What Is Amazon Web Services (AWS) Compliance?

AWS compliance is a program helping businesses meet popular cybersecurity controls. Standard security institutions usually set these controls. The AWS compliance program allows companies in regulated industries to meet international security standards. These standards include protocols from NIST, HIPAA, and GDPR. The program’s shared security responsibility framework helps users manage any risks that could arise.

Amazon Web Services educates users on various compliance requirements that are vital to cloud security. AWS publishes technical white papers, reports, and other resources.

What Certifications Are in the AWS Compliance Program?

The AWS Cloud Compliance program contains various certifications:

• The AWS Compliance Program has a NIST 800-171 certification to protect unclassified information on federal systems.
• GDPR certification protects the personal and sensitive data of users in the European Union.
• FIPS 140-2 certification has security modules to protect sensitive information for users in Canada and the United States.
• FedRAMP certification secures the processing, storing, and termination of data from the federal government.
• Other certifications include HIPAA/HITECH, PCI-DSS, and other versions from NIST.

How Does AWS Help Stay Compliant?

AWS uses internal risk management to help the AWS team conduct assessments on potential flaws. Other compliance methods include:

• AWS has periodic updates to communicate security threats to business owners before they affect the company.
• AWS uses its engineers to install security standards that meet various compliance requirements from NIST, HIPAA, and GDPR.
• The AWS Compliance Program allows third-party security audits for added security insights.

AWS cloud compliance requires a user to gain a complete view of the cloud environment. Always review recommended security protocols as you implement designed security protocols. It’s important to frequently test the robustness and effectiveness of the designed security protocol.

Compliance Resources and Services

• The Amazon Guard Duty app helps users stay compliant through continual testing and detection of threats.
• The Amazon Artifact is an open-access portal where users can access several compliance reports and implement conclusions in their cloud infrastructures.
• Amazon secures its data centers with a perimeter wall and other multiple layers to keep millions of data sets secure in its servers.
• The compliance resource center is an AWS hub with guides, books, best practices, and training on staying and being compliant. 

With several measures and applications for Amazon compliance, it may be difficult to keep up with huge information. Evaluate whether any system is compliant with the AWS Well-Architected Framework. The Well-Architected methodology ensures cloud applications stay compliant throughout the software life cycle. If applications are compliant from the first code to deployment, it’s a proactive approach. 

nOps is a tool that can evaluate your AWS infrastructure against these five pillars, helping you become AWS compliant. nOps has features for each of the five pillars. You can evaluate your compliance status using the five pillars: Operational excellence, reliability, performance efficiency, security, and cost optimization. 

nOps helps save costs with Spot Instances. You can also practice standards from SOC 2, NIST, and HIPAA. Learn why the AWS Well-Architected review is the best way to meet AWS compliance.