Case Studies

Challenge

All workloads (production, staging, development, and shared services) lived inside a single AWS account with snowflake IAM keys and ad-hoc VPN access. Logging was fragmented, deployments were manual, and strategic migrations stalled because the team lacked a reliable blueprint.

Solution

• • Designed an AWS Organizations layout with dedicated Production, Staging, Shared Services, and Development accounts
• • Defined VPC boundaries, Transit Gateway strategy, and centralized ingress/egress with least-privilege IAM roles per account
• • Standardized Terraform modules and wired them into AWS CodePipeline & CodeDeploy for infrastructure and applications
• • Enabled organization-wide logging and monitoring (CloudTrail, Config, GuardDuty, Security Hub) with centralized storage
• • Documented “current vs. target” architecture, migration priorities, and runbooks so the internal team could continue independently

Results

• ✔ Isolated environments reduced blast radius and simplified compliance conversations
• ✔ Unified Terraform + CI/CD pipeline restored confidence in releases
• ✔ Centralized logging/monitoring gave leadership visibility into drift, threats, and cost drivers
• ✔ Client walked away with diagrams and playbooks to continue migrations and replatforming on their own

Challenge

Years of organic AWS growth left the company with dozens of workloads in a single account, IAM/CLI keys shared between contractors, secrets hard-coded in config files, and no audit trail for access changes. With healthcare clients asking tougher compliance questions, leadership needed a governance model that would satisfy auditors and scale across client projects.

Solution

• • Implemented AWS Control Tower with dedicated Management, Security, Logging, and client project accounts for clear separation of duties
• • Designed IAM Identity Center roles (Developer, PowerUser, Contractor) with audit-friendly access logging and session tracking
• • Built a compliance baseline that auto-enables CloudTrail, Config, GuardDuty, and Security Hub in every new account
• • Codified Service Control Policies (SCPs) to enforce guardrails and prevent configuration drift
• • Eliminated hard-coded secrets with a dual-layer approach (SSM Parameter Store + Secrets Manager) for credential rotation

Results

• ✔ Audit-ready AWS environment with centralized logging and access controls
• ✔ Eliminated long-lived IAM keys; all access now via Identity Center with session logs
• ✔ Repeatable account provisioning via Terraform/Terragrunt with compliance guardrails baked in
• ✔ Client can now confidently answer auditor questions about access control and change management

Challenge

A managed services provider needed an independent security review of their healthcare client's AWS environment. The client was running WordPress on AWS specifically for HIPAA compliance, but had no documentation, no DR process, and no visibility into their actual security posture. Leadership wanted to understand where they stood and what it would take to achieve genuine compliance.

Solution

• • Conducted a full AWS infrastructure security audit covering IAM, network architecture, encryption, and monitoring
• • Identified 6 critical, 9 high, 9 medium, and 7 low-risk findings using a structured risk matrix
• • Discovered database credentials in plain text, root account without MFA, 450+ day old access keys, and unencrypted EBS volumes
• • Assessed HIPAA compliance gaps including missing Business Associate Addendum, AWS-managed encryption keys, and disabled audit logging
• • Delivered a 4-phase remediation roadmap with prioritized actions, cost estimates, and timeline (0-30 days through 6+ months)
• • Provided Well-Architected Framework scoring across all five pillars

Results

• ✔ Comprehensive security report the client could understand and act on
• ✔ Clear HIPAA compliance gap analysis with specific remediation steps
• ✔ Phased implementation roadmap with realistic cost projections for compliance
• ✔ Documented DR requirements and backup strategy recommendations

Challenge

A startup building a B2B SaaS application needed senior technical guidance to modernize their deployment process. The engineering team was manually deploying their Node.js application to AWS and lacked confidence in their testing and release workflow. Leadership wanted an expert to assess their current architecture, design an automated CI/CD pipeline, and help the team execute.

Solution

• • Conducted a 3-hour architecture review with the lead engineer, mapping current state and identifying gaps
• • Designed a CI/CD pipeline strategy tailored to their Node.js stack (Mocha/Jasmine testing, AWS hosting)
• • Partnered with the lead engineer to architect and implement a sustainable automation solution
• • Provided hands-on mentorship so the internal team could own and extend the system
• • Returned for follow-up maintenance to debug an abstruse CodeDeploy pipeline error in Staging
• • Implemented centralized logging to improve future debugging visibility

Results

• ✔ Automated CI/CD pipeline replaced manual deployments
• ✔ Lead engineer gained confidence to maintain and extend the system independently
• ✔ Clean handover with documentation and knowledge transfer
• ✔ Ongoing relationship for technical support when needed

Challenge

An Ontario-based subcontractor needed to deliver components for both Canadian and U.S. defence primes. Their AWS estate mixed ITAR workloads with general R&D, documentation lived in spreadsheets, and leadership had no clear line of sight on CPCSC readiness scores.

Solution

• • Performed a Level 2 CPCSC control gap analysis mapped to existing NIST 800-171 implementation work
• • Split workloads into dedicated AWS accounts with GuardDuty, Config, and Security Hub auto-enabled via Terraform
• • Documented processes, SSP sections, and POA&M entries inside a Notion-based evidence library shared with the OSC
• • Ran tabletop exercises to rehearse assessor interviews, including demo scripts for logging, IAM, and incident response

Results

• ✔ Cut estimated assessor prep time from 8 weeks to 3 weeks by centralising evidence and automation outputs
• ✔ Eliminated mixed-tenancy risk by establishing CPCSC-only AWS accounts with enforced logging and encryption
• ✔ OSCs reported “cleaner, faster assessments” during prime contractor readiness reviews
• ✔ Delivery teams retained their existing CI/CD workflows while satisfying CPCSC guardrails