Amazon Inspector Reviews

Name: Amazon Inspector
Brand: Amazon Web Services (AWS)
Rating: 4 (4 reviews)

3.9 out of 5

4 reviews
83% willing to recommend

What is Amazon Inspector?

Amazon Inspector is an automated security assessment service that helps improve the security and compliance of applications deployed on AWS. Amazon Inspector automatically assesses applications for exposure, vulnerabilities, and deviations from best practices. After performing an assessment, Amazon Inspector produces a detailed list of security findings prioritized by level of severity. These findings can be reviewed directly or as part of detailed assessment reports which are available via the Amazon Inspector console or API.

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Amazon Inspector is the #9 ranked solution in top IT Vendor Risk Management solutions and #24 ranked solution in top Vulnerability Management solutions. PeerSpot users give Amazon Inspector an average rating of 7.8 out of 10. Amazon Inspector is most commonly compared to Wiz: Amazon Inspector vs Wiz. Amazon Inspector is popular among the large enterprise segment, accounting for 66% of users researching this solution on PeerSpot. The top industry researching this solution are professionals from a computer software company, accounting for 14% of all views.

Helped 814,649 peers since 2012

Featured reviews

Nikhil Sehgal

Lead Solution Advisor (Cyber Security) at Deloitte

It has a limited scope. So, AWS Inspector primarily focuses on the security of the EC2 instance. So, if your architecture includes other AWS services, then you may need to use additional tools for your comprehensive security assessment. So that is one con. Another is, like, we have a dependency on agents. So other is dependency on agents, like, Inspector relies on agents installed on instances for deeper assessment. So managing these agents can be additional overhead. So these kinds of things. It does not even provide real-time protection. So, Inspector provides point-in-time assessment rather than continuous monitoring. So these are all cons. When it comes to false positives, it is there for most security tools as of now. I would not consider false positives a major concern. So, these are the major concerns that I found: dependency on agents, limited scope, and no real-time protection.

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Derek Justinger

Director Of Engineering at E Source Companies LLC

It is scanning the whole repository for any sort of vulnerabilities. So, it allows us to be more confident in our DevSecOps and not put a lot of folks or attention to it. We can trust the solution. Before anything gets out to deployment, we have to be SOC 2 compliant. It gives us the ability to pretty much approach and implement a solution before anything gets out to our staging or production environment. We check in our code very frequently, and we're able to discover and get rid of any vulnerabilities before they make it to our cloud platform.

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reviewer2384226

Information Security Engineer at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees

We use AWS services for a variety of clients, including banking and healthcare. We leverage GuardDuty for continuous threat detection, Inspector for vulnerability management, and Security Hub for CSPM (Cloud Security Posture Management). For compliance, we primarily use Security Hub for our CSPM…

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Amazon Inspector mindshare

Product category:

As of November 2024, the mindshare of Amazon Inspector in the Vulnerability Management category stands at 2.7%, up from 0.6% compared to the previous year, according to calculations based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Vulnerability Management

Key learnings from peers

Last updated Oct 9, 2024

Valuable Features

Vulnerability discovery and ranking are appreciated. Automated detection continuously scans AWS workloads. Vulnerability scan identifies issues on EC2 instances. Supports CIS benchmark. Presents vulnerabilities across containers and servers in a consolidated view. Security Hub integration offers compliance with standards like HIPAA, PCI, and CIS AWS Foundations Benchmark, including auto-remediation for certain controls. Lacks custom compliance rule definition.

"The integration of Amazon Inspector with other AWS services has enhanced our security.Security Hub is a major asset because it allows us to centralize data from various AWS services. We can integrate third-party tools as well. It is just a single-click option."
"The findings dashboards are neat and easy to understand, offering clear demarcations for different types of findings and detailed insights into specific vulnerabilities and their associated instances. It is not a place where everything is dumped together. It offers an easy-to-understand layout."
"The automated vulnerability detection aspect is most valuable."

Room for Improvement

Amazon Inspector could enhance on-demand scanning integration in pipelines and broaden its vulnerability detection. Users suggest that expanding its scope beyond EC2 instances is necessary, along with reducing reliance on agents and improving remediation guidance. Real-time protection and continuous monitoring are also requested. Better integration with Amazon's patching services is desired for easier management. Despite some praise for suppression features, there's a consensus that increased automation and comprehensive coverage are areas needing focus.

"There is room for improvement in the scanning capabilities. I'd like to see broader coverage in terms of the vulnerabilities detected."
"One major area for improvement is remediation. My team works on remediating findings over time, likely using available patches. However, easier integration with Amazon's patching services would be very helpful."
"It has a limited scope. So, AWS Inspector primarily focuses on the security of the EC2 instance. So, if your architecture includes other AWS services, then you may need to use additional tools for your comprehensive security assessment. So that is one con. Another is, like, we have a dependency on agents."

Pricing

"The pricing is very transparent and clear."
"It's priced according to market standards for its services."
"It is scaled as you go. There are probably a certain number of scans per month, and there are tiers. If you're under a certain tier, it is free. The second level is pennies, and then all the way up to like a million. So, it has a tiered pricing program. They're pretty good with your initial scanning, and there is room to scale based on being affordable, but it is fairly cheap.There are no additional costs. They pretty much think about it as a pay-per-scan type model."

Popular Use Cases

Organizations primarily utilize Amazon Inspector for automated vulnerability detection in deployable containers within cloud infrastructures. It scans containers in ECR for vulnerabilities hourly and continuously monitors AWS workloads. Teams configure Amazon Inspector to integrate vulnerability data into environments, enhancing security posture. Although third-party security tools are sometimes preferred, Amazon Inspector is part of a broader security strategy, along with GuardDuty and Security Hub, and integrates with SIEM tools like Sumo Logic for compliance alerting.

Service and Support

Customer service and support for Amazon Inspector appear to be satisfactory. Paying for services improves the experience with faster responses. Common questions are handled efficiently, and response time varies with subscription level. Premium accounts enjoy swift assistance, while non-premium users also report favorable experiences. Users generally express contentment with the level of support provided, noting that it aligns with their account subscription.

Deployment

Users find Amazon Inspector's initial setup very straightforward, requiring minimal clicks. They appreciate the seamless process, akin to other Amazon services, with consistent user experience. With just enabling the function, it requires no operational overhead. Setup can be done in minutes, especially for single accounts, while multiple accounts needing centralized visibility might require additional steps. Users rate their experience highly for its simplicity and ease of deployment, emphasizing a smooth implementation process.

Scalability

Amazon Inspector demonstrates strong scalability for organizations employing microservices, facilitating hourly scans and continuous feedback. Engineering and security teams actively utilize it, though resources within AWS environments can impact scaling. Some entities prefer additional tools for comprehensive management tasks, like vulnerability handling. Security teams often administrate it, providing reports to development teams. As a standard practice in several pipelines, usage is expected to increase, especially with transitions from alternative services to Amazon.

Stability

Amazon Inspector is recognized for its solid and stable nature. Organizations consistently experience high reliability without any downtime, ensuring continuous availability. Alliances with AWS enhance support and satisfaction levels. Users consistently rate stability highly, sometimes a perfect ten out of ten, without encountering stability problems.

These insights are based on the in-depth reviews provided by peers to help you make a better buying decision.

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Top industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

14%

Financial Services Firm

12%

Government

Manufacturing Company

University

Insurance Company

Healthcare Company

Recreational Facilities/Services Company

Educational Organization

Non Profit

Comms Service Provider

Retailer

Performing Arts

Media Company

Construction Company

Logistics Company

Pharma/Biotech Company

Wholesaler/Distributor

Energy/Utilities Company

Real Estate/Law Firm

Transportation Company

Hospitality Company

Aerospace/Defense Firm

Consumer Goods Company

Legal Firm

Marketing Services Firm

Outsourcing Company

Wellness & Fitness Company

Compare Amazon Inspector with alternative products

Learn more about Amazon Inspector

Amazon Inspector security assessments help you check for unintended network accessibility of your Amazon EC2 instances and for vulnerabilities on those EC2 instances. Amazon Inspector assessments are offered to you as pre-defined rules packages mapped to common security best practices and vulnerability definitions. Examples of built-in rules include checking for access to your EC2 instances from the internet, remote root login being enabled, or vulnerable software versions installed. These rules are regularly updated by AWS security researchers.