AWS Security Baseline Checklist

Essential AWS security configurations for startups. Covers IAM, S3, VPC, CloudTrail, and more. This free, professionally written template from Proveably is ready to download in multiple formats and customise for your organisation. No account required.

30+ AWS security controls organized by service. Covers IAM hardening, S3 bucket security, VPC configuration, logging setup, and encryption requirements.

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Why You Need This AWS Security Baseline Checklist

A well-documented AWS Security Baseline Checklist is essential for organisations pursuing compliance certifications and building trust with customers, partners, and auditors. Without formal documentation, your organisation faces several risks:

  • Audit failures — Auditors specifically check for documented policies. A missing or incomplete checklist is one of the most common reasons organisations fail SOC 2, ISO 27001, or other compliance audits.
  • Security gaps — Without clear guidelines, employees and contractors may follow inconsistent security practices, creating vulnerabilities.
  • Regulatory exposure — Many regulations (GDPR, HIPAA, PCI DSS) require documented policies. Non-compliance can result in fines and legal liability.
  • Lost business opportunities — Enterprise customers increasingly require vendors to demonstrate formal security policies before signing contracts.

This Proveably template gives you a professional starting point that covers industry best practices and maps directly to compliance framework requirements.

Compliance Framework Requirements

This template is designed to satisfy requirements from the following frameworks:

soc2

This template addresses key soc2 control requirements with pre-mapped sections and audit-ready language.

iso27001

This template addresses key iso27001 control requirements with pre-mapped sections and audit-ready language.

Specifically mapped control codes: CC6.1, CC6.6, CC6.7, CC7.1, A1.2

Template Preview

# AWS Security Baseline Checklist ## IAM (Identity & Access Management) - [ ] Root account MFA enabled (hardware key preferred) - [ ] Root account not used for daily operations - [ ] Root account access keys deleted - [ ] IAM password policy enforced (14+ chars, complexity, rotation) - [ ] MFA enforced for all IAM users - [ ] Least-privilege IAM policies (no ``*:*`` permissions) - [ ] Service-linked roles used instead of long-term credentials - [ ] IAM Access Analyzer enabled - [ ] Unused IAM users/roles reviewed quarterly - [ ] Cross-account access uses IAM roles (not shared credentials) ## S3 (Storage) - [ ] Public access block enabled at account level - [ ] Bucket policies reviewed — no unintended public access - [ ] Default encryption enabled on all buckets (SSE-S3 or SSE-KMS) - [ ] Versioning enabled on critical buckets - [ ] Access logging enabled for sensitive buckets - [ ] Lifecycle policies configured to manage storage costs ## VPC (Networking) - [ ] Security groups follow least-privilege (no 0.0.0.0/0 on SSH/RDP) - [ ] VPC flow logs enabled - [ ] Network ACLs configured as defense-in-depth - [ ] Private subnets used for databases and internal services - [ ] NAT gateway for outbound-only internet access from private subnets - [ ] VPC peering / Transit Gateway access controlled ## Logging & Monitoring - [ ] CloudTrail enabled in all regions - [ ] CloudTrail logs sent to centralized S3 bucket with integrity validation - [ ] CloudWatch alarms configured for: root login, IAM changes, security group changes - [ ] GuardDuty enabled - [ ] Config Rules enabled for compliance checking - [ ] Log retention policies configured (minimum 1 year) ## Encryption - [ ] EBS volumes encrypted by default - [ ] RDS encryption enabled - [ ] KMS keys managed with appropriate key policies - [ ] Secrets Manager used for credentials (not environment variables) - [ ] ACM used for TLS certificate management - [ ] SNS topic encryption enabled ## Compute - [ ] EC2 instances in private subnets where possible - [ ] Systems Manager (SSM) used instead of SSH bastion hosts - [ ] AMIs hardened and regularly updated - [ ] Auto-scaling configured for production workloads - [ ] Container images scanned for vulnerabilities (ECR scanning) ## Backup & Recovery - [ ] AWS Backup configured for critical resources - [ ] Cross-region backup replication for DR - [ ] Backup restoration tested quarterly - [ ] RDS automated backups enabled with appropriate retention --- *AWS Account ID: [Account]* *Last Reviewed: [Date]*

Frequently Asked Questions

An AWS Security Baseline Checklist is a formal checklist that essential aws security configurations for startups. covers iam, s3, vpc, cloudtrail, and more. It provides a structured framework for organisations to document and enforce security and compliance requirements.
Yes. Proveably provides this AWS Security Baseline Checklist template completely free of charge. You can download it in Markdown, PDF, Word, Excel, or plain text format — no account required.
This checklist is mapped to soc2, iso27001. It includes the specific control references and requirements needed to satisfy auditor expectations for these frameworks.
Download the template in your preferred format, then customise the bracketed placeholder sections with your organisation's specific details. Review with your security team or compliance officer, get management approval, and distribute to relevant staff. Proveably recommends reviewing and updating this checklist at least annually.
Absolutely. This template is designed as a starting point. All sections should be tailored to your organisation's size, industry, and specific compliance requirements. The placeholder text indicates sections that require customisation.

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