Cloud Security Audit Template
AWS · Azure · GCP
Seven control families, 80+ checks. The working template we fill in during real engagements — adapted from CIS Benchmarks, NIST SP 800-53, ISO/IEC 27017, and DPDP Act reasonable security safeguards. Pass, Fail, or N/A each control. Record evidence. Turn a checklist into a defensible audit artefact.
80+ controls · Severity-rated · Fillable PDF · 14 pages
Why this template exists
Most cloud audits we see are either a Scout Suite dump with no prioritisation, or a 200-item compliance matrix that drowns the real risks. Neither helps engineering actually fix the exposure.
This template is deliberately opinionated. Every control carries a severity — CRIT, HIGH, or MED — so you know which failures warrant a same-week fix and which go in the backlog. And it forces you to record evidence, because an audit without evidence is just an opinion.
What the template covers
Each control has Pass / Fail / N/A status, severity, and an evidence field. Total 80+ audit items.
Identity & Access Management
10 controlsRoot / global-admin hygiene, MFA enforcement, federated access, privileged-role JIT, unused-key decommission, cross-account trust audits.
Data protection
10 controlsPublic-bucket prevention, encryption at rest and in transit, KMS rotation, backup immutability, DPDP data-residency alignment, secrets storage.
Network security
8 controlsSecurity-group hygiene on admin ports, flow-log retention, VPC segmentation, private endpoints, WAF posture, DNSSEC, egress filtering.
Compute & containers
8 controlsIMDSv2 enforcement, OS patching, Kubernetes RBAC and network policies, container image scanning, pod security, serverless role scoping, EDR coverage.
Logging, monitoring, incident response
7 controlsImmutable audit trails, GuardDuty / Defender / SCC enablement, alert routing, IR runbooks for four attack scenarios, tabletop exercise, DPDP / CERT-In breach SLA drill.
Change management & IaC
5 controlsInfrastructure-as-Code adoption, policy-as-code scanning, OIDC short-lived pipeline tokens, drift detection, peer-review for prod changes.
Compliance & governance
6 controlsShared-responsibility documentation, data classification tagging, SaaS integration inventory, named security owner, framework mapping (CIS / NIST / ISO / SOC 2 / DPDP), vendor DPA coverage.
Red lines. A CRIT fail is not a finding — it is an incident waiting to be reported. Public bucket with real customer data, root account without MFA, CloudTrail disabled: treat as same-week remediation.
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Common Questions
Does this apply to AWS, Azure, and GCP?
Yes. Controls are written at a level of abstraction that applies to all three clouds, with provider-specific terminology in parentheses where relevant (e.g., "CloudTrail / Activity Logs / Cloud Audit Logs"). Use the evidence column to reference the concrete config per provider.
How is this different from a CIS Benchmark?
CIS Benchmarks are comprehensive but long — 200+ items per cloud. This template is a curated subset organised around attacker-relevant outcomes, with severity rating and India-specific overlays (DPDP data residency, CERT-In 6-hour breach window). Use it for the first sweep; fall back to CIS Benchmarks for exhaustive scoring.
Can we use this as our SOC 2 or ISO 27001 evidence?
It is an excellent starting artefact but not a substitute for the auditor-mandated testing regime. A completed template with evidence demonstrates intent and control design; your auditor will still want to see control operation evidence over the attestation period.
Do you run this audit as a paid engagement?
Yes. A typical Starter cloud audit (single AWS account or Azure subscription) is ₹75,000 and takes 1 week. Professional (multi-account, IAM deep-dive, workload review) is ₹2,25,000 over 3 weeks. Enterprise programs with CSPM rollout and IR integration start at ₹5,50,000. See /cloud-security/ for full scope.
Can I adapt the template for my own clients or auditees?
Internal use is free. Re-branding it for resale or inclusion in a paid product is not permitted. If you want to white-label a version for your consultancy, email hello@ringsafe.in.
Want us to run the audit?
RingSafe runs fixed-scope cloud security audits for Indian SaaS and fintech companies on AWS, Azure, and GCP. Evidence-backed, severity-ranked, with a named owner for every finding.
Book a free scoping call See Cloud Security pricing