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Shieldadvanced

AWSOfficialPublished by AWS

  • Skill
  • Tool integration
  • Cloud and DevOps
  • Apache-2.0
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From the author

Configures AWS Shield Advanced for enhanced Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) protection: subscribing accounts and adding resource protections, enabling automatic application layer (layer 7) mitigation through AWS WAF, configuring health-based detection with Route 53 health checks, setting up Shield Response Team (SRT) access and proactive engagement, reviewing DDoS events and requesting cost protection credits, and aggregating resources into protection groups. Applicable when the user wants stronger DDoS protection for internet-facing resources (CloudFront, Application or Network Load Balancers, Elastic IP addresses, Global Accelerator, or Route 53 hosted zones), wants expert help during an attack, or wants to recover attack-driven scaling charges. Routes to the right per-task procedure in references. Not applicable for authoring AWS WAF rules (waf skill), creating Route 53 health checks (route53 skill), or org-wide Shield Advanced rollout with Firewall Manager (firewallmanager skill).
— the description by AWS

AutoGineer summary

Written by AutoGineer from the skill’s own files, not by the author

This skill provides domain expertise and procedural guidance for managing AWS Shield Advanced, the premium tier for DDoS protection on AWS. It acts as a central router to specific, self-contained reference procedures for subscribing accounts, protecting resources, enabling automatic application-layer mitigation, configuring health-based detection, managing Shield Response Team (SRT) support, reviewing DDoS events, and creating protection groups. The skill emphasizes the importance of defense-in-depth by integrating with AWS WAF and Route 53, while providing necessary security considerations for IAM roles and log management.

What it does

  • Routes users to specific procedures for Shield Advanced configuration tasks.
  • Guides the subscription process and addition of resources to Shield Advanced protection.
  • Facilitates the setup of automatic layer 7 mitigation via AWS WAF integration.
  • Configures health-based detection using Route 53 health checks to improve attack detection accuracy.
  • Manages Shield Response Team (SRT) access and proactive engagement settings.
  • Assists in reviewing DDoS events and requesting cost protection credits.

When to use it

  • When you need to implement enhanced DDoS protection for internet-facing resources like CloudFront or ALBs.
  • When you require expert assistance from the Shield Response Team during an active attack.
  • When you need to recover costs associated with attack-driven scaling.
  • When you want to tune detection sensitivity by grouping related resources.
  • When you need to integrate health-based detection to reduce false positives.

Advantages

  • Provides a structured, task-based approach to complex security configurations.
  • Ensures security best practices by mandating audit logging and least-privilege access.
  • Clarifies the distinction between detection-only features and active mitigation controls.
  • Reduces configuration errors by providing specific constraints for each task.
  • Centralizes guidance for both operational setup and post-event analysis.

Usage examples

“How do I subscribe my AWS account to Shield Advanced?”
The agent will route you to the specific reference procedure for subscribing and protecting resources, ensuring you follow the correct sequence of operations.
“I want the Shield Response Team to help me during an attack.”
The agent will guide you through setting up SRT support and proactive engagement, including the prerequisite of configuring a valid Route 53 health check.
“How can I group my load balancers for better DDoS detection?”
The agent will provide the procedure for creating a protection group and help you decide between sum, mean, or max aggregation based on your traffic topology.
“Can I use Shield Advanced to automatically block layer 7 floods?”
The agent will direct you to the procedure for enabling automatic application layer mitigation, which involves configuring AWS WAF rules to respond to detected threats.

Install

  1. Download the skill as a ZIP:

    https://mp-staging.autogineer.com/agent-skills/aws/shieldadvanced/download
  2. Unzip it into the cross-client skills folder of your project:

    mkdir -p .agents/skills && unzip shieldadvanced.zip -d .agents/skills

Documentation by AWS

AWS Shield Advanced

Overview

Domain expertise for configuring AWS Shield Advanced, the paid tier that adds enhanced Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) protection, automatic application layer mitigation, attack visibility, expert support, and cost protection on top of the always-on AWS Shield Standard. Covers subscribing and protecting resources, automatic application layer mitigation, health-based detection, Shield Response Team (SRT) access and proactive engagement, event review and cost protection credits, and protection groups.

This skill is a router. Each customer task maps to a procedure file under references/. Read the matching reference in full before acting, then follow its constraints and steps. The reference files are self-contained: each carries its own decision tables, constraints, procedure, and troubleshooting.

Execute commands using the AWS MCP server when connected (sandboxed execution, audit logging, observability). Fall back to the AWS CLI otherwise. Shield Advanced is a global service: its control-plane API calls run in us-east-1, so pass --region us-east-1 on every aws shield command.

Which Shield Advanced task do you need?

GoalReference
Decide whether Shield Advanced is needed at all (vs Shield Standard + AWS WAF)deciding between Shield Standard and Advanced
Subscribe an account and add resources to protectionsubscribing to Shield Advanced and protecting resources
Respond to layer 7 floods automatically through AWS WAFenabling automatic application layer mitigation
Feed resource health into detection with a Route 53 health checkconfiguring health-based detection
Get the Shield Response Team to act or reach out during an attacksetting up SRT support and proactive engagement
Review a DDoS event and recover attack-driven scaling chargesreviewing DDoS events and requesting cost protection
Treat related resources as one unit for detectionaggregating resources into protection groups

Routing notes

  • Decide before you subscribe. Shield Advanced is a paid subscription that auto-renews on a one-year commitment. Before subscribing, confirm the customer actually needs it: Shield Standard (free, always on) plus AWS WAF rate-based rules and the AWS WAF Anti-DDoS managed rule group (AWSManagedRulesAntiDDoSRuleSet) covers many layer 7 cases at lower cost. Route to the deciding reference first when the customer has not made that call; route to the waf skill for the WAF rules themselves.

  • Subscribe and protect comes first. A subscription protects nothing on its own; resources have to be added explicitly. Every other task here assumes the resource is already subscribed and protected. Run the subscribing reference before any of the others if the customer is starting from scratch.

  • Automatic mitigation vs health-based detection. These are different controls and customers conflate them. Automatic application layer mitigation deploys AWS WAF rules during a layer 7 attack. Health-based detection feeds a Route 53 health check into Shield Advanced's detection so it reacts sooner. A customer can run either, both, or neither. Pick the reference that matches what they actually want.

  • Health check is also an SRT prerequisite. Proactive engagement (SRT reaching out) requires a Route 53 health check on the protected resource. If the customer wants proactive engagement, configuring health-based detection is the groundwork. The SRT reference points back to the health-based detection reference for that step.

  • Protection groups are detection-only. A protection group changes how Shield Advanced detects across a set of resources. It does not apply shared mitigation; automatic mitigation still works per resource. Use the protection-groups reference for detection tuning, not as a mitigation control.

  • WAF rules, health checks, and org rollout live elsewhere. Authoring the AWS WAF rules, the rate-based rule, or the web ACL is the waf skill. Creating the Route 53 health check is the route53 skill. Rolling Shield Advanced across an organization with Firewall Manager is the firewallmanager skill. This skill wires Shield Advanced to those pieces; it does not build them. AWS WAF is not optional alongside Shield Advanced: you SHOULD recommend an AWS WAF web ACL on every internet-facing protected resource (CloudFront distributions and Application Load Balancers) as defense in depth — Shield Advanced and AWS WAF are complementary layer 3/4 and layer 7 controls, and the rate-based rule that AWS WAF provides is also what cost protection requires.

Logging and monitoring

Visibility into both configuration changes and attack activity matters for every task here.

  • You SHOULD recommend enabling AWS CloudTrail so all Shield Advanced API calls (subscription, protection, SRT, and protection-group changes) are logged for audit purposes.

  • You SHOULD recommend enabling SSE-KMS encryption on the CloudTrail log bucket and CloudWatch Logs log group, since CloudTrail records sensitive API metadata (caller identities, resource ARNs, parameters) that must be encrypted at rest.

  • You SHOULD recommend CloudWatch alarms on Shield Advanced metrics (for example DDoSDetected and DDoSAttackBitsPerSecond) so operations staff are alerted when an event is detected.

  • You SHOULD recommend encrypting any SNS topics used for those alarms with SSE-KMS, since the notifications carry sensitive event data.

  • You SHOULD recommend confirming that all SNS topic subscribers for Shield Advanced alarms are authorized personnel approved to receive sensitive DDoS event notifications.

Security considerations

Shield Advanced setup creates IAM trust relationships and exposes log data, so call out the risks and the controls that contain them.

  • SRT role is a third-party principal. Granting SRT access creates an IAM role that drt.shield.amazonaws.com assumes to act in the account. Scope its trust policy with an aws:SourceAccount condition equal to the account ID to prevent confused-deputy assumption, grant it only the actions it needs, and revoke it with disassociate-drt-role when no longer required.

  • Log buckets shared with the SRT can leak data. AWS WAF and access logs capture request URIs, headers, and client IPs. Confirm those buckets have server-side encryption and carry no clear-text PII or secrets before sharing them with the SRT.

  • Least privilege for the operator. Scope the caller's IAM permissions to the minimum each procedure needs rather than broad Shield or administrator access.

  • Audit trail. Keep AWS CloudTrail enabled and logging shield:* calls so every configuration change leaves a record.

Additional Resources

Files

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Requirements and compatibility

Works with: Claude Code, Claude apps, OpenAI Codex, GitHub Copilot, Cursor, Gemini CLI, Kiro, OpenCode, Goose, Amp, Roo Code, JetBrains Junie, Factory Droid, Devin (ex-Windsurf), Mistral Vibe, OpenHands, Letta

“Works with” means the tool reads the open Agent Skills format; a skill written for one tool may use features others lack.

Needs: Needs an MCP server

Security

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Attribution and licence

Published by
AWS
Publisher
AWS (Official)
Source
aws/agent-toolkit-for-aws · skills/specialized-skills/networking-and-content-delivery-skills/shieldadvanced · commit 0a218f8
Licence
Apache License 2.0 (redistribution allowed)
  • LICENSE (added by AutoGineer from LICENSE)
  • NOTICE (added by AutoGineer from NOTICE)
  • ATTRIBUTION.md (written by AutoGineer)
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