AWS CLOUD SECURITY REVIEW

CREST-Certified AWS Cloud Security Review for UK Businesses

AWS penetration testing and cloud security review aligned to the CIS AWS Foundations Benchmark and the AWS Well-Architected Framework. Manual exploitation across IAM, S3, VPC, EC2, Lambda, EKS, KMS, Secrets Manager, and CloudTrail. AWS security audits supported across multi-account organisations.

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AWS Cloud Security Review
CIS AWS FOUNDATIONS
Benchmark v3.0 + Well-Architected
12+ AWS SERVICES
IAM · S3 · VPC · EKS · Lambda · KMS
CREST
Approved Provider
CIS
AWS Foundations v3.0
FREE
Retest Included
24h
Scope to Active Test
82%
of cloud breaches stem from misconfiguration, not exploits. Your CIS AWS Foundations compliance score tells you where you stand.

CSPM tells you what’s misconfigured. We tell you what’s exploitable.

A cloud security posture management tool can flag a permissive S3 bucket policy. It cannot tell you whether the bucket actually contains sensitive data, whether the IAM role attached to your Lambda function can be assumed cross-account, or whether your EKS pod can read instance metadata via IMDSv1.

Our AWS penetration testing and cloud security review combines automated CIS Benchmark scanning with manual exploitation across IAM, S3, EKS, Lambda, KMS, and the data plane. Reports satisfy ISO 27001 Annex A.13.1, SOC 2 CC6.6, PCI DSS Req 11.3, and align with NCSC cloud security principles — without translation work.

12 AWS SERVICES AUDITED

What We Test in AWS Cloud Security Review

Aligned to the CIS AWS Foundations Benchmark v3.0 and the AWS Well-Architected Framework. Multi-account organisations supported via AWS Organizations.

IAM

Identity & Access Management

Role trust policies, AssumeRole abuse, privilege escalation paths, MFA enforcement, root account hardening, cross-account boundary review.

S3

Object Storage

Public buckets, ACL misconfigs, encryption at rest (KMS / SSE-S3), bucket policy abuse, signed URL leakage, cross-account access vectors.

EC2

Compute & Instance Metadata

IMDSv1 vs v2 enforcement, AMI permissions, security group exposure, public AMIs leaking secrets, SSM session manager scrutiny.

VPC

Networking

Security group misconfigurations, NACL gaps, VPC peering, public subnets, transit gateway hops, data perimeter exposure.

Lambda

Serverless

Function policy abuse, environment variable leakage, dead-letter-queue exposure, layer-package supply chain, function URL exposure.

EKS

Kubernetes

Pod security, RBAC scrutiny, control-plane exposure, node IAM trust, IRSA boundary, container image registry security.

KMS

Encryption Keys

Key policy review, automatic rotation, cross-account access, multi-region key replication, grant abuse, deletion protection.

SecretsManager

Secrets & Parameters

Rotation enforcement, cross-account access, automatic-rotation Lambda IAM, access pattern audit, version history exposure.

APIGateway

API Gateway

Authorizer enforcement, custom domain TLS, throttling configuration, schema validation, resource policy gaps, IAM auth misconfig.

CloudTrail

Logging & Audit

Multi-region coverage, log file integrity validation, S3 destination security, retention policies, GuardDuty integration.

RDS

Managed Databases

Snapshot exposure, public accessibility, encryption at rest, performance insights, IAM database authentication, backup retention.

CloudFront

CDN & Edge

Origin Access Identity, cache poisoning, signed cookies / URLs, WAF integration, Lambda@Edge function security, geo-restriction posture.

FOUR-PHASE METHODOLOGY

AWS Cloud Security Review — From Asset Inventory to Hardening Plan

Read-only by default. Manual exploitation only with explicit written approval per resource type.

1

Account Discovery

CloudFormation / Terraform / CDK review. AWS Organizations mapping. Asset inventory across services. IAM policy graph extraction. Read-only access via SecurityAudit role.
2

CIS Benchmark Audit

CIS AWS Foundations v3.0 control-by-control assessment. AWS Well-Architected pillars review. Compliance score baseline established before manual phase.
3

Manual Exploitation

AWS IAM privilege-escalation chains, AWS S3 enumeration, AWS EC2 IMDS attacks, Lambda execution-role abuse, EKS pod-to-node escape, KMS key policy abuse — all with written authorisation.
4

Report & Hardening

CIS-mapped findings, prioritised remediation plan, Terraform / CloudFormation patch examples, executive + technical reports. Free retest within 30 days.

Verified Accreditations Auditors Accept

Every accreditation independently issued by a recognised UK certification body. Click CREST to verify our membership.

COMPLIANCE READY

AWS Reports Mapped to Every Framework

Findings tagged to CIS Benchmark control IDs and your specific compliance framework. Audit teams submit directly without translation.

CIS AWS Foundations v3.0

Control-by-control compliance score and remediation evidence accepted by enterprise audit teams.

AWS Well-Architected

Security pillar review across the five sub-categories — IAM, detection, infrastructure, data, and incident response.

ISO 27001 (Annex A)

A.13 network security, A.14 secure development, A.18 compliance — cloud-control evidence in the format ISO auditors accept.

SOC 2 Type I & II

CC6.6 logical access, CC7.1 vulnerability identification, CC7.2 monitoring evidence accepted by SOC 2 auditors.

PCI DSS

Req 1, 2, 7, 8, 11.3 control evidence for AWS-hosted PCI scope, including segmentation and encryption attestation.

NCSC Cloud Security Principles

14 principles assessed including data in transit, supply chain, identity, separation, and audit information.

TRANSPARENT PRICING

Transparent AWS Cloud Security Review Pricing

All tiers include the same depth of testing. Price varies by AWS estate complexity — account count, service breadth, resource volume, and data-perimeter scope.

SMALL / SMB
£6,000 – £10,000
Depends on AWS estate size

Single AWS account, ≤10 services in use, ≤50 resources, basic IAM. Typically 4-5 day engagement.

  • Free retests included
  • Free rescheduling
  • No cancellation fees
  • 24-hour scope to active testing
  • Live findings to client portal
  • Executive + technical report
  • 60-min walkthrough call
  • Letter of attestation
MOST COMMISSIONED
GROWTH / MID-MARKET
£10,000 – £18,000
Depends on AWS estate size

AWS Organizations (3-10 accounts), 10-20 services, 50-200 resources, EKS or Lambda, CI/CD via OIDC. Typically 7-10 day engagement.

  • Free retests included
  • Free rescheduling
  • No cancellation fees
  • 24-hour scope to active testing
  • Live findings to client portal
  • Executive + technical report
  • 60-min walkthrough call
  • Letter of attestation
ENTERPRISE
£18,000 – £28,000
Depends on AWS estate size

Landing zone (10+ accounts), 20+ services, 200+ resources, multi-region, EKS + data perimeter, regulated workloads. Typically 10-15 day engagement.

  • Free retests included
  • Free rescheduling
  • No cancellation fees
  • 24-hour scope to active testing
  • Live findings to client portal
  • Executive + technical report
  • 60-min walkthrough call
  • Letter of attestation

What You Actually Get

Five things that distinguish our AWS review from CSPM tools and one-off configuration audits.

🎯

What You Get From AWS Cloud Security Review

AWS penetration testing as a read-only audit across IAM, S3, EKS, Lambda, KMS, and 7 more services, with manual exploitation chains and a CIS-mapped hardening plan.
🔬

CIS Benchmark + Manual Combination

Automated CIS scan establishes the baseline. Manual exploitation tests what scanners cannot — IAM privilege escalation chains, IMDS attacks, EKS pod escapes.
🛡

Read-Only by Default

We start with the AWS-managed SecurityAudit role. No write access required. Manual exploitation only with explicit written approval per resource.
🔧

Terraform / CloudFormation Patches

Every finding ships with example IaC remediation — Terraform module diffs, CloudFormation patches, CDK constructs. Engineers fix faster.
🇬🇧

UK CREST + IASME + ISO 27001 + ISO 9001

Independently accredited. Verifiable on the CREST marketplace. Reports accepted by FCA, NCSC, NHS, ICO, SOC 2 auditors, and cyber insurers.

Frequently Asked

How long does an AWS cloud security review take?

A single-account review (≤10 services, ≤50 resources) typically takes 4-5 working days. Mid-market AWS Organizations (3-10 accounts, EKS or Lambda) takes 7-10 days. Enterprise landing zones (10+ accounts, multi-region, data perimeter) take 10-15 days. Test duration is determined during scoping based on account count and service breadth.

How much does an AWS cloud security review cost in the UK?

AWS penetration testing engagements at single-account scale range from £6,000 to £10,000. Mid-market (most commonly commissioned) £10,000 to £18,000. Enterprise £18,000 to £28,000. All quotes are fixed-price after scoping with no day-rate surprises.

Do you follow the CIS AWS Foundations Benchmark?

Yes. Every AWS engagement includes a control-by-control CIS AWS Foundations Benchmark v3.0 assessment. Findings are tagged to specific CIS control IDs (e.g., 1.2 — root account hardware MFA) so your audit team can submit evidence directly. We also reference the AWS Well-Architected Framework security pillar where applicable.

What AWS services do you cover?

Core AWS services: AWS IAM, AWS S3, AWS EC2, AWS VPC, AWS Lambda, AWS EKS, AWS KMS, Secrets Manager, API Gateway, CloudTrail, RDS, CloudFront. Extended scope on request: ECS, Fargate, Step Functions, EventBridge, SNS, SQS, AppSync, WAF, GuardDuty, Security Hub, AWS Config, Organizations / Control Tower / Landing Zone.

Is testing read-only or do you make changes?

Read-only by default. We use the AWS-managed SecurityAudit IAM role for the discovery and CIS audit phases. Manual exploitation phases — IAM privilege escalation, IMDS attacks, EKS escape attempts — only run with explicit written authorisation per resource type, in agreed maintenance windows, with full audit-log capture.

Do you test EKS / Kubernetes pod security?

Yes. EKS reviews include control-plane configuration, RBAC scrutiny, IAM Roles for Service Accounts (IRSA), pod security standards (PSS), node IAM trust, container image registry security, network policies, and pod-to-node escape paths via IMDSv1 abuse, hostPath mounts, or privileged containers.

What about multi-account AWS Organizations?

Multi-account testing is fully supported. We map the entire Organizations structure, evaluate Service Control Policies (SCPs), audit cross-account trust relationships, review AWS Control Tower / Landing Zone deployments, and test data perimeter enforcement (RCPs in preview, plus existing identity / service / resource perimeters).

Do you test infrastructure-as-code (Terraform / CloudFormation / CDK)?

Yes. Pre-deployment IaC review is offered as a separate engagement or bundled with cloud testing. We review Terraform / OpenTofu, CloudFormation, AWS CDK, and Pulumi for misconfigurations, secret leakage, and policy violations before the resources hit your AWS account.

Can you provide remediation guidance?

Yes. Every finding ships with prioritised remediation guidance and where applicable, example Terraform / CloudFormation patches. For high-severity findings we include direct engineer access via our portal so your platform team can ask follow-up questions during remediation.

Do you test for IMDSv1 / IMDSv2 issues?

Yes. IMDSv2 enforcement is one of the most common AWS findings — IMDSv1 allows server-side request forgery (SSRF) to retrieve EC2 instance metadata including IAM credentials. We test every EC2 instance, Lambda, and ECS task to verify IMDSv2 is enforced and IMDSv1 is disabled.

Are your testers UK-based and what certifications do they hold?

All AWS testers are vetted UK or international engineers. Relevant certifications across the team include CREST CRT and CCT INF, AWS Certified Security – Specialty, OSCP, OSCE, and platform-specific specialisms (e.g., Kubernetes CKS, eMAPT). SC-cleared testers are available for public-sector and regulated-financial engagements.

Do you sign NDAs?

Yes. Standard NDA before any technical detail is shared, and we operate under a project-specific master agreement that includes data handling, deliverable IP, and breach notification clauses. Custom MSAs and AUP terms are accepted for enterprise and public-sector clients.

READY TO SCOPE

Book an AWS Security Review Scoping Call

30 minutes with a CREST-certified cloud security specialist. Fixed-price quote within 24 hours. No sales pipeline.