AppDefender for AWS Lambda

AppDefender can be added to your new or existing Lambda functions via a simple configuration change, with no need for code changes or deployments.

Prerequisites

1. a license key. Get one if you don't have one already.
2. information about your AWS Lambda function:
   1. AWS region, e.g. us-west-1
   2. Lambda instruction set architecture, e.g. x86_64 or arm64. If you are not sure, it's most likely the default x86_64
   3. Note: AppDefender is supported for all the Amazon Linux 2 and Amazon Linux 2022 runtimes, but not those on Amazon Linux 1. Reference our support Matrix for more details.
3. permission to modify AWS Lambda environment variables and layer. Note: no new code deployment is necessary

Configure AppDefender

1. add the Extrinsec-Appdefender extension as a layer to your Lambda, using the following ARN
   • arn:aws:lambda:<AWS_REGION>:201476247173:layer:Extrinsec-Appdefender:<EXTENSION_VERSION>
   • replace <AWS_REGION> with your region (e.g. us-east-1) and <EXTENSION_VERSION> with the latest published version of our layer for your region, e.g. arn:aws:lambda:us-east-1:201476247173:layer:Extrinsec-Appdefender:5
   • replace Extrinsec-Appdefender with Extrinsec-Appdefender-arm64 if you are using arm64 runtimes
2. add the following environment variables to your Lambda
   • ES_LICENSE_KEY=your license key
   • ES_POLICY_GROUP_NAME=name of your policy group, use observeAll.ability if you have a temporary license key
   • AWS_LAMBDA_EXEC_WRAPPER=/opt/extrinsec-appdefender.sh, (this enables AppDefender)
3. see AppDefender in action in your CloudWatch logs or any logging service of your choice, e.g.

Configure Policy Groups

1. if you have a registered account, then you can create and edit your own policy groups
2. if you have a temporary license key, then please use either the observeAll.ability public policy group or register for a free account and create your own custom policy group
3. each policy group contains instructions for AppDefender during execution:
   1. Grant, Observe, or Deny access to any combination of the following:
      1. outbound network traffic from the serverless function/application process
      2. read/write on the /tmp/ or application directories
      3. create/spawn child processes
   2. whether to terminate serverless serverless function/application execution for any deny event
   3. whether to allow all cloud provider traffic if outbound data is set to deny. Note: you must upgrade your free plan in order to enable this feature
      1. this is cloud provider specific, so if you are running on GCF and this option is set, all Google Cloud traffic would be allowed
   4. a custom list of allowed domains if outbound data is set to deny
      1. domain names are matched as contains by default, e.g. stripe (contains) would match stripe.com as well as m.stripe.com
      2. wildcards can also be used, e.g. *.amazonaws.com (end with) or labmda.* (starts with)
      3. multiple domains are comma separated
      4. AppDefender performs DNS resolution to act on all IP addresses matching the specified domain names
   5. A optional description field for you to document the purpose or other details of the policy group
4. create as many policy groups as you have unique needs. There is no limit on how many policy groups you may have
5. once a policy group is updated, the changes are automatically picked up by any AppDefender protected application during its next start/restart

View Your Functions and Events

1. if you have a registered account, you can view all your functions/applications in the dashboard automatically, as reported by AppDefender. The cloud provider information, as well as the language runtime and policy group used, are all shown
2. you can also view all events as detected by AppDefender in the dashboard
   1. each event is a observe or deny occurrence as outlined in the section above. Note: grant policies don't generate events
   2. events are reported by the AppDefender to your dashboard in real time. You can use event reporting to better understand the actions of your functions/applications, as well as inform you on how to better customize your policy groups
   3. events are kept for different durations depending on your current pricing plan