What is AWS Artifact?
4 min read
AWS Artifacts is a centralized platform offered by Amazon Web Services that provides customers with on-demand access to many compliance reports and agreements. Whether you're a startup or an enterprise, AWS Artifacts serves as your one-stop shop for all things related to security, compliance, and legal documentation within the AWS ecosystem.
There are two main components to AWS Artifact:
AWS Artifact Reports
AWS Artifact Agreements
1. AWS Artifact Reports
The following are some of the compliance reports and regulations that you can find within AWS Artifact. Each report includes a description of its contents and the reporting period for which the document is valid.
Function: Provide pre-generated reports that demonstrate AWS's compliance with various security and industry standards.
AWS Artifact Reports provide compliance reports from third-party auditors. These auditors have tested and verified that AWS is compliant with a variety of global, regional, and industry-specific security standards and regulations.
AWS Artifact Reports remains up to date with the latest reports released. You can provide the AWS audit artifacts to your auditors or regulators as evidence of AWS security controls.
Content: Focuses on AWS's internal security posture, controls, and procedures. Examples include SOC reports (security), ISO certifications (various areas like quality management), and PCI reports (payment card industry data security).
Use Case: Helpful for organizations using AWS to understand the overall security posture of the underlying cloud infrastructure.
2. AWS Artifact Agreements
Function: Manage agreements between your organization and AWS.
In AWS Artifact Agreements, you can review, accept, and manage agreements for an individual account and for all your accounts in AWS Organizations.
Content: Focuses on defining the legal rights and responsibilities of both parties when handling sensitive data. Common agreements include Business Associate Agreements (BAA) for healthcare data (HIPAA compliance) and Data Processing Agreements (DPA) for general data privacy regulations (like GDPR).
Use Case: Essential for managing your organization's compliance obligations when storing or processing sensitive data in AWS. These agreements outline how both AWS and your organization will handle data security, privacy, and breaches.
In simpler terms:
Reports: Show how secure AWS is (think of it as a brochure for AWS's security practices).
Agreements: Define how you and AWS will handle your data security together (like a contract outlining responsibilities).
Benefits of AWS Artifact
Saves Time: Provides on-demand access to security and compliance reports in a self-service portal. This eliminates the need to contact AWS support or search for reports manually.
Improved Manageability: Allows you to manage agreements with AWS at scale. You can accept, terminate, and download agreements electronically, streamlining the process.
Increased Confidence: By providing easy access to compliance reports, AWS Artifact helps you understand the security posture of the AWS cloud infrastructure you're using. This can give you greater confidence when deploying your workloads on AWS.
Simplified Compliance: AWS Artifact Agreements can help simplify compliance with regulations that require specific data handling procedures. For example, Business Associate Agreements (BAA) are essential for healthcare organizations that store protected health information (PHI) in AWS.
Transparency: Having easy access to both AWS's security reports and your agreements with AWS fosters a more transparent relationship between you and the cloud provider.
Conclusion
In today's data-driven world, security and compliance are paramount. AWS Artifact offers a valuable tool for organizations using AWS by simplifying access to security reports and managing data handling agreements. By using AWS Artifact, you can save time, streamline compliance efforts, and gain peace of mind knowing your data is secure within the AWS cloud infrastructure.