How to Hide Your Network in the AWS Cloud Using NAT Gateway
Tags: network, aws, security, devops
Published: 2023-07-17 20:22:52

In today's digital world, protecting your network infrastructure is of utmost importance. Many people are moving their resources to the cloud. However, maintaining network security in the cloud may not be that simple. One effective solution to secure your network in AWS is by leveraging a NAT (Network Address Translation) Gateway. In this article, we will explore how NAT Gateway can be used to hide your network in the AWS cloud.


![Image description](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/20fyqim2ri6fi2brmy52.png)


## What is NAT Gateway?
In the AWS cloud, you have the option of using the NAT gateway as a service. NAT Gateway is a managed AWS service that enables outbound internet connectivity for resources within a private subnet. It acts as a bridge between the private subnet and the public internet, allowing instances within the private subnet to communicate with the internet while keeping them hidden from external sources. NAT Gateway provides a secure and controlled environment for your resources, shielding them from direct exposure.

You can also use a private NAT gateway. When you use a private NAT gateway, it gets a private IP address and runs on a private subnet. Instances in private subnets can connect to other VPCs or your on-premises network through a private NAT gateway.


## Benefits of Using NAT Gateway
- Enhanced Security - This effectively hides your network from potential threats and malicious activities.

- IP Address Anonymity: NAT Gateway masks the private IP addresses of your instances by using its own IP address when interacting with others.

- can enables communication on networks with overlapping IP addresses (you can find more about it here [Overlapping network addresses](https://youtu.be/fIcKD8jASyQ))

## Creating a public NAT gateway:
- Create a public VPC subnet to host your NAT gateway.
- Create and attach an internet gateway to your VPC.
- Create a custom route table for your public subnet with a route to the internet gateway.
- Create a public NAT gateway then create and associate your new or existing Elastic IP address.
- Update the route table of your private VPC subnet to point internet traffic to your NAT gateway.
- Test your NAT gateway by pinging the internet from an instance in your private VPC subnet.

## Creating a private NAT gateway:
- Create a private VPC subnet to host your NAT gateway.
- Create a custom route table for your private NAT gateway subnet with the appropriate route
- Create a private NAT gateway
- Update the route table of your private VPC subnet to your NAT gateway.
- Test your NAT gateway

Creating a private NAT gateway is more complicated, so I created a special video in which I describe everything. If you want to learn more about private NAT gateway, I invite you to watch my video. In the video you will find a detailed description and a full tutorial showing how to create a private NAT gateway and how to use it:
{% embed https://youtu.be/fIcKD8jASyQ %}

## Summary
Securing your network infrastructure in the AWS cloud is crucial for safeguarding your sensitive data and applications. By utilizing NAT Gateway, you can effectively hide your network from other while increasing the level of security a little bit. Implementing NAT Gateway, along with other security measures, ensures a robust and protected environment for your organization's assets in the cloud.




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📌 How to read write files on s3 using lambda function - python & boto3 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zIm-B33ChIk

📌 API Gateway & Lambda - How to use API_KEY | security - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X5qWliStXnE

📌 How to find all GP2 volumes in all regions using Lambda Function? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DfBpW2LEIz8

📌 AWS Lambda Function & S3 trigger - How to copy files from one bucket to another - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gvi_1H5HgzE

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