AWS security for start-ups that do not have a security team

The four AWS security questions every founder gets asked

Sooner or later, a customer, an investor or an auditor asks the same four questions. Here is how bearhug helps you answer each one.

1. Is customer data exposed anywhere?

   An exposed bucket or database is the fastest way to lose a customer’s trust.

   How bearhug helps: bearhug flags public S3 buckets, security groups open to the internet and unencrypted databases and volumes, so you can answer with evidence rather than a guess.

2. Who has access to production?

   Old access keys and shared admin accounts are how one leaked credential becomes a full compromise.

   How bearhug helps: IAM findings show unused access keys, users without MFA and permissions broader than they need to be.

3. Would you know if you were breached?

   Most small teams have no one watching for threats outside office hours.

   How bearhug helps: New critical and high-severity GuardDuty findings reach you as plain-English email alerts, so a serious threat does not sit unnoticed in a console.

4. Are you working towards SOC 2 or ISO 27001?

   Enterprise customers increasingly ask for one of these before they sign.

   How bearhug helps: bearhug maps findings to SOC 2 and ISO 27001 controls, so you can show which AWS issues you have already fixed.

What bearhug gives a start-up

• Connection in under five minutes, with prioritised findings as soon as Security Hub completes its first checks, usually within a couple of hours
• Explanations your whole team can understand, not only engineers
• One-click fixes for common issues, so a fix takes minutes, not a sprint
• Evidence of an improving security posture for customers and investors, with daily trends
• Compliance mapping for SOC 2, ISO 27001, PCI DSS, GDPR and Cyber Essentials
• A flat $100 per AWS account per month, billed through AWS Marketplace

For non-technical founders

Plain-English mode turns every finding into three answers: what is wrong, why it matters and how to fix it. Real-time email alerts explain new critical issues in language you can forward straight to your CTO or a contractor.

The dashboard gives you a clear view of risk across every AWS account you run, so you can talk about security with customers and investors without guessing. Read more about plain-English AWS security findings.

A realistic first week with bearhug

1. Day one: connect and look. Deploy the CloudFormation stack in under five minutes. Your first findings, grouped by severity, arrive as Security Hub completes its first checks, usually within a couple of hours.
2. Day one or two: close the obvious gaps. Use one-click fixes to block public access on S3 buckets, close open and insecure ports and enable CloudTrail logging.
3. During the week: tighten access. Work through IAM findings, such as unused access keys and users without MFA, using the step-by-step guidance.
4. From then on: stay on top of it. Real-time email alerts tell you when something new and critical appears, and daily trends show your progress.
5. Before the next questionnaire: use the compliance mapping and trend history to show customers and investors where you stand.

Security questionnaires without the panic

The first enterprise security questionnaire usually arrives at the worst possible moment, in the middle of a deal you need to close. Many of its questions are about your cloud: is data encrypted, is access limited, is activity logged and would you detect an incident.

With bearhug connected, you can answer those questions from what your AWS account actually looks like today, rather than from memory. The findings you have already fixed, and the trend that shows your posture improving, are exactly the evidence a customer’s security team wants to see.