What AWS services can help with security compliance?

 

Quick Insight

Enterprises don’t fail compliance because AWS lacks tools—they fail because they don’t know how to use the tools effectively. AWS has a mature portfolio designed to help organizations meet regulatory requirements, but those services need to be deployed intentionally, aligned with governance, and monitored consistently. Compliance is not a checkbox; it’s an operating model.

Why This Matters

For regulated industries—finance, healthcare, energy—compliance is non-negotiable. Customers, regulators, and boards expect proof that security controls are enforced, logged, and auditable. The challenge with AWS is scale. With hundreds of accounts, workloads, and developers, it’s easy for one misconfiguration to put compliance at risk. AWS services can provide the guardrails, but only if leadership treats them as part of governance, not optional add-ons.

Here’s How We Think Through This

When advising enterprises, we recommend prioritizing these AWS services to strengthen compliance posture:

  1. AWS Config

    • Continuously evaluates resources against compliance baselines.

    • Use predefined rules (like encryption on S3 buckets) or custom rules aligned to your industry standards.

  2. AWS Security Hub

    • Centralizes security findings from multiple AWS services.

    • Maps controls against compliance frameworks such as PCI DSS, HIPAA, or CIS benchmarks.

  3. AWS CloudTrail

    • Provides an auditable log of every API call in your environment.

    • Essential for investigations, compliance audits, and proving governance to regulators.

  4. AWS GuardDuty

    • Threat detection service that identifies anomalies and potential account compromise.

    • Compliance depends on not just documenting controls but actively detecting risks.

  5. AWS Artifact

    • Provides access to AWS compliance reports and certifications.

    • Helps enterprises demonstrate alignment with global standards (ISO, SOC, GDPR).

  6. AWS IAM & MFA

    • Strong identity controls are the foundation of compliance.

    • Enforce least privilege, rotate credentials, and require MFA for privileged roles.

What Is Often Seen in Cybersecurity

In real-world audits, we repeatedly see:

  • CloudTrail turned on, but logs never reviewed—meaning you can’t prove effective monitoring.

  • Security Hub findings ignored—controls drift out of compliance without remediation.

  • IAM sprawl with hundreds of unused accounts and weak credential policies.

  • Overreliance on vendor attestations—leaders assume AWS compliance means their workloads are compliant by default.

The enterprises that succeed make these AWS services part of a broader governance framework. They automate reporting, assign ownership, and use AWS not just as a platform but as a compliance partner.

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