Scout2 – Security Auditing Tool For AWS Environments

Scout2 is a security tool that lets AWS administrators assess their environment’s security posture. Using the AWS API, Scout2 gathers configuration data for manual inspection and highlights high-risk areas automatically. Rather than pouring through dozens of pages on the web, Scout2 supplies a clear view of the attack surface automatically.

Installation
Install via pip:

$ pip install awsscout2

Install from source:

$ git clone https://github.com/nccgroup/Scout2
$ cd Scout2
$ pip install -r requirements.txt
$ python setup.py install

Requirements

Computing resources
Scout2 is a multi-threaded tool that fetches and stores your AWS account’s configuration settings in memory during runtime. It is expected that the tool will run with no issues on any modern laptop or equivalent VM. Running Scout2 in a VM with limited computing resources such as a t2.micro instance is not intended and will likely result in the process being killed.

Python
Scout2 is written in Python and supports the following versions:

• 2.7
• 3.3
• 3.4
• 3.5
• 3.6

AWS Credentials
To run Scout2, you will need valid AWS credentials (e.g Access Key ID and Secret Access Key). The role, or user account, associated with these credentials requires read-only access for all resources in a number of services, including but not limited to CloudTrail, EC2, IAM, RDS, Redshift, and S3.
If you are not sure what permissions to grant, the Scout2-Default IAM policy lists the permissions necessary for a default run of Scout2.

Compliance with AWS’ Acceptable Use Policy
Use of Scout2 does not require AWS users to complete and submit the AWS Vulnerability / Penetration Testing Request Form. Scout2 only performs AWS API calls to fetch configuration data and identify security gaps, which is not considered security scanning as it does not impact AWS’ network and applications.

Usage
After performing a number of AWS API calls, Scout2 will create a local HTML report and open it in the default browser.
Using a computer already configured to use the AWS CLI, boto3, or another AWS SDK, you may use Scout2 using the following command:

$ Scout2

Note: EC2 instances with an IAM role fit in this category.
If multiple profiles are configured in your .aws/credentials and .aws/config files, you may specify which credentials to use with the following command:

$ Scout2 --profile <PROFILE_NAME>

If you have a CSV file containing the API access key ID and secret, you may run Scout2 with the following command:

$ Scout2 --csv-credentials <CREDENTIALS.CSV>

Advanced documentation
The following command will provide the list of available command line options:

$ Scout2 --help

For further details, checkout our Wiki pages at https://github.com/nccgroup/Scout2/wiki.