Scale – AWS Well-Architected Framework Review (AWS WAFR)
Scale Management Limited is a Kenyan-owned technology startup that builds technology solutions aimed at facilitating safe, secure and quality trade in Africa. Read their case study.
MGK Consulting is an audit and accounting consultancy firm based in Nairobi, Kenya. The firm delivers to strict international standards with their service offerings that include audit and assurance, tax risk management, various advisory services, and other similar outsourced skills structured to relieve the burden of financial management, compliance audits, and fund management services.
As an audit and accounting firm handling sensitive financial and personal data, MGK Consulting was acutely aware of potential risks in their current cloud computing workloads and wanted to align with AWS Best Practice Standards.
MGK Consulting was also awarded AWS usage credits and sought to leverage these to optimize their cloud workloads. This included improving operational efficiency, optimizing costs, increasing monitoring and alerting, security and ensuring their systems were robust and scalable. Balancing these goals required a thorough analysis and strategic implementation of AWS services and best practice standards tailored to the unique needs of an audit and accounting firm.
Silicon Overdrive implemented several key measures to address MGK Consulting’s requirements as part of the AWS Well-Architected Framework Review (AWS WAFR) project.
Amazon CloudWatch dashboards were enabled to monitor Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) identified during the review, providing real-time visibility into critical metrics and system performance. In addition to this, alarms were configured on the KPI thresholds to ensure proactive monitoring and prompt response to any deviations or anomalies. These strategic implementations of native AWS tools greatly enhanced overall operational efficiency, offering many benefits like automated responses and performance optimization.
Data control objectives were established to ensure data handling practices aligned with industry standards and regulatory requirements. Additionally, data retention policies were implemented to manage the lifecycle of all data, ensuring sensitive information was either retained or disposed of in accordance with compliance requirements.
Security enhancements were naturally also a significant focus. Access keys were rotated, where necessary, to enhance the security and reduce the risk of compromised credentials. AWS IAM (Identity and Access Management) policies were reviewed and updated to ensure access permissions were appropriately granted, following the Principle of Least Privilege. Network Access Control Lists (NACLs) and Security Groups were reviewed and refined to strengthen the network security posture, ensuring only authorized traffic could access the firm’s resources. All Amazon S3 (Simple Storage Service) buckets were configured in private subnets, effectively locking down and restricting potentially unauthorized access.
Furthermore, VPC Flow Logs, AWS CloudTrail, and AWS Config were all enabled. VPC Flow Logs provided detailed visibility into network traffic, helping to identify and troubleshoot network issues. AWS CloudTrail enabled comprehensive logging of API calls, which was crucial for auditing and compliance purposes. AWS Config continuously assessed, audited, and evaluated the configurations of AWS resources, ensuring they met desired configurations and compliance standards.
These actions collectively improved the customer’s security posture, operational efficiency, and compliance with regulatory requirements while also making effective use of their AWS credits to optimize their cloud computing infrastructure.
Following a comprehensive AWS WAFR project, conducted by Silicon Overdrive, MGK Consulting’s workload is now operating in a highly secure and compliant environment on AWS.
MGK Consulting said, “The Silicon team worked hand in hand with us to improve our AWS infrastructure’s security, performance and reliability.”
Scale Management Limited is a Kenyan-owned technology startup that builds technology solutions aimed at facilitating safe, secure and quality trade in Africa. Read their case study.