Ditch SSH: Secure EC2 Access with AWS Systems Manager Session Manager
Opening port 22 on an EC2 instance is one of the most common attack vectors in cloud environments — bots continuously scan for exposed SSH ports, and a single misconfigured security group can become a critical breach point. AWS Systems Manager Session Manager eliminates this risk entirely by providing browser-based and CLI shell access to EC2 instances with zero open inbound ports, zero SSH keys, and full audit logging . TL;DR Concern Traditional SSH SSM Session Manager Inbound port required Port 22 open No inbound ports needed Authentication SSH key pairs IAM identity & policies Key management Manual (rotate, distribute) None — IAM handles it Audit trail None by default Full session logs via CloudWatch / S3 Access from browser Not supported natively Native AWS Console support Bastion host needed Often yes No How It Works: The Architecture Session Manager works through the SSM Agent ...