AWS PrivateLink lets software-as-a-service developers enhance security by providing private endpoints to users.

Mitch Wagner, Executive Editor, Light Reading

November 30, 2017

2 Min Read
Amazon Launches AWS PrivateLink for Private Cloud Connections

LAS VEGAS -- AWS re:Invent -- Amazon Web Services is launching the PrivateLink private network service to allow software-as-a-service developers to provide private endpoints to users, increasing security for enterprises by eliminating the need to expose data to the public Internet.

AWS PrivateLink also connects services across multiple accounts and virtual private clouds within an organization to simplify network architecture, according to a statement from Amazon Web Services Inc. , when it announced the service Monday.

PrivateLink builds on the AWS VPC service, which enables developers to limit access to the VPC from the Internet to enhance security. But until this week enterprises still had a security hole, as they needed to use the public Internet to connect VPC applications and third-party SaaS applications. With AWS PrivateLink, enterprises can connect VPCs to third-party services in a secure and scalable manner, AWS says.

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AWS introduced AWS PrivateLink for AWS services earlier this month, and now the company is extending PrivateLink to non-AWS services.

"Traffic between a customer's VPC and an AWS PrivateLink-powered service stays within the AWS network and doesn't traverse the Internet, reducing threat vectors such as 'brute force' and distributed-denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks," AWS says.

SaaS providers offering PrivateLink connections in partnership with AWS include CA Technologies, Cisco Stealthwatch Cloud and Salesforce Heroku, according to AWS.

AWS competitor Google Cloud has been beefing up its own private networking capabilities, launching a Dedicated Interconnect service to connect enterprise on-premise networks with the Google cloud, as well as Google Network Service Tiers to connect enterprise cloud applications to enterprise customers. (See Google Hybrid Cloud Networking Gets Production-Ready and Google Offering Tiered Networking for Cloud Customers.)

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About the Author(s)

Mitch Wagner

Executive Editor, Light Reading

San Diego-based Mitch Wagner is many things. As well as being "our guy" on the West Coast (of the US, not Scotland, or anywhere else with indifferent meteorological conditions), he's a husband (to his wife), dissatisfied Democrat, American (so he could be President some day), nonobservant Jew, and science fiction fan. Not necessarily in that order.

He's also one half of a special duo, along with Minnie, who is the co-habitor of the West Coast Bureau and Light Reading's primary chewer of sticks, though she is not the only one on the team who regularly munches on bark.

Wagner, whose previous positions include Editor-in-Chief at Internet Evolution and Executive Editor at InformationWeek, will be responsible for tracking and reporting on developments in Silicon Valley and other US West Coast hotspots of communications technology innovation.

Beats: Software-defined networking (SDN), network functions virtualization (NFV), IP networking, and colored foods (such as 'green rice').

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