
Physical and environmental security
So, the very first thought that would strike anybody considering moving their workload to cloud is where is my data actually stored? Where are those physical servers and hard drives located that I provisioned using AWS cloud? And how are those hardware resources secured and who secures them? After all cloud simply virtualizes all resources available in a data center but those resources are present somewhere physically. So, the good news is AWS is completely responsible for physical and environmental security of all hardware resources located in its data centers across the globe.
AWS has years of experience in building, managing, and securing large data centers across the globe through its parent company Amazon. AWS ensures that all of its data centers are secured using the best technology and processes such as housing them in nondescript facilities, following least privilege policy, video surveillance, two-factor authentication for entering data centers and floors.
Personnel are not allowed on data center floors unless they have a requirement to access a physical data storage device in person. Moreover, AWS firmly implements segregation of responsibilities principle, so any personnel having access to the physical device won't have the root user access for that device so he can't access data on that physical device.
This is a very critical part of a shared security responsibility model where AWS does all the heavy lifting instead of you worrying about the physical and environmental security of your data centers. You do not have to worry about monitoring, theft, intrusion, fire, natural calamities, power failure, and so on for your data centers. These things are taken care of by AWS on your behalf and they constantly upgrade their security procedures to keep up with increasing threats.