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Home / Case studies / AWS bill, security hardening and backup risks found during an infrastructure review

Case study

Case Study: AWS bill, security hardening and backup risks found during an infrastructure review

This example shows how a production infrastructure problem can be investigated methodically, improved safely and turned into clearer operational practice.

Context

A organisation was running production workloads on AWS using EC2, EBS, S3, Route 53, CloudFront and CloudWatch.

The customer wanted to know why costs were increasing and whether backup processes/security hardening were good enough before making further changes.

The problem

  • Unused or oversized resources were increasing monthly AWS spend.
  • S3 buckets, snapshots and retention policies were not clearly documented.
  • Security Hardening groups and IAM permissions had grown over time and needed review.
  • CloudWatch observability existed in places, but alerts did not clearly cover the highest-risk failures.

Our approach

  • Reviewed Cost Explorer/Billing, EC2, EBS, snapshots, S3 usage, CloudFront, Route 53 and CloudWatch configuration.
  • Checked IAM and access patterns for obvious over-permissioning and unused users/keys.
  • Identified backup gaps, retention issues and resources that needed cleanup or policy decisions.
  • Prioritised findings into quick wins, risk fixes and changes that needed customer approval.

Hands-on outcomes

Straightforward cost opportunitiesThe customer received a focused list of resources and behaviours that were driving avoidable spend.
Reduced security hardening uncertaintyIAM, S3 and security hardening group concerns were separated into hands-on recommendations.
Backup visibility improvedThe review highlighted what was backed up, what was assumed, and where restore testing was needed.
Safer project planningThe organisation could decide what to fix first instead of guessing inside the AWS console.

Relevant technologies and keywords

These are the main technologies, solutions and search terms connected to this case study.

AWSCost optimisationIAMS3EC2EBS snapshotsCloudWatchCloudFrontRoute 53Security Hardening groupsBackup Processes

Related solutions

Relevant solutions for similar infrastructure problems.

AWS Consulting

Hands-on cloud infrastructure consulting for infrastructure, backup processes, cost, security hardening and operations.

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AWS Security Hardening Review

Review IAM, EC2, VPC, security hardening groups, S3 and cloud platform security hardening configuration.

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Server Backup Setup

Backup design, retention, offsite storage and restore-ready workflows.

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Observability Setup

Cloud and server observability, alerts and operational visibility.

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Send the symptoms, affected system, recent changes and organisation impact. We will suggest the most appropriate route: emergency engineering assistance, a fixed-scope engineering fix, an infrastructure review or a wider project.

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