registry

Reference Registry — Cloud Security

Purpose

This note standardizes references for the cloud-security branch.

Use it to: - keep cloud notes tied to official provider and high-signal guidance - avoid generic cloud-security checklists with weak sourcing - separate cloud target-domain security from DevSecOps delivery workflow - help future agents choose consistent references

Source of truth rule

For cloud-security notes, this registry is the primary source of truth.

Use it together with: - Cloud Security Index - Networking Index - DevSecOps Index - Attack Surface Mapping Index


Reference selection policy

Source priority

  1. official cloud-provider documentation
  2. official provider security best practices
  3. CIS benchmarks and foundation guidance
  4. OWASP / NIST guidance where cloud overlaps app or engineering security
  5. secondary sources only when they add clear operational value

Per-note target

  • minimum 2 references
  • ideal 3 references
  • avoid broad provider-link dumping

Labeling

Use: - Foundational - Official Docs - Mitigation - Testing / Lab - Benchmark


Cloud topic map

cloud-security-basics

Preferred references: - Foundational: AWS Shared Responsibility Model — https://aws.amazon.com/compliance/shared-responsibility-model/ - Foundational: Google Cloud shared responsibility and shared fate — https://cloud.google.com/architecture/framework/security/shared-responsibility-shared-fate - Foundational: Microsoft Cloud Adoption Framework security — https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/cloud-adoption-framework/secure/

cloud-lab-infrastructure

Preferred references: - Official Docs: AWS Free Tier — https://aws.amazon.com/free/ - Official Docs: AWS Budgets — https://docs.aws.amazon.com/cost-management/latest/userguide/budgets-managing-costs.html - Official Docs: AWS IAM security best practices — https://docs.aws.amazon.com/IAM/latest/UserGuide/best-practices.html

ssh-access-to-cloud-hosts

Preferred references: - Official Docs: AWS EC2 key pairs and Linux instances — https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AWSEC2/latest/UserGuide/ec2-key-pairs.html - Official Docs: AWS EC2 security groups — https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AWSEC2/latest/UserGuide/ec2-security-groups.html - Mitigation: Microsoft guidance for securing privileged access — https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/security/privileged-access-workstations/privileged-access-access-model

cloud-dns-and-certbot

Preferred references: - Official Docs: AWS Route 53 Developer Guide — https://docs.aws.amazon.com/Route53/latest/DeveloperGuide/Welcome.html - Official Docs: Certbot documentation — https://eff-certbot.readthedocs.io/en/stable/ - Official Docs: Let's Encrypt documentation — https://letsencrypt.org/docs/

cloud-iam-boundaries

Preferred references: - Official Docs: AWS IAM security best practices — https://docs.aws.amazon.com/IAM/latest/UserGuide/best-practices.html - Official Docs: Google Cloud IAM best practices — https://cloud.google.com/iam/docs/using-iam-securely - Official Docs: Microsoft Entra security operations for privileged accounts — https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/entra/architecture/security-operations-privileged-accounts

cloud-metadata-security

Preferred references: - Official Docs: AWS EC2 Instance Metadata Service — https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AWSEC2/latest/UserGuide/configuring-instance-metadata-service.html - Official Docs: Google Cloud VM metadata — https://cloud.google.com/compute/docs/metadata/overview - Official Docs: Azure Instance Metadata Service — https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/virtual-machines/instance-metadata-service

public-cloud-storage-exposure

Preferred references: - Official Docs: Amazon S3 Block Public Access — https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AmazonS3/latest/userguide/access-control-block-public-access.html - Official Docs: Google Cloud Storage access control — https://cloud.google.com/storage/docs/access-control - Official Docs: Azure Storage security recommendations — https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/storage/blobs/security-recommendations

cloud-network-boundaries

Preferred references: - Official Docs: AWS VPC security groups — https://docs.aws.amazon.com/vpc/latest/userguide/vpc-security-groups.html - Official Docs: Google Cloud VPC firewall rules — https://cloud.google.com/firewall/docs/firewalls - Official Docs: Azure network security groups — https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/virtual-network/network-security-groups-overview

cloud-secrets-management

Preferred references: - Official Docs: AWS Secrets Manager best practices — https://docs.aws.amazon.com/secretsmanager/latest/userguide/best-practices.html - Official Docs: Google Secret Manager best practices — https://cloud.google.com/secret-manager/docs/best-practices - Official Docs: Azure Key Vault security features — https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/key-vault/general/security-features

cloud-logging-and-detection

Preferred references: - Official Docs: AWS CloudTrail security best practices — https://docs.aws.amazon.com/awscloudtrail/latest/userguide/best-practices-security.html - Official Docs: Google Cloud Audit Logs — https://cloud.google.com/logging/docs/audit - Official Docs: Microsoft Defender for Cloud — https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/defender-for-cloud/defender-for-cloud-introduction


Registry usage rules

  • Prefer provider docs for exact service behavior.
  • Cross-link to Networking when the note depends on routing, DNS, TLS, metadata, or boundaries.
  • Cross-link to DevSecOps when the note depends on deployment workflow, IaC, CI/CD, or secret lifecycle.
  • Treat live cloud labs as cost-bearing environments: include budget, least privilege, teardown, and read-only checks where possible.