end-user, you need to cover all aspects of security and consider your Amazon EC2 as your personal data center.
This is very important because in the very recent past many clouds computing service providers including Google and salesforce.com have failed to be good watchdogs and even though they were prompt enough in offering fancy apologies, at the end of the day it was their poor business owner who had to suffer. As far as cloud computing is concerned, at the end of the day it all boils down to security and whether or not you are cautious enough in watching your back when you trust the service with all your essential data.
It should not be any different for Amazon EC2 also. Your Amazon EC2 is just as vulnerable to attacks as any other cloud service and you should be able to cover all the normal bases of security. The best part about Amazon EC2 is it allows you to control inbound access the way you want it and if you are equipped with a VPC, you can pretty much control the outbound processes as well. Amazon EC2 offers Linux servers all of which offer ironclad security because of SSH which usually runs from a different port other than 22. The system is equipped with high-grade root kit scanner and also relies on denyhosts review logs and security that attempts and also block them. The clam AV and other AV software along with a few other essential tools (depending on the kind of server) make the instance even more secure.
Amazon has lot up their sleeves to protect you from vulnerabilities, but from your site you need to make sure that you do not run FTP or telnet and also never divulge your password or allow password authentication. You should also never a root access. It is also very important that you patch and update regularly because many times that rogues out there have easy solutions to break security walls of non — upgraded systems - if your system is updated regularly and also has the right patches all the time, you would be more secure. It is also a good idea to keep changing your password often.
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