AWS security audit. Free in 20 minutes. Public pricing.

An AWS security audit is a structured assessment of your AWS account configuration for security vulnerabilities, misconfigurations, compliance gaps, and cost-optimization opportunities. Cloud Upload’s audits cover six categories: IAM, Network, Data, Logging, FinOps, and Architecture — using CIS AWS Foundations Benchmark v1.5 and AWS Well-Architected Security Pillar methodology. Free automated audits give you a letter grade and top findings; paid audits add full findings with evidence, CVSS scoring, remediation guidance, and FinOps dollar amounts.

Cloud Upload’s AWS audit covers six categories: (1) IAM — root account usage, MFA, password policy, user/role privilege analysis, access key rotation; (2) Network — security groups, NACLs, public exposure, VPC Flow Logs, internet-facing resources; (3) Data — S3/EBS/RDS/DynamoDB encryption, KMS key rotation, public access blocks; (4) Logging — CloudTrail configuration, AWS Config rules, GuardDuty, log retention; (5) FinOps — idle resources, oversized instances, unattached EBS volumes, Reserved Instance opportunities; (6) Architecture — Well-Architected Security Pillar alignment, secrets management, backup posture. All findings include severity scoring, evidence, and remediation guidance.

Annually at minimum, plus after major architecture changes (new VPC, new product line, acquisition, or significant IAM restructure). Most SOC 2 Type II auditors expect annual evidence. High-velocity engineering teams often run audits quarterly to catch drift between formal annual audits. Cloud Upload’s Free Scan makes ongoing baseline monitoring practical without subscription commitment.

Cloud security audits are configuration-layer assessments — they review IAM, network, encryption, logging, and architecture settings against best-practice frameworks. Penetration testing is application-layer offensive testing — credentialed engineers actively probe your web app, API, mobile, or network for exploitable vulnerabilities. Most SaaS companies need both: audits for ongoing compliance and configuration hygiene; pen tests for evidence of secure application code. See our manual pen testing tier →

Cloud Upload’s AWS audits ship with CIS AWS Foundations Benchmark v1.5 mapping per finding. Both the Free Scan and the $499 Full Report use the same CIS mapping. Manual Cloud Audit can scope additional framework cross-references (AWS Well-Architected Security Pillar, NIST 800-53, and customer-specific compliance evidence packages) when requested as part of the engagement.

Yes — and increasingly, your enterprise customers require it. Customer security questionnaires regularly ask for evidence of cloud audits. Investor due diligence for Series B+ rounds typically includes security review. Cloud Upload’s Free Audit gives baseline visibility for $0; the $499 Full Report provides per-finding evidence and CIS mapping; Manual Cloud Audit at $4,999+ delivers senior-engineer review for buyers with complex environments or multi-customer security questionnaires.

Same scan, different depth of presentation. The Free Scan returns a letter grade, severity counts across all 6 categories, and 8–12 representative findings — enough to see the overall picture and surface top FinOps wins. The $499 Full Audit Report unlocks all findings with evidence (specific resource IDs, screenshots where applicable), CVSS 3.1 scoring per finding, remediation guidance per finding, FinOps findings with calculated dollar amounts, and CIS AWS Foundations Benchmark v1.5 mapping per finding.

AWS Inspector is a vulnerability scanner — automated assessment of EC2 instances, container images, and Lambda functions for known CVEs and configuration weaknesses. AWS GuardDuty is a threat detection service — continuous monitoring of CloudTrail, VPC Flow Logs, and DNS logs for anomalous behavior (e.g., compromised credentials, crypto-mining instances). Both are AWS-managed; both produce findings; they answer different questions. Inspector tells you what’s vulnerable; GuardDuty tells you when something’s actively going wrong. Cloud Upload’s audit reviews configuration of both — whether they’re enabled, whether findings are being acted on.

Yes — AWS Macie is a data loss prevention (DLP) service focused on S3. It uses machine learning to discover sensitive data (PII, credentials, financial data) in S3 buckets and alerts when it appears in unexpected locations. Cloud Upload’s Cloud Audit reviews Macie configuration as part of the Data category — whether it’s enabled, what coverage you have across accounts, whether findings are being routed to a response process.

AWS Inspector is the primary AWS-native automated security assessment service. It scans EC2 instances and container images for known vulnerabilities. Cloud Upload’s free Cloud Scan complements Inspector — it covers configuration audits across IAM, Network, Data, Logging, FinOps, and Architecture using CIS AWS Foundations Benchmark methodology. Most teams run both: Inspector for ongoing vulnerability scanning, Cloud Upload for periodic configuration audits and compliance evidence.