Migration Security Guide
Secure Cloud Migration
Moving workloads to the cloud exposes data if security is not designed from day zero. See how to protect every migration phase with native AWS services.
What's your scenario?
Migrating on-premise servers?
AWS Control Tower creates a landing zone with pre-configured security guardrails: separate accounts per environment, SCPs (Service Control Policies) to block risky actions, and CloudTrail enabled across all accounts from day one.
Worried about data exposure?
AWS KMS manages encryption keys for data in transit (TLS) and at rest (AES-256). Amazon Macie scans S3 automatically to detect sensitive data (PII, credentials) that may have been migrated without classification.
Need LGPD, SOC 2, or HIPAA compliance?
AWS Config monitors resource compliance in real time against custom rules. AWS Audit Manager collects evidence automatically for SOC 2, HIPAA, LGPD, and PCI DSS audits, cutting manual work by 80%+.
How to detect threats after migration?
Amazon GuardDuty analyzes VPC, DNS, and CloudTrail logs with ML to detect threats in real time. AWS Security Hub centralizes findings from GuardDuty, Inspector, Macie, and Config into a unified dashboard with security scores.
Amounts, programs, and requirements as published by AWS and subject to change.
The problem
Why is security the biggest risk during migration?
Cloud migration is the moment of greatest data exposure for an organization. Data is copied between environments, credentials are shared temporarily, network ports are opened for transfer, and teams rush to meet deadlines. Research shows 45% of data breaches occur in the cloud, and most happen during or shortly after migrations. The most common mistakes: public S3 buckets from misconfiguration, overly permissive IAM policies ("Action": "*"), sensitive data transferred without encryption, and hardcoded credentials in migration scripts. The difference between a secure migration and a data breach is designing the security architecture before moving the first byte.
The approach
What does zero trust mean in a cloud migration?
Zero trust in cloud migration means no connection, user, or service is trusted by default, even inside the internal network. In practice, this involves: continuous identity verification via IAM Identity Center with mandatory MFA, network segmentation with isolated VPCs per workload and restrictive Security Groups, end-to-end encryption using KMS with customer-managed keys, complete logging via CloudTrail across all accounts and regions, and continuous compliance validation with AWS Config Rules. AWS makes zero trust easier because every service already has granular access control via IAM. The question is not whether AWS is secure, but whether your configuration is correct.
Comparison
On-premise vs cloud-native security: what changes?
| Traditional on-premise | Cloud-native AWS | |
|---|---|---|
| Network perimeter | Physical firewall protects everything inside the network | No fixed perimeter; each resource has individual access controls (Security Groups, NACLs) |
| Identity management | Centralized Active Directory, often with broad permissions | IAM Identity Center with granular policies, mandatory MFA, temporary roles |
| Encryption | Manual implementation, often inconsistent across systems | KMS with default encryption on S3, EBS, RDS; keys rotated automatically |
| Threat detection | Separate SIEM + IDS, high maintenance cost | GuardDuty with ML detects threats in real time with no additional infrastructure |
| Compliance and auditing | Manual evidence collection, slow processes | Config Rules + Audit Manager collect evidence automatically and continuously |
| Visibility | Limited to local logs and siloed tools | Security Hub centralizes findings from 10+ services into a unified dashboard |
Step by step
How does a secure migration project work?
Security assessment and inventory
We map all workloads, classify data by sensitivity (PII, financial, intellectual property), and identify compliance requirements (LGPD, SOC 2, HIPAA). We assess the current security posture and document gaps that need to be resolved before migration.
Secure landing zone design
We build the multi-account structure with AWS Organizations and Control Tower: separate accounts for production, staging, security, and logging. We configure SCPs, enable CloudTrail and Config across all accounts, and define security baselines with mandatory guardrails.
Migration with end-to-end encryption
Data is transferred via AWS DMS, DataSync, or Transfer Family with TLS in transit and KMS at rest. Credentials live in Secrets Manager, never in scripts. Each phase is validated with automated security tests before proceeding.
Monitoring and detection activation
We enable GuardDuty for threat detection, Security Hub for centralized visibility, Macie for sensitive data discovery, and Inspector for vulnerability scanning on EC2 and containers. Alerts are configured for Slack, PagerDuty, or email.
Compliance validation and hardening
We run AWS Audit Manager to collect compliance evidence automatically. We review all Config Rules, close Security Hub findings, and document the post-migration security state. We train your team on incident response runbooks.
AWS services
Which AWS services protect the migration?
AWS Control Tower + Organizations
Control Tower creates a landing zone with pre-configured security guardrails in minutes. Organizations enables SCPs that prevent actions like disabling CloudTrail or creating resources in unauthorized regions, enforced at the account level.
GuardDuty + Security Hub
GuardDuty uses machine learning to detect threats by analyzing VPC Flow, DNS, and CloudTrail logs without agents. Security Hub aggregates findings from GuardDuty, Inspector, Macie, and Config into a dashboard with AWS Security Score and automated remediation.
KMS + Macie + Secrets Manager
KMS centralizes encryption keys with automatic rotation and audit trail. Macie scans S3 to detect exposed PII and sensitive data. Secrets Manager stores database credentials, API keys, and tokens with automatic rotation and IAM-based access control.
Need help configuring all of this?
Elevata implements the full AWS security stack as part of every migration project. From landing zone design to GuardDuty activation and LGPD compliance, we ensure your infrastructure is protected before, during, and after migration.
45%
of data breaches occur in the cloud
80%+
reduction in manual audit work
< 1h
threat detection time with GuardDuty
About Elevata
Your AWS partner for Secure Cloud Migration
Elevata is a consulting company specialized in helping your business tap into the full potential of AWS. Whether it's generative AI, modernization, or migration, our solutions are built to support efficient, sustainable growth. As an AI-native AWS Advanced Partner, we bring deep AWS expertise to help you adopt generative AI and build secure, scalable cloud environments aligned with your business needs and focused on outcomes you can sustain and build on over time.
More about usFrequently asked questions
What do people ask about Secure Cloud Migration?
What are the biggest security risks during cloud migration?
The most common risks: S3 buckets misconfigured as public, IAM policies with excessive permissions ("Action": "*"), sensitive data transferred without encryption, hardcoded credentials in migration scripts, and missing logging during the transition. Each of these mistakes has caused real-world data breaches. Prevention starts with landing zone design and security policies before moving any workload.
How do you protect data during transfer to AWS?
All transfers should use TLS 1.2+ in transit and KMS encryption (AES-256) at rest. Use AWS DMS for databases, DataSync for files, and Transfer Family for SFTP. Store credentials in Secrets Manager, never in environment variables or scripts. Enable VPC endpoints so traffic doesn't cross the public internet. Validate integrity with automatic checksums after each transfer batch.
What is a secure landing zone on AWS?
A landing zone is the multi-account structure that receives your migrated workloads. AWS Control Tower sets this up automatically with: separate accounts per environment (prod, staging, security, log archive), SCPs that prevent dangerous actions, CloudTrail enabled across all accounts, Config Rules for continuous compliance, and IAM Identity Center for centralized access with MFA. It's the security foundation, and it must be ready before the first migration.
How do you meet LGPD and SOC 2 compliance during cloud migration?
AWS Audit Manager collects compliance evidence automatically for frameworks like SOC 2, HIPAA, LGPD, and PCI DSS. AWS Config monitors resource compliance in real time against custom rules. For LGPD specifically: classify data with Macie, implement encryption with KMS, configure granular access controls with IAM, and maintain access logs via CloudTrail. Automated evidence collection reduces manual audit work by over 80%.
What's the difference between zero trust and traditional perimeter security?
Perimeter security trusts everything inside the network (firewall protects the edge). Zero trust trusts nothing by default: every request is authenticated and authorized individually, even between internal services. On AWS, zero trust uses IAM roles with minimum permissions, restrictive Security Groups, private VPC endpoints, encryption at every level, and continuous verification via CloudTrail and GuardDuty. The cloud makes zero trust easier because every API call already goes through IAM.
Can Elevata help with secure cloud migration to AWS?
Yes. Elevata is an AWS Advanced Partner and implements the full security stack in every migration project: landing zone with Control Tower, encryption with KMS, threat detection with GuardDuty, compliance with Audit Manager, and continuous monitoring with Security Hub. We also facilitate access to MAP (Migration Acceleration Program) which provides $100K+ in credits for migrations.
Next step
Assess the security of your cloud migration
Get a free security risk assessment of your current infrastructure and a secure AWS migration plan.
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