Amazon Web Services (AWS) enables organizations to rapidly deploy applications, infrastructure and business-critical workloads at scale. However, cloud environments can introduce security risks when identities, permissions, storage, networking, compute resources or exposed services are not appropriately secured.
Misconfigured AWS resources or excessive IAM privileges can potentially create pathways to unauthorized access, sensitive-data exposure, workload compromise and broader cloud-environment impact.
Consultants Factory’s AWS Security Assessment evaluates the security of AWS environments from both a security-control and attacker-perspective, helping organizations identify weaknesses across AWS accounts, IAM, storage, compute, networking and externally exposed services.
Our approach combines configuration analysis, security assessment and controlled technical validation, where authorized, to provide organizations with actionable visibility into their AWS security posture.
The service-line definition specifically positions AWS assessment around AWS Accounts, IAM, Storage, Compute, Networking and Exposed Services, with the objective of reducing AWS compromise risk and strengthening protection of cloud workloads, identities and sensitive data.
Key Security Challenges We Address
Excessive IAM Privileges
Identify excessive permissions, inappropriate role assignments and privileged-access weaknesses that may increase the impact of a compromised identity.
Insecure AWS Configurations
Identify security gaps across AWS resources and configurations that may unintentionally expose workloads or services.
Publicly Exposed Resources
Assess internet-facing resources and services to identify unnecessary or inappropriate external exposure.
Cloud Network Security Gaps
Evaluate relevant VPC, security group, network-access and connectivity controls to identify weaknesses in AWS network security.
Sensitive Data & Storage Exposure
Assess applicable storage and data-access controls to identify potentially unauthorized access to sensitive information.
Our Approach
1. AWS Environment Discovery
We begin by understanding the AWS environment and establishing the technical assessment boundary, including AWS accounts, regions, major AWS services, compute and storage resources, VPC architecture, internet-facing resources, IAM structure, cloud workloads, and existing security controls. This provides visibility into the AWS environment and its major security boundaries.
Objective: Establish visibility into the AWS environment and identify key security areas requiring assessment.
2. IAM & Identity Security Assessment
We assess AWS identity and access controls, including IAM users and roles, policies, privileged identities, service accounts and roles, administrative access, excessive permissions, least-privilege implementation, MFA, trust relationships, and cross-account access. We evaluate whether identities have only the permissions required for their intended business and technical functions.
Objective: Reduce identity-based attack paths and unnecessary privileges
3. AWS Network & Exposure Assessment
We assess AWS network-security controls, including VPC architecture, subnets, security groups, network ACLs, internet gateways, routing, public IP exposure, internet-facing services, administrative interfaces, and network connectivity. Where authorized, exposed services can also be technically validated to understand their actual security implications.
Objective: Reduce unnecessary external exposure and strengthen AWS network security boundaries.
4. Storage, Compute & Workload Security
We assess security controls across AWS-hosted workloads and resources, including compute instances, storage services, databases, application workloads, cloud-native services, resource permissions, sensitive-data access, and security configurations. The assessment focuses on whether critical resources are adequately protected against unauthorized access and unintended exposure.
Objective: Strengthen the protection of AWS-hosted workloads and sensitive information.
5. Risk Analysis & Security Reporting