CloudForge CI Compliance Documentation

Overview

CloudForge CI provides automated compliance enforcement for HIPAA, SOC2, PCI-DSS, and GDPR. Our intelligent compliance system automatically configures security controls, retention policies, and remediation actions based on your selected frameworks.

Key Benefits:

✅ Zero Manual Configuration - Compliance settings auto-adapt to your frameworks
✅ Continuous Enforcement - Automatic remediation fixes non-compliant resources
✅ Cost Optimized - Intelligent lifecycle policies reduce storage costs by up to 90%
✅ Audit Ready - Complete audit trail with immutable logs

Quick Links

For Developers

Automated Compliance Features - Technical deep-dive into implementation
Deployment Guide - Step-by-step deployment instructions
Multi-Framework Compliance - Supporting multiple frameworks simultaneously

For Compliance Teams

Quick Start Guide - Fast path to compliance
PCI-DSS Compliance - PCI-DSS specific requirements
Multi-Framework Compliance - Detailed framework mapping

For Customers

This README - Feature overview and benefits
Cost Breakdown - Transparent pricing information

Features

1. Intelligent S3 Lifecycle Management

Problem: Compliance requires years of log retention, but storing everything in S3 Standard is expensive.

Solution: Automatic lifecycle policies transition data through cost-effective storage tiers:

Day 0-90    → S3 Standard      ($23/TB/month)  - Immediate availability
Day 90-365  → Glacier          ($4/TB/month)   - Infrequent access
Day 365+    → Glacier Deep Archive ($1/TB/month) - Long-term compliance

Retention by Framework:

Framework	Retention Period	Annual Cost per TB*
HIPAA	6 years	$246
SOC2	2 years	$132
PCI-DSS	1 year	$96

*Compared to $276/year for S3 Standard

What's Included:

CloudTrail audit logs
AWS Config compliance data
Application access logs (ALB)
Audit Manager evidence

2. Automatic IAM Password Policy Enforcement

Problem: Compliance frameworks require strict password policies, but manual enforcement is error-prone.

Solution: AWS Config continuously monitors password policy and automatically fixes non-compliance.

How It Works:

Config detects missing/weak password policy
SSM Automation immediately applies correct policy
Config re-evaluates and confirms compliance
All actions logged to CloudTrail

Password Requirements:

Framework	Minimum Length	Rotation	Reuse Prevention
HIPAA	14 characters	90 days	24 passwords
SOC2	12 characters	90 days	12 passwords
PCI-DSS	8 characters	90 days	4 passwords

All frameworks require uppercase, lowercase, numbers, and symbols.

3. Immutable Audit Trail

Problem: Audit logs must be tamper-proof to meet compliance requirements.

Solution: S3 versioning prevents deletion or modification of audit logs.

Benefits:

Immutability: Cannot overwrite previous versions
Recovery: Restore accidentally deleted files
Compliance: Meets regulatory requirements for audit trails

Applied To:

✅ CloudTrail logs
✅ Config snapshots
✅ ALB access logs
✅ Audit Manager evidence

4. Multi-Framework Support

Problem: Many organizations must meet multiple compliance frameworks simultaneously.

Solution: Enable multiple frameworks and the system automatically applies the strictest requirement.

Example:

// Enable HIPAA + PCI-DSS + SOC2
cfc.put("complianceFrameworks", "HIPAA,PCI-DSS,SOC2");

Result:

Retention: 6 years (HIPAA is strictest)
Password: 14 characters (HIPAA is strictest)
Reuse: 24 passwords (HIPAA is strictest)

Supported Compliance Frameworks

HIPAA - Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act

Industry: Healthcare Key Requirements:

6-year data retention
Encryption at rest and in transit
Access controls and audit logging
Breach notification procedures

CloudForge Implementation:

✅ 6-year S3 lifecycle policies
✅ 14-character passwords with complexity
✅ Complete audit trail via CloudTrail
✅ Encryption using S3-managed keys (SSE-S3)

SOC2 - Service Organization Control 2

Industry: SaaS, Cloud Services Key Requirements:

Security, availability, processing integrity
Confidentiality and privacy controls
Annual audits required

CloudForge Implementation:

✅ 2-year log retention for audit evidence
✅ 12-character passwords
✅ Continuous monitoring via AWS Config
✅ Automated evidence collection (Audit Manager)

PCI-DSS - Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard

Industry: E-commerce, Payment Processing Key Requirements:

1-year log retention (3 months immediately available)
Network security controls
Regular vulnerability scanning
Incident response procedures

CloudForge Implementation:

✅ 1-year retention, 90 days in S3 Standard
✅ 8-character minimum passwords
✅ WAF protection on ALB
✅ CloudWatch alarms for security events

Industry: EU Operations, Privacy-Focused Key Requirements:

Data minimization and retention limits
Right to erasure ("right to be forgotten")
Data breach notification (72 hours)
Privacy by design

CloudForge Implementation:

✅ Configurable retention periods
✅ S3 versioning for data recovery
✅ Access controls and encryption
✅ CloudWatch alarms for breach detection

How It Works

Architecture

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                     CloudForge CI Stack                      │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
                              │
                              ▼
            ┌─────────────────────────────────┐
            │   Compliance Framework Config    │
            │  (HIPAA, SOC2, PCI-DSS, GDPR)   │
            └─────────────────────────────────┘
                              │
                ┌─────────────┼─────────────┐
                │             │             │
                ▼             ▼             ▼
        ┌──────────┐   ┌──────────┐  ┌──────────┐
        │ S3 Rules │   │   IAM    │  │CloudTrail│
        │Lifecycle │   │ Password │  │  Logging │
        │Versioning│   │  Policy  │  │ Retention│
        └──────────┘   └──────────┘  └──────────┘
                              │
                              ▼
                ┌─────────────────────────────┐
                │       AWS Config            │
                │  (Continuous Monitoring)    │
                └─────────────────────────────┘
                              │
                ┌─────────────┼─────────────┐
                │             │             │
                ▼             ▼             ▼
        ┌──────────┐   ┌──────────┐  ┌──────────┐
        │ Detect   │   │Remediate │  │  Verify  │
        │Non-      │──▶│  Using   │──▶│Compliance│
        │Compliant │   │   SSM    │   │  Status  │
        └──────────┘   └──────────┘  └──────────┘

Deployment Flow

Developer configures frameworks

cfc.put("complianceFrameworks", "HIPAA,SOC2");

CDK synthesizes CloudFormation
- Determines strictest requirements
- Generates Config rules with parameters
- Creates remediation configurations
CloudFormation deploys resources
- S3 buckets with lifecycle rules
- Config rules and remediation
- IAM roles for automation
AWS Config monitors compliance
- Continuous evaluation of resources
- Automatic remediation when non-compliant
- Compliance status dashboard
Results visible immediately
- Config dashboard shows compliance
- CloudWatch alarms for violations
- Audit Manager collects evidence

Cost Analysis

Monthly Cost Breakdown (PRODUCTION with HIPAA)

AWS Services:

Service	Usage	Cost
AWS Config	10 rules, 50 resources	$25
S3 Storage	100 GB initial	$2.30
S3 Glacier	200 GB	$0.80
S3 Deep Archive	500 GB	$0.50
CloudTrail	All events	$5
Systems Manager	Automation	$2
CloudWatch	Alarms & Logs	$5
Total		~$40/month

ROI Analysis:

Without Automation: $5,000-20,000/year for manual compliance management
With CloudForge: $480/year in AWS costs
Savings: 90-98% cost reduction

Hidden Costs Eliminated:

No manual policy configuration
No dedicated compliance engineer needed
No audit preparation time
Reduced audit costs (evidence pre-collected)

Getting Started

Prerequisites

AWS Account with admin access
AWS CDK installed
Java 17+ and Maven

5-Minute Quick Start

# 1. Clone repository
git clone https://github.com/cloudforgeci/cfc-core.git
cd cfc-core

# 2. Build
cd cloudforge-api
mvn clean install

# 3. Deploy (Interactive Deployer will prompt for configuration)
cd ../cfc-testing
cdk deploy

# When prompted, select:
# - Compliance Frameworks: HIPAA, SOC2
# - Security Profile: PRODUCTION
# - Enable AWS Config: Yes
# - Enable ALB Access Logging: Yes

# 4. Verify compliance
aws configservice describe-compliance-by-config-rule \
  --query 'ComplianceByConfigRules[*].[ConfigRuleName,Compliance.ComplianceType]' \
  --output table

Expected Output:

----------------------------------------
|  DescribeComplianceByConfigRule       |
+----------------------------------+----+
|  IAMPasswordPolicyRule           | COMPLIANT |
|  S3VersioningRule                | COMPLIANT |
|  CloudTrailEnabledRule           | COMPLIANT |
+----------------------------------+----+

Next Steps

Read Deployment Guide - Detailed deployment instructions
Configure Monitoring - Set up alerts and dashboards
Schedule Audits - Establish regular compliance reviews

Monitoring Setup

CloudWatch Dashboard

Create a compliance dashboard to monitor all metrics:

aws cloudwatch put-dashboard \
  --dashboard-name CloudForgeCompliance \
  --dashboard-body file://compliance-dashboard.json

Includes:

Config rule compliance status
S3 bucket sizes and costs
CloudTrail event counts
Remediation execution history

Subscribe to get alerts for compliance violations:

# Get SNS topic ARN
aws sns list-topics --query 'Topics[?contains(TopicArn, `config`)].TopicArn' --output text

# Subscribe to email
aws sns subscribe \
  --topic-arn <TOPIC_ARN> \
  --protocol email \
  --notification-endpoint compliance@yourcompany.com

Compliance Audits

Monthly Checklist

Review Config rule compliance dashboard
Check S3 storage costs in Cost Explorer
Verify CloudTrail is logging all events
Review IAM users (ensure no direct policy attachments)
Check remediation execution history
Verify backup retention policies

Quarterly Review

Run AWS Audit Manager assessment
Review access logs for anomalies
Update compliance documentation
Test disaster recovery procedures
Review and update security policies

Annual Audit

Complete SOC2 Type 2 audit (if applicable)
HIPAA risk assessment
PCI-DSS vulnerability scans
Review all compliance documentation
Update business continuity plan

FAQs

Q: What happens if I delete the CloudFormation stack? A: Account-level settings (password policy, EBS encryption) persist. S3 buckets are retained in PRODUCTION (RemovalPolicy.RETAIN).

Q: Can I customize the retention periods? A: Yes, but ensure you meet minimum compliance requirements for your frameworks. Customization requires code changes.

Q: Does this work with AWS Organizations? A: Yes! Deploy via CloudFormation StackSets to apply compliance across all accounts.

Q: How often does Config evaluate rules? A: Continuously for configuration changes, plus periodic evaluations every 24 hours.

Q: Can I disable auto-remediation? A: Yes, set .automatic(false) in the remediation configuration. Manual approval will be required.

Q: What if remediation fails? A: Config will retry up to 5 times with 60-second intervals. Check SSM Automation execution history for errors.

Q: How do I prove compliance to auditors? A: Use AWS Audit Manager to automatically collect evidence and generate reports for your chosen framework.

Q: Can I add custom compliance rules? A: Yes! Add custom Config rules in ComplianceFactory.java. Follow existing patterns.

Troubleshooting

Common Issues

Issue: Config rules show INSUFFICIENT_DATA Fix: Trigger manual evaluation: aws configservice start-config-rules-evaluation

Issue: Password policy not updating Fix: Check SSM Automation role has iam:UpdateAccountPasswordPolicy permission

Issue: S3 lifecycle not applied Fix: Verify complianceFrameworks is set in deployment context

Issue: High AWS costs Fix: Review S3 storage class distributions. Ensure lifecycle transitions are working.

For more troubleshooting, see Deployment Guide - Troubleshooting.

Documentation Index

Getting Started

README - This file
Quick Start Guide - Fast path to compliance
Deployment Guide - Detailed deployment

Technical Documentation

Automated Compliance - Feature deep-dive
Multi-Framework Compliance - Multiple frameworks
AWS Config Multi-Stack - Multi-account setup

Framework-Specific

PCI-DSS Compliance - PCI-DSS requirements
PCI-DSS Application Security - App security
Multi-Framework Compliance - Framework mapping

Support & Contributing

Get Help

Issues: GitHub Issues
Email: support@cloudforgeci.com
Documentation: docs/compliance/

Contributing

We welcome contributions! See CONTRIBUTING.md in the project root for guidelines.

License

Apache 2.0 - See LICENSE file in the project root for details

Changelog

Version 2.0.0 (Current)

✅ Automated S3 lifecycle policies based on compliance frameworks
✅ S3 versioning enabled on all compliance buckets
✅ IAM password policy auto-remediation via AWS Config
✅ Multi-framework support (HIPAA, SOC2, PCI-DSS, GDPR)
✅ Strictest-requirement logic for multiple frameworks
✅ Comprehensive documentation

Version 1.0.0

Initial compliance features
Manual configuration required

Last Updated: 2025 CloudForge CI - Automated Compliance for AWS

Overview​

Quick Links​

For Developers​

For Compliance Teams​

For Customers​

Features​

1. Intelligent S3 Lifecycle Management​

2. Automatic IAM Password Policy Enforcement​

3. Immutable Audit Trail​

4. Multi-Framework Support​

Supported Compliance Frameworks​

HIPAA - Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act​

SOC2 - Service Organization Control 2​

PCI-DSS - Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard​

GDPR - General Data Protection Regulation​

How It Works​

Architecture​

Deployment Flow​

Cost Analysis​

Monthly Cost Breakdown (PRODUCTION with HIPAA)​

Getting Started​

Prerequisites​

5-Minute Quick Start​

Next Steps​

Monitoring Setup​

CloudWatch Dashboard​

SNS Notifications​

Compliance Audits​

Monthly Checklist​

Quarterly Review​

Annual Audit​

FAQs​

Troubleshooting​

Common Issues​

Documentation Index​

Getting Started​

Technical Documentation​

Framework-Specific​

Support & Contributing​

Get Help​

Contributing​

License​

Changelog​

Version 2.0.0 (Current)​

Version 1.0.0​

Overview

Quick Links

For Developers

For Compliance Teams

For Customers

Features

1. Intelligent S3 Lifecycle Management

2. Automatic IAM Password Policy Enforcement

3. Immutable Audit Trail

4. Multi-Framework Support

Supported Compliance Frameworks

HIPAA - Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act

SOC2 - Service Organization Control 2

PCI-DSS - Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard

GDPR - General Data Protection Regulation

How It Works

Architecture

Deployment Flow

Cost Analysis

Monthly Cost Breakdown (PRODUCTION with HIPAA)

Getting Started

Prerequisites

5-Minute Quick Start

Next Steps

Monitoring Setup

CloudWatch Dashboard

SNS Notifications

Compliance Audits

Monthly Checklist

Quarterly Review

Annual Audit

FAQs

Troubleshooting

Common Issues

Documentation Index

Getting Started

Technical Documentation

Framework-Specific

Support & Contributing

Get Help

Contributing

License

Changelog

Version 2.0.0 (Current)

Version 1.0.0