Prowler is an open-source AWS security assessment tool that checks cloud accounts, permissions, and configurations against common best practices and misconfiguration patterns. It is often used to review identity policies, exposed services, logging, encryption, and other settings that affect a cloud environment’s security posture.
In cyber security, Prowler matters because weak AWS configuration is a frequent source of risk. Defenders use it for baseline auditing, compliance checks, and continuous hardening across multiple accounts. Attackers, on the other hand, benefit from the same kinds of gaps Prowler looks for: overly broad IAM permissions, public resources, missing audit logs, or insecure storage settings. Because it produces actionable findings without requiring agents on every host, Prowler is a practical starting point for teams that need broad visibility and fast prioritization in AWS.