Find out how AWS Security Consulting Services can help you follow the rules. This blog post talks about the advantages of getting and keeping expert advice on things like safety, data security, and improving cloud security.
In today’s digital world, organizations and companies from all sectors are transiting their business processes and important data to the cloud for better results, flexibility, and reduced expenses.
Currently, AWS reigns in the market as a provider of an incredibly vast pool of infrastructure, platforms, and software services.
Despite this, the public cloud operates under a shared responsibility model, which indicates that organizations remain responsible for compliance with regulations.
The Role of AWS Security Consulting Services
This is where AWS security consulting services can offer a lot of help and assistance, as the guide says. In fact, many Regulations demand that organizations take adequate measures to protect their cloud computing systems.
Major data protection and privacy laws that exist present specific compliance requirements that companies need to meet should they process one or more categories of regulated data.
For instance, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) regulates personal data in the European Union but does not interfere with EU citizens’ rights to privacy.
HIPAA has laid down rules for protected health information (PHI). Failure to adhere to these rules can expose a company to fines and loss of reputation.
Each of the three regulations focuses on putting into force proper technical and organizational measures in the sphere of security, access, audit, etc.
AWS currently provides over 200 truly cloud services, each of which provides detailed configuration characteristics.
The AWS platform and security settings of the consultant and an AWS security expert can suggest the best configurations, tools, and architectures for applications containing regulated data.
While implementing security measures in cloud computing, it is pertinent to analyze the risks associated with the cloud environment.
To adhere to the regulations set forth by laws like HIPAA and GDPR, an evaluation of risks is essential. AWS consultants are well-equipped to deeply analyze the current or intended cloud setup of an organization.
They can then identify possible risks or weaknesses regarding data management, data access, protection, data monitoring and record-keeping, and containment strategies.
The consultants then provide and discuss an analysis that contains the various risks that were noted and the likelihood of their occurrence. They also describe specific measures for mitigation of the risks in detail as part of the remediation plan.
AWS Service and Feature Selection
An AWS security consultant can then recommend which AWS services are aligned with an organization’s compliance requirements after identifying the appropriate standards for the organization’s regulated workloads.
For example, Amazon Macie employs machine learning and pattern-matching technologies to analyze S3 buckets for PII and another bucket in violation of the GDPR’s data minimization principle.
HIPAA requires regular system activity review and Amazon GuardDuty threat detection service helps in reviewing account and workload activity for suspicious activity.
They use their product specialization to select the right suite of AWS data encryption, identity and access management, logging, monitoring, and other security options.
They assist clients in the best way to arrange these offerings to support compliance objectives at the lowest costs.
The consultants make it a standard practice to always stay informed on all the security-related announcements of AWS so as to improve the environment of their clients.
Designing for compliance within AWS best practices
AWS has an excellent set of frameworks for cloud adoption and security best practices published in this name.
These include operational excellence, performance, reliability, security, and cost optimization, for which AWS has provided a well-architected framework.
The AWS Security Perspective is solely dedicated to the principles of security architecture and the support it offers.
AWS consultants build the cloud solution architecture that follows these industry best practices but also takes into account certain compliance demands.
For instance, when designing HIPAA workload architectures on AWS, the consultants ensure that system access to PHI is limited through the configuration of the security groups, ACLs, and possibly VPC.
They can build out-of-box AWS landing zones tailored with security features to ease compliant workload deployment.
Assisting with the formulation of effective cloud compliance policies and guidelines
Nearly every regulation specifies stringent specifications of how certain due diligence must be accomplished, such as having comprehensive formal policies, procedures, training, and documentation on security and privacy.
AWS consultants use their previous knowledge to design bespoke governance documentation for matters such as cloud risk management, key management, identity, access, governance, change management control, vulnerability assessment, audit trails, backup and restore disaster recovery testing, and incident management.
They also provide detailed process guides for administrators on how to navigate and execute regulated workloads in a manner that adheres to compliance regulations.
If there are any process gaps, the consultants are in charge of making any changes to the procedures after a review has been conducted at a later date.
Newcomers to an industry may be able to identify areas of noncompliance, but they cannot determine due care and due diligence by documenting the compliant processes.
Providing Leadership Over Achievable Security Certifications and Compliance Assessments
It also makes sense that an organization is willing to achieve accredited and internationally accepted security standards such as ISO 27001 or SOC 2.
AWS consultants are always in a position to assist a client in preparing for first-time and surveillance audits regarding such certification.
They assist in gathering proof and paperwork for audits utilizing regular control frameworks like ISO 27002, NIST CSF, or the HIPAA Security Rule.
The consultants also educate client organisations on how to effectively communicate the security controls in AWS to auditors.
They can help one pass an audit and get certification, or they can miss it and fail to attain the set standards by the end.
Continuous Updates on New regulations and New Features on AWS
The increased complexity of cloud compliance regulations in terms of the breadth, depth, and innovation of cloud security solutions that AWS delivers to its clients.
It also means that regulations such as GDPR are constantly changing through new scope interpretations, judgments, and amendments, which make the compliance process more complex.
AWS security consultants regularly keep abreast with these two dynamic areas of study. They often contact the clients any time there is an update, a new regulatory change, or an enhanced AWS feature that could further improve clients’ compliance profiles.
Conclusion
The security consulting services offered by AWS are valuable in understanding the complicated and dynamic compliance requirements matched to the intricate AWS cloud architecture. Consultants become an integrated part of the client’s internal team to increase cloud compliance efforts.
Outsourcing compliance duties to specialist consultants is advantageous because it frees organizations to spearhead their business innovation and growth, knowing that they will not violate the law.
The AWS cloud has the potential to support regulated companies more innovatively and responsibly, as consultants were found to alleviate audit concerns and mitigate risks of non-compliance.
