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Authress Zero Trust: Identity Aware Proxy + Private Website Authentication

This repository provides a proxy which enables adding Authentication and security to existing applications and platforms without changing any code in those services.

There are specifically two different configurations that enable:

  • Service Identity Aware Proxy (IAP)
  • Private Website

How does it work?

This repository contains two things:

  • CloudFormation Stack Template
  • Source code for authentication via a lambda function

You can already directly deploy the stack template without any additional work. Clone the repository locally, and upload the stack template to your AWS account in the us-east-1 region. Then fill out the necessary parameters as specified below.

CloudFormation stack templates is the standard way to deploy resources to your AWS account. If you unfamiliar with them, all they do is specify a list of resources, and then it creates those resources in your account.

Resources created by the CloudFormation stack template:

  • Lambda Function - Runs the authentication and authorization code
  • CloudFront Distribution - The CDN that runs the Lambda Function and proxies your S3 bucket where your website is stored
  • S3 bucket policy - allows the CloudFront Distribution read the contents of your S3 bucket to return to authorized users
  • [Optional] Route53 Record - Allows you specify a custom domain for your private website so that your users can access it via a preferred website URL. For testing this is not necessary, you can access the private website using the CloudFront Distribution domain name
  • [Optional] AWS Certificate Manager Certificate - generates a certificate to enable the Route53 Record + Custom Domain to work

What if I want to write my own version?

No problem, you can easily change this code to make your own changes.

  1. Clone the repo
  2. Update the function code to make the necessary changes you need
  3. Package the lambda and push it S3
  4. Update the cloudformation template to point at your built lambda package.

Still not sure what to do next?

You can reach out to us with any issues and questions by filing an GitHub issue. We are responsive to all issues!

Available Templates

Private Website

(Note: Stacks must be deployed in the AWS US-EAST-1 Region)

Parameters:

  • accessTokenIssuer - Set this to be your Authress configured custom domain.
  • applicationIdentifier - The application identifier used to securely log users in via the hosted login page. Use the default application or create a new Authress application.
  • bucketWebsiteS3Name - Your S3 Bucket that contains your private static website. This is necessary to configure the CloudFront to proxy your S3 bucket.
  • identityAwareProxyCustomName - Provide a custom name of the proxy microservice, is used in the naming of various created resources.
  • identityAwareProxyVersion - The version of the proxy to deploy. Available Releases
  • proxyCustomDomain - [Optional] Specify a domain to host the proxy on. This is where your users will connect to, and will forward the requests to your bucket.
  • proxyRoute53HostedZoneId - [Optional] Specify the Route53 hosted zone that will be used to connect your custom domain to the CloudFront. This will also be used to request a Certificate for that domain.

The private website configuration is a AWS Stack which creates a CloudFront. The CloudFront is configured with a Lambda@Edge function which requires the user to login before accessing any assets in your S3 bucket or website.

When your users end up at your website, if they are not already logged in, they will be automatically redirected to your Authress hosted login page asking them to login to gain access. Additionally, the assets in your bucket will be checked against Authress to ensure that the user has access to the exact resource they are attempting to view. This is done using Authress authorization.

Enabled behavior

The follow path patterns have been created to enable your website:

  • /index.html - The root of your website is always public.
  • /public/* - No authentication will happen on these paths.
  • /login/* - These are reversed routes for this proxy, requests to this path will be redirected back to the main page.
    • (everything else) - everything else will be checked for valid authentication and authorization of the current user.

Identity Aware Proxy

(Note: Stacks must be deployed in the AWS US-EAST-1 Region)

The IAP enables adding globally redundant and fault tolerant authentication to an existing service being run. After deploying the stack, your service will automatically receive user identity tokens that can be verified. These tokens are automatically verified by the proxy to ensure all requests to the services themselves are secured.