It's a malware detection service. It's an intelligent malware and security event detection service from AWS.
Security Engineer-DevSecOps at a computer software company with 51-200 employees
Automatically finds and correlates malware from EBS volumes without needing agents and intelligent threat detection
Pros and Cons
- "The out-of-band malware detection from the EBS volumes. It's really cool. No agents or anything needed, it automatically finds and correlates based on malware."
- "Cost changes. It's very expensive. If you turn on every feature, it's more than most commercial vendors. For smaller orgs, that doesn't make sense."
What is our primary use case?
What is most valuable?
The out-of-band malware detection from the EBS volumes. It's really cool. No agents or anything needed, it automatically finds and correlates based on malware.
What needs improvement?
Cost changes. It's very expensive. If you turn on every feature, it's more than most commercial vendors. For smaller orgs, that doesn't make sense.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using it for two years now. It is an offering in the AWS.
Buyer's Guide
AWS GuardDuty
February 2025
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Learn what your peers think about AWS GuardDuty. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: February 2025.
838,713 professionals have used our research since 2012.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
It is a stable product.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
My company have five to six admins using this solution.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup was easy. It was a one-click deployment.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
For smaller organizations, it is not expensive.
If you have a large organization or already have similar tools, it might not be necessary. But for most, GuardDuty is the go-to.
For me, I still use GuardDuty. I see a lot of good correlations built up by AWS support.
What other advice do I have?
Don't add all the features at once. Go step-by-step, or you'll end up with a very high cost and turn off the system.
It can get very expensive. If you turn on every feature, it can turn into hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Overall, I would rate the solution an eight out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Public Cloud
If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?
Amazon Web Services (AWS)
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
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Security Consultant at EY GDS
Collects and coordinates data, but the modification of use cases has limitations
Pros and Cons
- "The correlation back end is the solution's most valuable feature."
- "While sending the alerts to the email, they are not being patched. we have to do the patching and mapping manually. If GuardDuty could include a feature to do this automatically, it will make our job easier. That is something I believe can be improved."
What is our primary use case?
We are only using it for a client's requirements; we are simply building it and selling it to the client.
Amazon GuardDuty is used on private infrastructure for our clients. The application is not publicly accessible; it is hosted internally.
GuardDuty has been used to set the CloudWatch alarms. Assume that both scans are detected, or something similar, we have just enabled CloudWatch alarms for those use cases so that any such use case is detected. The alert will be triggered, and we have configured and integrated Amazon GuardDuty with all of the other seven accounts to have the central HPU.
What is most valuable?
The correlation back end is the solution's most valuable feature. Like in the backend, it is collecting all the data, which I think is pretty interesting, and coordinating everything, which is another good thing.
What needs improvement?
While sending the alerts to the email, they are not being patched. we have to do the patching and mapping manually. If GuardDuty could include a feature to do this automatically, it will make our job easier. That is something I believe can be improved.
For example, suppose you want to know when an alert is sent to your mailbox. The information is in JSON format. It would be helpful if that could be sent to the mailbox in a human-readable format.
I believe it can be improved in a variety of ways. If we can build our own use cases instead of using Microsoft Sentinel alone, that would be ideal.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using Amazon GuardDuty for two to three years.
I have used it for the last 12 months.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Amazon GuardDuty is a stable product.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Amazon GuardDuty is scalable.
How are customer service and support?
We have not had any issues that required us to contact the GuardDuty AWS vendor. It's straightforward and effective.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup is straightforward. We simply click on the app, and that's it.
The deployment can be done in a few minutes. We don't have to spend a lot of time there. It will take some time, to integrate everything one by one, which is why we did it manually, otherwise everything else was straightforward.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
Pricing is determined by the number of events sent. It's fine, and it's not a problem from our perspective.
What other advice do I have?
My recommendation is to go for the master setup that will be beneficial to you.
There are some limitations where we cannot modify use cases to meet our needs; we must do additional work, such as setting up CloudWatch alarms and SNS, and things are not patched. There are some restrictions. I'll just suggest that you have some skilled resources with patching knowledge.
It's good, I would rate Amazon GuardDuty a seven out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Private Cloud
If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?
Other
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Buyer's Guide
AWS GuardDuty
February 2025
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Learn what your peers think about AWS GuardDuty. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: February 2025.
838,713 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Head of Engineering - Data and Machine Learning at TTN
Helps with threat detection and reporting
Pros and Cons
- "We use the tool for threat detection. AWS includes AI features as well. AWS GuardDuty gives us reports."
- "AWS GuardDuty needs to be more customer-oriented."
What is our primary use case?
We use the tool for threat detection. AWS includes AI features as well. AWS GuardDuty gives us reports.
What needs improvement?
AWS GuardDuty needs to be more customer-oriented.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been working with the tool for three years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The tool is stable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
AWS GuardDuty is scalable. We used the tool bi-weekly.
How are customer service and support?
I have not contacted customer support yet.
How was the initial setup?
The tool's setup is easy. You don't need any additional learning or resources to do it. You just need to enable AWS GuardDuty. The tool's deployment got completed in two to three minutes.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The tool has no subscription charges.
What other advice do I have?
AWS GuardDuty is automated and gives alerts whenever there is an intrusion. AWS has a SMS service and you can get notifications through it if you subscribe. We have not encountered any performance issues. I would rate the tool a nine out of ten.
If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?
Amazon Web Services (AWS)
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: partner
Lead Consultant at Saama
Helps administrators find anomalies but is limited to certain services
Pros and Cons
- "Since our environment is cloud based and accessible from the internet, we like the ability to check where the user has logged in from and what kind of API calls that user is doing."
- "The solution has to be integrated with new services that AWS adds like QuickSight, Managed Airflow, AppFlow and MWAA."
What is our primary use case?
Amazon GuardDuty is an AWS Managed Service. The product finds information related to potential security risks and detects our environment related findings. It is a service that helps administrators find anomalies in their environment, rectify those issues and make the environment more secure and safe.
For example, consider some S3 buckets; we have X server access login disabled and certain configurations which are recommended that we are not following that are certain IAM user regulates such as monitoring from the background. Amazon GuardDuty will give us anomaly data for that particular IAM user, advising that certain activity was suspicious.
What is most valuable?
In our environment, the most valuable feature is discovering the anomalous sign users because we have configured single sign-on in our environment, but there are some IAM users. Since our environment is cloud-based and accessible from the internet, we like the ability to check where the user has logged in from and what kind of API calls that user is doing. Finding anything suspicious with AWS recommendations is helpful.
What needs improvement?
Amazon GuardDuty is limited to certain services. The solution has to be integrated with new services that AWS adds like QuickSight, Managed Airflow, AppFlow and MWAA. By being integrated with these services, it would be handy for users and save time.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using Amazon GuardDuty for six months.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Amazon GuardDuty is service based not user-based. I can have a number of users in my system because the user management is turning the different services in AWS AIM direct access management.
We have four users of the solution. It is used by system administrators, cloud administrators, and architects.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
Amazon GuardDuty is an extra security measure. We have other security measures also implemented in our environment, such as our on-premise environment and network related securities.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup of Amazon GuardDuty is fairly easy without much complexity.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
Licensing of GuardDuty is part of the AWS license. The pricing model is pay as you go and is based on the number of events per month. When you first look at the price it seems reasonable but if you look at it holistically the cost can be improved.
What other advice do I have?
At a very basic level, Amazon GuardDuty is a good tool. If you are looking for advanced security that would provide higher checks to secure their environment, this may not be enough.
Certain checks only related to the AWS environment are good, but if you are integrated with other services like Salesforce or MuleSoft it is not a good solution.
I would rate GuardDuty a six out of 10 overall.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Public Cloud
If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?
Amazon Web Services (AWS)
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Security Engineer at a tech services company with 201-500 employees
Used to monitor the activity of over 1,000 employees
Pros and Cons
- "We have over 1,000 employees, and we monitor their activity through AWS GuardDuty."
- "The solution's user interface could be improved because it will help users to understand multiple options."
What is most valuable?
We have over 1,000 employees, and we monitor their activity through AWS GuardDuty.
What needs improvement?
The solution's user interface could be improved because it will help users to understand multiple options. Currently, we have multiple options on AWS GuardDuty, which may confuse new users.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using AWS GuardDuty for two years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
We faced some issues with AWS GuardDuty because sometimes we don't get proper loss from the solution.
I rate the solution an eight out of ten for stability.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
I rate the solution ten out of ten for scalability.
How was the initial setup?
The solution’s initial setup is not very difficult.
What other advice do I have?
We have a whole bunch of information on various things in AWS GuardDuty.
Overall, I rate the solution a nine out of ten.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
IT Controller at a outsourcing company with 11-50 employees
An easy-to-use and easy-to-configure solution that helps monitor threats or vulnerabilities
Pros and Cons
- "The solution will detect abnormalities in the AWS workload and alert us so that we can monitor and take action."
- "I work in a bank, and it would be good if AWS GuardDuty could be integrated with other monitoring and detection tools we use."
What is our primary use case?
My company uses AWS GuardDuty to develop the software and provide services to clients. I use the solution to monitor the service on the AWS workload or AWS instance and monitor threats or vulnerabilities.
What is most valuable?
AWS GuardDuty is easy to use and configure. I use AWS GuardDuty to check whether we are under attack or not. The solution will detect abnormalities in the AWS workload and alert us so that we can monitor and take action.
What needs improvement?
I work in a bank, and it would be good if AWS GuardDuty could be integrated with other monitoring and detection tools we use. The operation team can use a single desktop to monitor.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using AWS GuardDuty for less than one month.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
In my department, around seven to eight users are using AWS GuardDuty.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
I previously used Google Cloud for three to four years. AWS GuardDuty has more features and can be customized more than Google Cloud.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
I have heard that the solution's price is quite high. Sometimes, they need to fine-tune the service on AWS. For example, Amazon Simple Storage Service (S3) is used for static content because it is cheaper.
What other advice do I have?
Overall, I rate AWS GuardDuty an eight out of ten.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
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Updated: February 2025
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