Castle-and-Moat Security Died With Mobile Devices

Think for yourself. Network security used to be simple: hard shell, soft interior. Firewall keeps bad guys out, everything inside is trusted.

That model is dead. Has been for years. But consultants keep selling it because it's easy to explain to executives who don't understand technology. FNORD—and because admitting the perimeter is fiction means admitting they sold you lies for decades.

Nothing is true. Everything is permitted. Including attackers already inside your "secure" network. Plan for it. Are you paranoid enough? Because they're already in there.

At Hack23, we practice what we preach: zero-trust AWS cloud-native architecture with defense-in-depth. CloudFront+WAF for perimeter (DDoS protection, OWASP rule sets). GuardDuty for threat intelligence. Security Hub for finding aggregation. VPC Flow Logs for traffic analysis. Multi-region deployment (eu-west-1, eu-central-1) for resilience. DNSSEC verification on all domains. TLS 1.2+ enforced everywhere.

Our Network Security Policy is public because network security through obscurity assumes attackers can't run port scans. Transparency demonstrates our cybersecurity consulting expertise through measurable implementation. Our threat model assumes you're reading this. Welcome, adversary. Enjoy the documentation.

Illumination: If your security model assumes attackers are outside, your security model is from 1995. Update it or get pwned. We updated ours—here's the evidence. FNORD—the only thing separating you from breach is whether the attacker has coffee yet.

Why the Network Perimeter Is Fantasy

Question authority that still talks about "inside" and "outside" networks:

Zero Trust: Verify Everything, Trust Nothing

Zero trust networking isn't paranoia. It's accepting reality and designing accordingly. At Hack23, zero-trust means cloud-native AWS architecture with layered defense:

Multi-Region Resilience: Primary region eu-west-1 (Stockholm), failover to eu-central-1 (Frankfurt). AWS Backup cross-region replication. Route 53 health checks with automatic failover.

• Authenticate every request — Location on network doesn't grant trust. Verify identity, device health, context every time.
• Authorize least privilege — Just because you're authenticated doesn't mean you get access to everything. Minimum required, time-limited when possible.
• Encrypt everything in transit — TLS 1.2+ everywhere. mTLS for service-to-service communication where applicable.
• Microsegment the network — Lateral movement is how breaches spread. Private subnets, security groups, VPC endpoints contain blast radius.
• Monitor all traffic — VPC Flow Logs, GuardDuty threat detection, Security Hub aggregation. Assume breach means detecting it fast.

All hail Eris! Chaos teaches: trust enables betrayal. Verification prevents surprises. Our network security demonstrates this through public evidence.

Live Evidence:

• 🌐 DNSSEC Verification: hack23.com
• 🔐 SSL Labs Test: A+ Rating
• 📧 SPF Record: Strict Policy
• 🛡️ DMARC: Reject Policy

Firewalls: Necessary But Insufficient

Firewalls aren't useless. They're just not sufficient:

Think for yourself. Firewalls are tools, not magic force fields. Use them. Don't worship them.

Network Segmentation: Limit the Blast Radius

Assume breach. Design so that when (not if) attackers get in, they can't move laterally:

• VLANs for different functions — Development, staging, production in different network segments
• Firewall rules between segments — Default deny. Explicit allow only what's needed.
• Jump boxes for admin access — No direct SSH/RDP to production. Through a logged, monitored, hardened jump host.
• Service mesh for microservices — mTLS between services. Network policy enforcement at pod level.
• Database in separate subnet — Application tier can reach it. Nothing else can. Principle of least privilege at network layer.

CHAOS ILLUMINATION: Flat networks are how one compromised WordPress blog becomes a full domain admin compromise. Segment or suffer.

Network Monitoring: Seeing the Invisible

Can't defend what you can't see. Network monitoring isn't optional. At Hack23, comprehensive visibility through AWS-native services:

• Flow logs — Who's talking to who, when, how much. VPC Flow Logs capture all network traffic for analysis.
• Threat detection — GuardDuty continuously analyzes network behavior for indicators of compromise.
• DNS monitoring — Route 53 Resolver logs DNS queries. Exfiltration often uses DNS tunneling—monitor for anomalies.
• SIEM integration — CloudWatch Logs Insights for analysis. Security Hub for aggregation. Ready for external SIEM if needed.

Question authority: If your network team says "we can't monitor that," ask why. Usually it's "we don't want to" not "we can't." AWS makes comprehensive monitoring default—no excuses.

Real-Time Threat Response:

• 🚨 DDoS Attacks: CloudFront metrics, real-time automatic mitigation
• 🔍 Anomalous Traffic: VPC Flow Logs, <15 min response time
• 🛡️ Threat Intelligence: GuardDuty findings, immediate Security Hub alerts
• 📋 Compliance Checks: Security Hub automated controls, continuous validation

Network Security Is About Containment, Not Prevention

Nothing is true. The perimeter isn't real. "Inside" isn't trusted. Firewalls aren't magic. FNORD—your network is already compromised. The question is: do you know it yet?

Everything is permitted. Including designing networks that assume breach and minimize damage through systematic defense-in-depth. Are you paranoid enough to admit perfect prevention is impossible?

Hack23's zero-trust implementation demonstrates cybersecurity consulting expertise:

• 🌐 CloudFront + WAF: Perimeter protection with DDoS mitigation, OWASP rules—because the perimeter is fiction but edge protection isn't
• 🛡️ GuardDuty + Security Hub: Continuous threat detection, finding aggregation—machines watching machines because humans are terrible at this
• 🔍 VPC Flow Logs: Complete traffic visibility, anomaly detection—trust nothing, log everything, investigate constantly
• 🌍 Multi-Region: eu-west-1 (Stockholm), eu-central-1 (Frankfurt) resilience—because single points of failure are for amateurs
• 🔐 TLS 1.2+ Everywhere: No unencrypted traffic, certificate validation enforced—encrypt it all or watch it leak

All hail Eris! All hail Discordia!

Read our full Network Security Policy on GitHub. Zero trust. Segmented. Monitored. With public evidence demonstrating implementation. We're paranoid. You should be too.

FINAL ILLUMINATION: The security-industrial complex sells firewalls and perimeter defense because they're easy to sell. "Buy this box, you're secure!" Reality: Network security is architecture, monitoring, and accepting that perfect prevention is impossible. Design for containment. Plan for detection. Respond with speed. Our AWS cloud-native architecture does exactly this—with measurable proof. FNORD—we're protecting against attackers who've already read this. Are you?

— Hagbard Celine
Captain of the Leif Erikson

"The perimeter is dead. Long live the perimeter-less architecture. Nothing is true. Everything is permitted. Your network agrees with neither."

🍎 23 FNORD 5