Guides

Practical guides to AWS
security, compliance, and incidents.

Practical, long-form guides to AWS security, compliance, and incidents. Written by the engineer who runs the engagements, for the people who have to answer for the account.

Read the guides

A ship's bridge at night, a paper chart under brass weights with a parallel rule and dividers, one warm amber lamp over the table and dark water beyond the windows.

A ship's bridge chart table in bright daylight, an unmarked paper chart under brass weights with a parallel rule and dividers, calm pale water beyond the windows.

4 guides

Read it once, keep it open during the audit.

Each guide is built to be read start to finish and then used: a table of contents that follows you down the page, tables and checklists you can lift, and links to the guides that pick up where it stops.

28 min read
Preparing for a SOC 2 Type 2 Audit: What to Expect, What You Need, How to Prepare
A plain guide to the SOC 2 Type 2 audit for AWS companies: Type 1 versus 2, the criteria, timeline, evidence, the AWS side, a 90-day plan, and costs.
18 min read
How Vantalect and Acumen Defensive Take the AWS Work Off Your SOC 2 Plate
Which parts of a SOC 2 Type 2 audit sit in AWS, which Vantalect's engagements and Acumen Defensive's tools take on, and which stay with you and your CPA firm.
20 min read
The Lifecycle of a Breach: From First Foothold to Lessons Learned
A breach runs two clocks at once, the attacker's and the defender's. Each stage on AWS, how long detection really takes, and how to shorten every stage.
22 min read
An AWS Breach, Answered in 30 Minutes: A Realistic Timeline
A composite AWS breach, minute by minute and then day by day: a leaked CI key, S3 theft, and crypto-mining, with counsel and Vantalect on the bridge.