This case study describes how the organization adopted a modern cloud operating model using Amazon Web Services (AWS) to improve operational efficiency, strengthen security posture, and enable regulatory compliance for its financial compliance and regulatory application platform. The migration introduced a fully automated, Infrastructure-as-Code (IaC) driven environment with centralized monitoring, security governance, and disaster recovery capabilities.

The customer enhanced its cloud security by leveraging AWS WAF, Application Load Balancer(ALB), Security Hub, CloudTrail, and IAM. These services provided robust application protection, centralized security monitoring, comprehensive audit logging, and secure access management. The implementation improved compliance, increased visibility into security events, and strengthened the overall security posture of the AWS environment.

A key focus area of this transformation was the implementation of robust Security Operations practices to protect financial workloads, secure customer data, ensure compliance with AML/BSA regulations, and provide proactive threat detection and monitoring.

About the Customer  

The customer is a leading regulatory technology and compliance software development organization specializing in anti-money laundering (AML), compliance automation, behavioral risk management, and financial workflow solutions. The organization provides technology platforms and consulting services that help financial institutions strengthen regulatory compliance and mitigate financial crime risks.

Customer Challenge  

The customer was operating on a legacy on-premises infrastructure that lacked the security, scalability, and operational visibility required to support its growing business and regulatory obligations. The organization faced challenges in protecting sensitive financial data, managing secure access, monitoring security events, and maintaining compliance with Anti-Money Laundering (AML) and Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) regulations. Existing systems provided limited capabilities for centralized logging, threat detection, security governance, and disaster recovery, increasing operational risk and the potential for service disruptions.

Proposed Solution & Architecture

Crest Data implemented a fully automated AWS Cloud infrastructure designed around security, scalability, availability, and operational efficiency.

Environment Setup

Each customer environment was deployed within its own isolated Amazon Virtual Private Cloud (VPC). The infrastructure was designed using public and private subnets distributed across three Availability Zones to ensure high availability and resilience.

All infrastructure resources and workloads were provisioned using Terraform-based Infrastructure-as-Code (IaC) templates.

Security Operations Framework

Security Operations played a critical role in ensuring the customer’s AWS  cloud environment remained secure, compliant, monitored, and resilient.

Identity & Access Management

Implemented AWS IAM with least-privilege and role-based access control (RBAC) to ensure secure and controlled access to AWS resources. 

Restricted administrative privileges through granular IAM policies, reducing the risk of unauthorized access and privilege escalation.

Restricted administrative privileges through granular IAM policies, through Amazon Cognito and AWS Directory Service integration for Windows-based environments.

Network Security Operations

Designed isolated Amazon VPC environments for each customer with public and private subnets distributed across multiple Availability Zones to enhance security and availability.  Secured network traffic through properly configured route tables, NAT Gateways, and Internet Gateways, ensuring controlled connectivity. 

Protected web applications from malicious traffic by implementing AWS WAF integrated with Application Load Balancers (ALB).

Enforced network-level security using restrictive security groups and enabled secure file transfers through AWS Transfer Family (SFTP).

Security Monitoring & Threat Detection 

Enabled AWS CloudTrail logging and AWS Config to provide comprehensive audit trails, governance, and continuous compliance monitoring across the AWS environment. Implemented AWS Security Hub for centralized security posture management, enabling visibility into security findings and compliance status.

Established real-time monitoring and alerting using Amazon CloudWatch to proactively identify infrastructure and application issues.

Deployed Nagios monitoring and collected AWS WAF logs to enhance threat visibility, infrastructure monitoring, and incident detection capabilities.

Data Protection & Compliance Operations

Implemented AWS KMS encryption to protect sensitive financial data both at rest and in transit, ensuring end-to-end data security.

Secured application credentials, certificates, and sensitive secrets using AWS Secrets Manager, reducing the risk of unauthorized access.

Enabled centralized audit logging through AWS CloudTrail to support security investigations, governance, and compliance requirements.

Established continuous compliance monitoring using AWS Security Hub and AWS Config, while enforcing secure data exchange through encrypted SFTP channels.

Outcomes & Success Metrics

Security & Compliance:

• 100% inbound traffic protected through WAF + ALB + Cognito.
• Zero compliance breaches during financial data exchange.
• 100% encryption coverage for sensitive data.
• Improved governance using Security Hub, CloudTrail, and AWS Config.

Operational Outcomes:

• 100% audit trail coverage across critical AWS resources and user activities.
• 50% faster detection and investigation of security incidents through centralized monitoring and alerting.
• Improved compliance posture with continuous security assessments and automated governance controls.
• Enhanced protection against unauthorized access and web-based threats through robust identity and application security controls.

Conclusion

Enhanced Security Posture: Strengthened security operations using AWS WAF, IAM, CloudTrail, and Security Hub, providing robust access control, threat protection, continuous monitoring, and centralized security visibility across the AWS environment.

Secure and Resilient Infrastructure: Improved application security and availability by routing all inbound traffic through AWS WAF and Application Load Balancers (ALB), protecting workloads from malicious requests while ensuring high availability and scalability.

Compliance and Governance Excellence: Leveraged CloudTrail, Security Hub, and IAM to establish comprehensive audit logging, compliance monitoring, and governance controls, supporting AML/BSA regulatory requirements and enabling secure business growth.

About Crest Data

Crest Data is an AWS Advanced Tier Services Partner with AWS Cloud Operations Competency and AWS Marketplace presence. We are a data and AI-driven technology solutions and product engineering company specializing in Cybersecurity, Observability, Cloud, DevOps, AI/ML, and Workflow Automation. We help enterprises modernize infrastructure, build scalable cloud-native platforms, improve operational reliability, and accelerate digital transformation through services ranging from strategic consulting and solution architecture to AI model integration, automation, and large-scale cloud deployments.