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Industries

AWS Consulting for Regulated Industries

HIPAA, PCI DSS, SOC 2, FERPA. Each framework has specific AWS service requirements, access controls, and audit trail expectations that go well beyond what AWS ships by default.

Regulated industries

Compliance-ready AWS goes beyond the defaults.

Regulated industries have compliance requirements that generic AWS documentation doesn't cover. HIPAA, PCI DSS, FERPA, and SOC 2 each map to specific AWS service configurations, access controls, and audit trails that have to be deliberately engineered.

A SOC 2 audit in a poorly architected environment can cost months of remediation before the auditor even enters the room. Forged Concepts identifies and corrects the gaps early, whether that means starting from scratch or working with what you already have. Infrastructure as code, senior engineers, every control documented for auditors.

The dimensions that matter across every regulated environment: data isolation at rest and in transit (KMS, TLS, VPC boundaries), complete audit trails (CloudTrail, Config, Security Hub), strict access management (IAM least-privilege, Cognito, MFA enforcement), and documented disaster recovery.

Audit trails

CloudTrail across all accounts, all regions, and all services. Not the default single-region setup.

Data isolation

PHI, PII, and cardholder data segregated at the account, VPC, and IAM policy level.

Encryption everywhere

KMS-managed keys for data at rest, TLS enforced in transit, Secrets Manager for credentials.

Continuous monitoring

GuardDuty, Security Hub, and Config rules that fire before an auditor finds the gap first.

Coverage

Compliance frameworks and the AWS services that carry them.

Industry Key Compliance Critical AWS Services
Healthcare HIPAA, SOC 2
  • GuardDuty
  • CloudTrail
  • KMS
  • Secrets Manager
  • WAF
  • HealthLake
Fintech PCI DSS, SOC 2, ISO 27001
  • WAF
  • Shield
  • KMS
  • CloudTrail
  • Security Hub
  • Config
SaaS SOC 2, customer SLAs
  • AWS Organizations
  • CloudWatch
  • CodePipeline
  • EKS
  • RDS
Education FERPA, COPPA
  • Cognito
  • S3
  • RDS
  • CloudTrail
  • Auto Scaling
Ecommerce PCI DSS (checkout), uptime SLAs
  • CloudFront
  • Auto Scaling
  • ElastiCache
  • SQS
HR Tech SOC 2, state privacy laws
  • KMS
  • Cognito
  • CloudTrail
  • VPC

Our focus industries

Where we work most.

Healthcare

HIPAA and SOC 2 compliant AWS infrastructure for digital health and health IT teams.

  • HIPAA
  • SOC 2
  • BAA

Learn more

Fintech

PCI DSS, SOC 2, and ISO 27001 AWS architecture for payments, lending, and banking software.

  • PCI DSS
  • SOC 2
  • ISO 27001

Learn more

SaaS

SOC 2-ready multi-tenant AWS infrastructure that supports enterprise sales and 99.9%+ uptime SLAs.

  • SOC 2
  • GDPR
  • Customer SLAs

Learn more

Education

FERPA and COPPA compliant infrastructure for EdTech platforms handling student data.

  • FERPA
  • COPPA

Learn more

Industry deep-dives

How we work in each vertical.

Healthcare · HIPAA + SOC 2

AWS HIPAA Consulting

Forged Concepts builds and remediates HIPAA-aligned AWS environments for digital health startups, health IT vendors, and health systems handling PHI. We design encryption at rest with KMS, enforce TLS in transit, configure CloudTrail audit logging across every account, lock down IAM access patterns, and execute the Business Associate Agreement with AWS through Artifact. SOC 2 Type II controls are layered on the same foundation so a single environment satisfies both audits.

Common AWS services in a compliant healthcare environment: GuardDuty for threat detection, CloudTrail for audit evidence, KMS for PHI encryption, Secrets Manager for credential isolation, and WAF for public endpoint protection.

Trigger events: approaching a HIPAA audit, adding enterprise health system customers, handling PHI for the first time, or building on HealthLake.

See the healthtech case study: a ~10-person startup that passed HIPAA and SOC 2 audits on AWS

Fintech · PCI DSS + SOC 2 + ISO 27001

AWS Fintech Consulting

Forged Concepts architects AWS environments for fintech products carrying layered compliance: PCI DSS for any system that touches cardholder data, SOC 2 for enterprise customers, and ISO 27001 for international deals. We design the network segmentation, encryption, and access logging PCI DSS requires from day one so the controls are engineered in, not retrofitted under audit pressure.

A zero-trust network model using VPC isolation, Security Groups, and AWS PrivateLink is the correct starting point. AWS Shield protects against DDoS at the network layer; WAF handles application-layer attacks; Config and Security Hub provide continuous compliance posture.

Trigger events: entering a PCI DSS audit cycle, landing a bank or insurance enterprise customer, or expanding to EU markets with DORA/NIS2 exposure.

Read the full AWS fintech consulting guide

SaaS · SOC 2 + Customer SLAs

AWS SaaS Consulting

SaaS companies in the 10–250 employee range typically need SOC 2 Type II before they can close mid-market deals, and customer SLAs that require 99.9%+ uptime with documented incident response. The AWS architecture that supports both: multi-tenant isolation enforced at the account level via AWS Organizations, blue/green and canary deployments to maintain availability during releases, and CloudWatch alarms that fire before customers notice problems.

Many SaaS teams reach a point where their deployment pipeline is a bottleneck and their AWS bill grows faster than revenue. Both are solvable with senior engineering.

Trigger events: first enterprise customer requesting SOC 2, Series A with investor diligence, or a reliability incident that made the news.

Read the full AWS SaaS consulting guide

Education · FERPA + COPPA

AWS Education Consulting

Forged Concepts builds AWS environments for EdTech platforms handling student data governed by FERPA and, when the product reaches users under 13, COPPA. We implement the strict access controls, audit logging, and third-party data sharing limits both frameworks require: Cognito for identity and access management, S3 with server-side encryption and access logging, RDS encrypted at rest, and CloudTrail capturing every data access event for auditors.

COPPA adds data minimization requirements that affect how you design your data model before the first user signs up. Auto Scaling handles the semester-cycle traffic spikes that crash under-provisioned EdTech platforms every September and January.

Trigger events: entering a K-12 market, district procurement requiring FERPA documentation, or scaling for back-to-school load.

Read the full AWS education consulting guide

FAQ

Common questions about regulated industry AWS work.

What industries does Forged Concepts serve?
Healthcare (HIPAA, SOC 2), Fintech (PCI DSS, SOC 2, ISO 27001), SaaS (SOC 2, customer SLAs), Education (FERPA, COPPA), Ecommerce (PCI DSS, uptime), and HR Tech (SOC 2, state privacy laws).
What is a HIPAA compliant AWS environment?
PHI encrypted at rest using KMS and in transit using TLS; CloudTrail enabled across all accounts for complete audit logging; GuardDuty active for threat detection; WAF protecting public-facing endpoints; Secrets Manager for credential isolation; and a signed Business Associate Agreement (BAA) with AWS, executed via AWS Artifact.
What is PCI DSS compliance on AWS?
AWS provides PCI DSS Level 1 certified infrastructure, while customers are responsible for securing their applications and cardholder data environments. PCI DSS workloads on AWS commonly use services such as VPCs for segmentation, KMS for encryption, CloudTrail for audit logging, WAF for application protection, and AWS Config for compliance monitoring.
AWS consulting for regulated industries
Forged Concepts helps organizations in healthcare, fintech, SaaS, and education design AWS environments aligned with HIPAA, PCI DSS, SOC 2, and FERPA expectations. We translate compliance requirements into practical cloud controls such as encryption, audit logging, access management, threat detection, network isolation, monitoring, and secure data storage using AWS services like CloudTrail, KMS, GuardDuty, WAF, Shield, Security Hub, CloudWatch, Cognito, S3 logging, and VPC security controls.

Ready when you are

Need senior AWS expertise without building a full internal team?

Forged Concepts helps growing companies improve AWS performance, control cloud costs, modernize infrastructure, and build with confidence. If your team needs stronger cloud architecture, better operations, or a clearer path forward on AWS, let's talk.

Talk to an AWS Expert info@forgedconcepts.com