Cybersecurity · Topic cluster spoke
Cloud migration security risks and how to control them
The security failures that show up during migration waves, and the controls CIOs should require before cutover.
17 Aug 2026 · 7 min read
What are the biggest security risks in cloud migration?
The biggest cloud migration security risks are over-privileged identities, unprotected data in transit and at rest, missing audit logs, exposed management endpoints, and copying insecure on-premises patterns into the cloud without guardrails.
Security controls should be exit criteria in every wave of your Enterprise Cloud Migration Strategy.
Controls to require before production cutover
- Data classification and residency decisions documented.
- Least-privilege IAM with reviewed break-glass accounts.
- Organisation-wide logging shipped to an immutable store.
- Encryption defaults for storage, disks, and secrets.
- Vulnerability and secrets scanning in CI for migrated services.
- Incident response runbook tested with the new cloud context.
How to secure AWS infrastructure during migration
If you are migrating to AWS, lock the organisation structure early: SCPs or equivalent guardrails, central logging, and banned public access patterns for storage. Treat account vending as a controlled process, not a free-for-all.
- Block public S3 and similar misconfigurations by policy.
- Require MFA for privileged roles.
- Separate prod and non-prod with clear network boundaries.
- Scan Terraform or CloudFormation in pull requests.
See the broader programme in Enterprise Cloud Migration Strategy.
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