🔐 Cloud Security & Automation (AWS‑focused) – Job‑Ready Syllabus

Target audience

• IT professionals with 1–8 years experience

• Cloud / DevOps / Infra / Security backgrounds

Duration

• 10–12 weeks

• Hands‑on focused (not exam‑only)

MODULE 1: Cloud Security Foundations

Why security in cloud is different

• Shared Responsibility Model (real examples)

• Common cloud breach patterns

• Cloud security vs on‑prem security

• Why automation is mandatory

✅ Outcome: Learner understands why traditional security fails in cloud

MODULE 2: Identity & Access Management

(30–40% of interview weight)

• AWS IAM deep dive

• Users vs Roles vs Services

• Trust policy vs permission policy

• Least‑privilege design

• IAM privilege escalation scenarios

• Cross‑account access patterns

• Securing CI/CD IAM roles

✅ Labs:

• Create insecure IAM → exploit → fix

• Detect over‑privileged access

MODULE 3: Cloud Network Security

• Secure VPC architecture

• Public vs private workload design

• Security Groups vs NACLs (real use cases)

• Zero‑trust networking concepts

• WAF basics

✅ Labs:

• Build fully private cloud environment

• Remove public exposure safely

MODULE 4: Data & Secrets Security

• Encryption at rest & in transit

• KMS fundamentals

• Secrets Manager / Parameter Store

• Securing S3 & cloud storage exposure

✅ Labs:

• Public bucket incident → investigate → fix

MODULE 5: Logging, Monitoring & Detection

• CloudTrail (investigation‑centric)

• VPC Flow Logs basics

• GuardDuty (what alerts really matter)

• Security monitoring mindset

✅ Labs:

• Investigate suspicious activity

• Track compromised credentials

MODULE 6: Terraform Fundamentals for Security Engineers

(Automation foundation)

• Infrastructure‑as‑Code concepts

• Terraform workflow

• Remote state security

• Why IaC prevents security issues

✅ Outcome: Learners stop relying on console clicks

MODULE 7: Secure AWS Infrastructure with Terraform

(core automation skills)

• Secure VPC via Terraform

• Secure IAM roles & policies via code

• Avoiding dangerous defaults

• Variables, modules, reusable security patterns

✅ Labs:

• Deploy secure infrastructure using Terraform only

MODULE 8: Terraform Security & Policy Enforcement

(DevSecOps layer)

• Common Terraform misconfigurations

• Preventing 0.0.0.0/0, wildcards, hard‑coded secrets

• Terraform security scanning (Checkov / tfsec)

• Policy‑as‑code basics

✅ Labs:

• Break IaC → detect → block → fix

MODULE 9: DevSecOps Integration

• Where security fits in CI/CD

• IAM for pipelines

• Enforcing IaC‑only deployments

• Handling secrets in pipelines

• Change control & approvals

✅ Outcome: Learners understand how security works in real teams

MODULE 10: Cloud Incident Response (HIGH VALUE)

• IAM credential leakage

• Account compromise response

• Containment vs investigation

• Recovery using automation

• Post‑incident hardening

✅ Labs:

• Simulated cloud breach + response

MODULE 11: Capstone Project

“Secure & Automate an AWS Cloud Environment”

Learners must:

• Design secure IAM

• Deploy infra via Terraform

• Block insecure deployments

• Detect & respond to security incidents

✅ Portfolio‑ready project