# Ensure Amazon Elasticsearch Service (ES) domains has node-to-node encryption enabled

- Source: https://support.icompaas.com/support/solutions/articles/62000229605-ensure-amazon-elasticsearch-service-es-domains-has-node-to-node-encryption-enabled
- Section: [Solutions](https://support.icompaas.com/support/solutions) › [General](https://support.icompaas.com/support/solutions/62000037933) › [Policy Updates](https://support.icompaas.com/support/solutions/folders/62000168784)
- Last updated: 2026-05-29
- Publisher: iCompaas, Inc. (https://www.icompaas.com)

**Description:**

Amazon Elasticsearch Service (ES) domains use node-to-node encryption to protect data in transit between nodes in a cluster. If node-to-node encryption is not enabled, data could be intercepted by an unauthorized user.

**Rationale:**

Enabling node-to-node encryption for ES domains helps to protect your data from unauthorized access. This is important because ES domains can store sensitive data, such as customerPII.

**Impact:**

Enabling node-to-node encryption for ES domains will prevent unauthorized users from accessing data in transit between nodes in a cluster. This will help to protect your data from unauthorized access.

**Default Value:**

By default, node-to-node encryption is not enabled for ES domains.

**Pre-requisites:**

To enable node-to-node encryption for ES domains, you will need to have:

-   A supported version of ES
-   A supported KMS key

**Remediation Steps:**

To remediate this policy, you can follow these steps:

1.  Enable node-to-node encryption for your ES domain.
2.  Test the encryption configuration to make sure that it is working properly.

**Test Plan:**

To test the encryption configuration, you can follow these steps:

1.  Try to intercept data in transit between nodes in the cluster.
2.  Verify that the data is encrypted.

**Implementation Plan:**

To implement this policy, you can follow these steps:

1.  Enable node-to-node encryption for your ES domain.
2.  Update the access control policy for your ES domain to allow only authorized users to access the encrypted data.

**AWS CLI Process:**

To enable node-to-node encryption for ES domains using the AWS CLI, you can follow these steps:

1.  Install the AWS CLI.
2.  Configure the AWS CLI with your AWS credentials.
3.  Run the following command to enable node-to-node encryption for an ES domain:

```
aws es enable-node-to-node-encryption --domain-name <domain-name> --kms-key-id <kms-key-id>
```

**Using AWS GUI:**

To enable node-to-node encryption for ES domains using the AWS GUI, you can follow these steps:

1.  Go to the Amazon ES console.
2.  Click on the **Domains** tab.
3.  Select the domain that you want to enable encryption for.
4.  Click on the **Settings** tab.
5.  Under the **Security** section, select the **Node-to-node encryption** option.
6.  Enter the KMS key ID that you want to use for encryption.

**Backout Plan:**

To back out of this policy, you can follow these steps:

1.  Disable node-to-node encryption for your ES domain.
2.  Update the access control policy for your ES domain to allow anyone to access the data stored on disk.

**Note:**

-   This policy is applicable to all ES domains.
-   The default value for this policy is that node-to-node encryption is not enabled.
-   The reference for this policy is the following AWS documentation: https://docs.aws.amazon.com/elasticsearch-service/latest/developerguide/encryption-at-rest.html

**Section 2:**

-   Tags: es, security, encryption, node-to-node
-   Keywords: amazon elasticache, kms, encryption at rest

## Related compliance guidance

- [SOC 2 compliance: a practical implementation guide for cloud-native SaaS teams](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/soc-2-trust-services-criteria): Configuration checks like this one are the technical half of a SOC 2 / ISO 27001 programme — the guide shows where they fit, what else an auditor expects, and how to evidence them.
- [ISO/IEC 27001:2022 compliance: a practical implementation guide](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/iso-27001-2022): ISO 27001 Annex A.8 (technological controls) is where cloud hardening evidence lands; the guide shows how to run the ISMS around it.