Artificial Intelligence

Generating Code and Content With AI

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

🦊 New Blog — Security and AI Research: https://teriradichel.substack.com/

⚙️ Security Automation (Pre-AI). The Code.

⚙️ AI Automation. The Code.

🔒 Related Stories: Cybersecurity | Penetration Tests

💻 Free Content on Jobs in Cybersecurity | ✉️ Sign up for the Email List

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Contents:

AI impact on software programming

• Everyone keeps asking me what I think of AI so here you go
• AI Security
• When to use and not use AI

Vibe Coding:

• Coding with Grok [Don’t]
• Coding with Google AI Mode [For simple, non-proprietary scripts]
• Getting Started With Kiro (formerly Amazon Q) [ Start here]

Experiments, before I started using Amazon Q heavily:

• Using Amazon Q to write CloudFormation templates to Deploy a Shared Network in AWS
• Using Amazon Q to write CloudFormation templates to Deploy a Static Website in S3 with a TLS Certificate and CloudFront
• Using Q to Write Code
• Writing an Application To Deploy Anything on AWS
• AI Resources

Everyone keeps asking me what I think of AI so here you go

Note: AI is continually improving. Posts from most recent to oldest. AI does not seem ready to replace people any time soon, but it can help you do your job faster (not more accurately without supervision).

Updated Career guidance concerning AI on November 13, 2025:

Cybersecurity Careers and Jobs

Using AI to Write Deterministic Code

To Increase Your Tech Job Prospects, Learn About AI

AI Objectives & Why

Focus

Maybe If AI Is So Great We Won’t Need CEOs Anymore

How AI is making me rethink security automation, batch jobs, and my blog

In this post, I explain how I first saw AI when I was 8 or 9 years old at the home of someone who worked in the Air Force with my Dad, who joined during the war in Vietnam and was in for two years. That should give some context as to how long AI has been around and computers have been trying to answer our questions.

I Asked Amazon Q How To Make My Private Network Cost Less

AI Security

As soon as I started vibe coding I immediately locked down my agents. Have you done this?

Agents in Sandboxes

Prompt Injection Considerations

Considering the Likelihood and Impact of AI Chatbot Prompt Injection and Minimizing the Risk

Older posts…things are changing fast

ChatBot Security

From Vibe Coding To A Well-Governed Deployment Process

AI gave me an insecure formula used with SRP when I asked for it…

Secure Remote Password (SRP)

Creativity is a double-edged sword when you need to be precise

Is Your Vibe Coding Pain Caused By Hidden Error Messages?

Protecting data submitted to AI models. Anthropic changed their policy in August 2025 to opt out if you don’t want your data used for training. Change the setting before September 28, 2025 to opt out.

Protecting Data Submitted to AI Models

Configuring AWS Identity Center in a stand alone AWS account to create Pro Tier Amazon Q subscriptions.

Configuring Pro Tier Q Accounts Without Giving AWS Identity Center Access to the Organization…

Note: The global readme didn’t end up working. For enforcement you need tests and other methods in other posts. This was my first attempt. In some other post I explain why enforcement is never possible in AI. It’s not deterministic. You need external forces to check and make AI fix the problems it produces.

Using Q To Enforce Naming Conventions In Code

When to use and not use AI

AI is good for code snippets and small blocks of code at a time — not entire applications all at once. But hey, that’s how you should be writing an application anyway whether you’re using AI or not. Write a small bit, test it, write some more, test it…and so on. Limiting the scope of what AI is working on will help you improve your results and help you prevent it from deleting all your code as it did in my banner script below. (Don’t worry, I had a backup in GitHub.)

Vibe Coding — great for basic CloudFormation Templates via Amazon Q

CloudFormation Microtemplates and Vibe Coding — like PB&J

I asked Grok why there was a typo in the code it wrote for me…

Why We Still Need Developers, QA, and Penetration Testers With AI

If you’re evaluating your use of AI

Lines of Code Accepted is an Absolutely Meaningless Metric

This post has a visual that further explains why lines of code is not a good metric.

Hank’s First AI Program

Coding with Grok

I Tried to Use AI (Grok) to Write A Single Script

Specifically I am using Grok (X’s AI solution) ~ here’s why I ended up completing the script myself

I Tried to Use AI to Write A Single Script

A Bug That Grok Couldn’t Fix In Its Own Code

Pretty good, but testing (or tasting) still beats analysis any day

A Bug That Grok Couldn’t Fix In Its Own Code

Coding with Google AI Mode

I leveraged Google AI Mode to quickly generate some sed commands. It worked…until it didn’t.

Coding in Google AI Mode

Getting Started With Kiro (formerly Amazon Q)

All the posts below should work with Kiro where it says Amazon Q — for now. The Kiro IDE has been updated a lot over time. The CLI is basically the same as far as I can tell.

Get Teri Radichel’s stories in your inbox

Join Medium for free to get updates from this writer.

Remember me for faster sign in

Just want to get started? Here you go in a nutshell. Or turtle shell, if you prefer. 🐢

Hank’s First AI Program

I started with Q so I had to upgrade to Kiro. Because I created a shared agent framework in an alternate directory I had to find a way to upgrade to Kiro without breaking my framework. This is how I did it (with the help of Q).

Upgrade Amazon Q CLI to Kiro CLI

IDE vs. CLI for AI Programming

CLI vs. IDE for AI Coding 💪

Getting Started with Amazon Q Developer (CLI)

Getting Started with Amazon Q Developer

Update to opt-out policies:

Opt-Out Settings for AWS AI Services

Setting up a Builder ID for use with Q Developer

Setting Up an AWS Builder ID For Use with Q Developer

Why you probably do not want to use a Builder ID for serious use of Q Developer, but how to login if you really want to do that:

Using Amazon Q with a Builder ID

Pro Tier Subscription with AWS Identity Center

Setting up an AWS account with IAM IDentity Center for use with an Amazon Q Pro Tier Account — without giving Identity Center access to your organization management account.

Configuring Pro Tier Q Accounts Without Giving AWS Identity Center Access to the Organization…

Can’t find access logs showing login failures. Maybe looking in the wrong place or was a network error?

Looking for Q Access Error Logs

Using Amazon Q in the Console to write CloudFormation templates to Deploy a Shared Network in AWS

Seriously. A fraction of the time it took me to create working templates to demonstrate batch jobs in my prior series. If you are deploying networking using CloudFormation check this out.

Using Q To Get a Reusable CloudFormation Template For an Existing VPC

From Vibe Coding To A Well-Governed Deployment Process

Create a Reusable Internet Gateway CloudFormation Template Using Amazon Q

Use Q to Create A CloudFormation Subnet Template

Creating a Reusable NACL CloudFormation Template using Amazon Q

Creating a Reusable CloudFormation Templates for Security Groups With Amazon Q

Creating a Reusable CloudFormation Templates for Prefix Lists With Amazon Q

Using Amazon Q in the AWS Console to write CloudFormation templates to Deploy a Static Website in S3 with a TLS Certificate and CloudFront

I had to write a bunch of this myself but Q was helpful with getting syntax correct and some troubleshooting (not all). I thought this would take a day or two. It took 10. I had to significantly revise the code Amazon Q produced which was overly complex, missing properties, or recommending less than secure solutions. It’s not even done yet because the code to set up logging form Amazon Q isn’t working so I’m going to have to sort that out myself. But Q was helpful overall in getting me started or getting syntax correct along the way.

Using Q To Deploy CloudFront and a TLS Certificate — First Attempt

Using Q To Deploy CloudFront and a TLS Certificate — Second Attempt

Using Q To Deploy CloudFront and a TLS Certificate — Third Time’s The Charm?

Using Q To Deploy CloudFront and a TLS Certificate — S3 Buckets…Maybe

Using Q To Deploy CloudFront and a TLS Certificate — S3 Buckets Take 2

Using Q To Deploy CloudFront and a TLS Certificate — S3 Bucket Policy

Using Q To Deploy CloudFront and a TLS Certificate — Cloudfront 🤞

Using Q To Deploy CloudFront and a TLS Certificate — AI doesn’t always write code that works and…

Deploy A Static Website on AWS In Minutes

Using Q To Deploy CloudFront and a TLS Certificate — Yet Another Problem With the ACM Deployment…

Is Your Website Hosted In An S3 Bucket Misconfigured?

Getting Q To Write Code

Initial attempt to create an AMI using Q (started in the console)

Using Q Developer To Create A Script To Get The Latest AMI ID

A Script to Query for EC2 Instance Type by Memory, VCPUs, and Cost

What’s slowing me down using Amazon Q and how I’ve overcome the latest gotchas.

What Slows Me Down on AWS

Using Q to add a global banner to scripts — don’t. But here’s how Q can help you get that done.

Using AI To Add a Banner To All Your Files

Had to manually fix these scripts.

Fixing User Data Scripts Generated by Amazon Q (manually)

Creating an IAM user with a password generated in a secret

Q went a little nuts on this one. But got it there eventually.

Amazon Q For Code to Deploy a User and Secret With Password

Writing an application to deploy anything on AWS

Using AI to write a deterministic program that will deploy any resource on AWS consistently and correctly based on the given inputs and application logic. This application does something AI cannot do because it’s not what it is designed to do, nor is it the point of AI and would be way more expensive than running this simple application. But I used AI to help me write it.

Using 2nd Sight Lab’s aws-deploy to Deploy Any AWS Resource

Writing Rust with Amazon Q

Learning rust in one day….

Getting Amazon Q to Help Write Production Ready Rust Code

Getting to production ready code

Getting Amazon Q to Help Write Production Ready Rust Code

Using AI to check for vulnerabilities:

Using AI to Check For Security Vulnerabilities Across Your Code Base

Turning random probablistic predictive AI scans into deterministic, repeatable, provable security checks:

Turn Your Security Findings Into Automated Checks

Adding Permanent Context to Amazon Q CLI chat

Enforcing Global Context — Take 2

AI Resources

AI Resources

Teri Radichel | © 2nd Sight Lab 2025

About Teri Radichel:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
⭐️ Author: Cybersecurity Books | Substack: teriradichel.substack.com
⭐️ Presentations: Presentations by Teri Radichel
⭐️ Recognition: SANS Award, AWS Security Hero Former SANS, IANS Faculty
⭐️ Certifications: SANS ~ GSE 240
⭐️ Education: BA Business, Master of Software Engineering, Master of Infosec
⭐️ Company: Penetration Tests & Security Research ~ 2nd Sight Lab

Cloud, SAAS, and Application Penetration Testing
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
🔒 Request a penetration test

Follow for more stories like this:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 
❤️ Sign Up my Medium Email List
❤️ X, Threads, Blusky, Instagram, AWS BuildID: @teriradichel
❤️ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/teriradichel
❤️ Mastodon: @teriradichel@infosec.exchange
❤️ Facebook: 2nd Sight Lab