INDEPENDENT CLOUD AUDITS
Know What Your Cloud Environment Is Really Doing
An evidence-led review of AWS, Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI), Microsoft Azure or hybrid environments.
Understand architecture, security, access, resilience, governance and cloud spend. Receive clear findings and a prioritised improvement plan before committing to costly change.
Six cloud audit lenses
- Architecture and resource inventory
- Identity, access and exposure
- Networking and segmentation
- Backup, resilience and monitoring
- Cloud cost and governance
- Risk prioritisation and roadmap
Independent. Evidence-led. Actionable.
AWS · OCI · Azure · Hybrid • Read-only by default • Fixed scope agreed in writing • Actionable report
WHEN AN AUDIT HELPS
Understand the risks before they become expensive
An independent audit answers specific operational questions and makes the next decision easier.
Costs rising without a clear explanation
Reveal idle resources, inefficient sizing, missing ownership and opportunities for better financial control.
An estate that has outgrown its design
Understand connections, operational dependencies, configuration drift and undocumented risks.
Uncertainty about resilience or security
Review access, network controls, monitoring, backup and recovery arrangements against operational needs.
WHAT WE REVIEW
A structured assessment of what matters
The precise controls and systems are agreed before work begins. Depth depends on the package and available evidence.
01
Architecture and current state
Accounts and subscriptions, resource inventory, service design, interdependencies and critical workloads.
02
Identity and access
Privileged access, MFA, service identities, permissions, segregation of duties and governance.
03
Networking and exposure
Connectivity, routing, segmentation, externally exposed services, security groups and key firewall controls.
04
Resilience and observability
Backup and restore evidence, disaster recovery approach, monitoring, logging and alert coverage.
05
Cost and operational ownership
Utilisation, cost allocation, budgets, waste indicators, commitments and operational handover.
06
Findings and improvement plan
Evidence-backed risks, business impact, practical quick wins, dependencies and next-step recommendations.
HOW WE WORK
A straightforward, evidence-led process
Senior technical input from initial scope through to a practical management discussion.
01. Agree scope
Define the systems, objectives, evidence requirements, stakeholders and fixed fees in writing.
02. Gather evidence
Review documentation, customer exports, read-only configuration and relevant stakeholder input.
03. Assess findings
Validate material risks, document evidence and distinguish facts from areas needing more investigation.
04. Present roadmap
Deliver the report, prioritised actions and an accessible findings conversation.
THE OUTCOME
A report that helps you act, not just a checklist
Every engagement produces a clear record of what was reviewed, what was found and what should happen next.
What you receive
The depth of supporting documentation depends on the agreed audit level.
- An executive summary written for business and technology decision-makers.
- An agreed inventory and current-state overview within the audit boundary.
- Risk-ranked findings with supporting evidence, impact and recommendations.
- A practical 30/60/90-day roadmap, dependencies and suggested ownership.
- A findings presentation with time for questions and prioritisation.
Scope and safeguards
These exclusions are important to preserve a safe and genuinely independent assessment.
- Read-only access or customer-provided exports and workshops are normally sufficient.
- DNC does not change configurations, create access, run intrusive scans or perform penetration testing as part of a standard audit.
- Full CIS, ISO, PCI or other certification and regulatory assurance are not implied; formal assessments are separately scoped.
- Costs and savings are estimates based on available evidence, not guaranteed outcomes.
- Out-of-scope workloads are documented for optional follow-up rather than assessed without agreement.
TRANSPARENT STARTING POINTS
Audit options and indicative pricing
Final prices depend on the systems and services in scope, the quality of available evidence and the required depth. All prices shown are starting points in GBP, excluding VAT where applicable, and are subject to a written proposal. Working days indicate estimated consultant effort, not a guaranteed turnaround.
AUDIT OPTION
Focused Cloud Audit
From £2,450
Typically 2 to 3 consultant days
One defined cloud account, subscription or bounded workload.
- Kick-off and limited evidence review
- Selected architecture, IAM, resilience and spend checks
- Concise findings and priority action list
- Online findings discussion
COMPREHENSIVE REVIEW
Comprehensive Cloud Audit
From £5,950
Typically 5 to 8 consultant days
Broader review of an agreed cloud estate and operational controls.
- Extended configuration and evidence assessment
- Architecture and dependency mapping
- Security, resilience, governance and cost review
- Detailed report and 30/60/90-day roadmap
AUDIT OPTION
Complex / Multi-cloud
Scoped quotation
Duration agreed in proposal
Multi-account, hybrid, business-critical or geographically distributed estates.
- Discovery to establish scope and dependencies
- Specialist domains and stakeholder workshops
- Architecture diagrams and assurance evidence
- Tailored reporting and remediation plan
No automatic follow-on commitment. Each audit is a standalone paid engagement. Optional remediation, on-site work, intrusive security testing and continuing support are quoted separately.
COMMON QUESTIONS
What to expect from an independent audit
Clear scope, proportionate evidence requests and practical recommendations.
What cloud platforms can you audit?
OCI, AWS, Azure and mixed or hybrid environments. The scope identifies accounts, services and locations before work starts.
Does the audit require administrator access?
No. Read-only roles, customer-generated exports and architecture walkthroughs are the normal starting point. Any additional access is agreed in advance.
Does this count as a compliance certification?
No. It is an independent technical review. It can reference relevant best practice, but does not grant ISO, CIS or other certifications.
Can DNC help implement the recommendations?
Yes, if requested. Remediation is optional and supplied under a separate proposal; the audit report remains yours to use with any provider.
START WITH A CLEAR SCOPE
Clarity before the next cloud decision
Tell us which platforms you use, the key concerns and the approximate size of your cloud estate.
We will propose a clear scope, evidence requirements, timescale and written fee before beginning.