AWS Security Transformation

Overcoming Security Challenges in a Multi-Year Cloud Transformation

A leading multi-national energy company embarked on a major multi-year cloud transformational journey, moving the majority of its on-premise estate into AWS and becoming a cloud-first organisation.

Part of this transformation involved the creation of new centralised platform teams that managed the core AWS platform and AWS security functionality. From a security perspective, the company wanted to go “cloud native” as much as possible and required specialist cloud security expertise to help them make this happen.

From Strategy to Execution: Embedding AWS Security Capabilities

Hydras, part of the Acora Group, were selected to provide specialist AWS consultancy and architecture expertise. The engagement began with a focus on AWS security tooling, where our team built initial proof‑of‑concepts to validate design assumptions and demonstrate early value. Working closely with the company’s security leadership, our consultants then shaped a strategic implementation plan covering all core security domains: Identity and Access Management, Infrastructure and Data Security, Detection and Response, and Application Security.

In parallel, Hydras security engineers deployed the first wave of AWS native tooling to provide immediate visibility and shorten the feedback loop. These early deployments proved the benefits of a cloud‑native approach and set the foundation for the next phase.

Following the successful strategy and initial rollout, Hydras were commissioned for a multi‑year engagement to deliver AWS Engineering, Operations, and Assurance services, bringing the cloud‑native roadmap to life. Our engineers implemented and integrated a suite of AWS security services into the company’s existing systems, automating the detection and surfacing of vulnerabilities:

• AWS Organizations for account governance
• AWS CloudTrail for audit logging
• AWS Config for continuous configuration and asset tracking
• AWS GuardDuty for threat detection
• AWS Security Hub for compliance monitoring
• AWS Inspector for vulnerability assessment
• AWS Systems Manager for patching and on‑host security
• AWS Access Analyzer and IAM Access Advisor for permissions insight

To support long‑term adoption, we also provided operational expertise, offering DevOps capability and acting as specialist advisors to internal engineering teams. Alongside this, our consultancy and assurance teams worked directly within customer teams as embedded security specialists, ensuring each internal group

Turning Security Ambition into AWS Reality

Hydras enabled the organisation to confidently accelerate its cloud journey by delivering a clear security strategy and fully automating the rollout of security tooling and controls across the entire AWS estate, over 3,000 accounts in total. By embedding our consultants directly within internal teams, we helped champion AWS security best practices and equipped developers to build security into their workflows from day one.

Today, the company has a mature, high‑performing cloud security function that continues to evolve and support the wider business. Hydras remain a trusted partner, with our consultants still working alongside central and customer teams to guide and strengthen their cloud security capabilities.