Compliance
20 articles on Compliance — AWS security, compliance, and account management from the Vigilare team.
AWS Account Suspension Horror Stories: Lessons from Real Incidents
A crypto-mining attack that generated $47,000 overnight. A billing email forwarded to a defunct inbox. An SES complaint rate that nobody was watching. These are real AWS suspension stories — and the lessons they teach.
Viktor B. · May 8, 2026 · 9 min read
AWS Config vs Vigilare: Compliance Monitoring Compared
AWS Config is the backbone of compliance monitoring on AWS. Vigilare adds correlation, risk scoring, and account health context. Here's how they compare and when you need more than Config alone.
Vigilare Engineering · April 24, 2026 · 8 min read
AWS Suspension Timeline: How Much Warning Do You Actually Get?
AWS doesn't suspend accounts without warning — but the warnings are easy to miss. Here's the actual enforcement timeline for each suspension type, from first notification to account lockout.
Viktor B. · February 27, 2026 · 7 min read
AWS Tagging Strategy for Security, Cost, and Compliance
A practical AWS tagging strategy that enables cost allocation, security policy enforcement, compliance evidence, and automated governance — with the tag taxonomy and enforcement approach that actually works.
Viktor B. · February 2, 2026 · 8 min read
AWS Access Key Rotation: Automating Credential Hygiene at Scale
A systematic approach to detecting old AWS IAM access keys, enforcing rotation policies, and automating the rotation process to reduce credential compromise risk.
Vigilare Engineering · January 29, 2026 · 9 min read
My AWS Account Got Suspended — Now What?
Your AWS account is suspended. Production is down. Don't panic — here's the step-by-step recovery playbook: what to do in the first hour, how to contact AWS, and how to prevent it from happening again.
Viktor B. · January 23, 2026 · 9 min read
AWS Acceptable Use Policy Violations: Common Violations and How to Avoid Them
AWS AUP violations result in service restrictions or account suspension. Most violations affecting legitimate businesses come from compromised accounts rather than intentional misuse — but the consequences are the same. Here's what triggers AUP enforcement and how to prevent it.
Viktor B. · January 3, 2026 · 7 min read
AWS Account Reputation: Maintaining Good Standing with AWS
AWS account reputation affects sending limits, access to services, and enforcement risk. This guide covers what AWS monitors, how to maintain good standing, and what to do when reputation issues arise.
Viktor B. · January 2, 2026 · 7 min read
AWS Abuse Prevention: Protecting Your Account from AUP Violations
AWS Acceptable Use Policy violations can result in service suspension even when they're caused by account compromise rather than intentional misuse. Understanding what triggers abuse reports and how to prevent them is essential account hygiene.
Viktor B. · January 1, 2026 · 8 min read
ISO 27001 on AWS: Building an Information Security Management System
ISO 27001 certification requires an Information Security Management System with documented controls and evidence of operation. This guide maps Annex A controls to AWS configurations and explains what auditors look for in cloud-hosted environments.
Vigilare Engineering · December 10, 2025 · 9 min read
GDPR Compliance on AWS: Data Residency, Processing Agreements, and Technical Controls
GDPR compliance for AWS-hosted services requires data processing agreements, appropriate technical safeguards, and careful attention to data residency. This guide maps GDPR obligations to specific AWS configurations and controls.
Viktor B. · December 9, 2025 · 10 min read
PCI DSS Compliance on AWS: Protecting Cardholder Data in the Cloud
PCI DSS compliance for AWS workloads requires specific architectural controls around cardholder data environments. This guide covers the key requirements, network segmentation, and how to scope your CDE correctly to minimize compliance burden.
Vigilare Engineering · December 8, 2025 · 10 min read
HIPAA Compliance on AWS: Technical Safeguards and the BAA Requirement
Handling PHI on AWS requires signing a Business Associate Agreement with AWS and implementing specific technical safeguards. This guide covers what HIPAA requires technically, which AWS services are HIPAA-eligible, and common implementation mistakes.
Viktor B. · December 7, 2025 · 10 min read
SOC 2 Compliance on AWS: A Practical Implementation Guide
SOC 2 compliance on AWS requires implementing specific technical controls and maintaining evidence of continuous operation. This guide maps SOC 2 trust service criteria to concrete AWS configurations and monitoring requirements.
Viktor B. · December 6, 2025 · 11 min read
AWS Config Conformance Packs: Deploying Pre-Built Compliance Frameworks
Conformance packs bundle related Config rules into deployable compliance frameworks aligned to CIS, PCI DSS, HIPAA, NIST 800-53, and other standards. One deployment command activates dozens of checks — here's what they cover and where they stop.
Viktor B. · November 11, 2025 · 8 min read
Essential AWS Config Rules: The Security and Compliance Checks That Actually Matter
AWS offers 300+ managed Config rules. Most organizations enable too few or too many — either missing critical security checks or drowning in low-signal findings. These are the rules that deliver the highest signal-to-noise ratio for security and compliance.
Vigilare Engineering · November 10, 2025 · 10 min read
AWS Config Setup: Recording Resources and Evaluating Compliance at Scale
AWS Config continuously records resource configurations and evaluates them against rules — but only for the resource types you tell it to track, and only in the regions you enable it. A misconfigured Config setup creates false confidence. Here's how to do it right.
Vigilare Engineering · November 9, 2025 · 9 min read
AWS Account Suspension: Causes, Warning Signs, and How to Prevent It
AWS account suspension can halt production workloads within hours. This guide covers the enforcement timeline, every suspension trigger category, and the technical prevention strategies that eliminate suspension risk.
Viktor B. · October 28, 2025 · 12 min read
AWS Compliance Monitoring & Risk Scoring: Quantify Your Security Posture
Compliance in AWS is not a binary state. Learn how to implement risk scoring that aggregates Config, Security Hub, GuardDuty, service quotas, and billing health into a single, actionable account health score.
Viktor B. · October 20, 2025 · 10 min read
Why AWS Accounts Get Suspended: The 7 Most Common Causes
AWS account suspension doesn't happen without warning — but the signals are easy to miss. Here are the seven most common causes and how to avoid each one.
Viktor B. · October 4, 2025 · 7 min read