The Challenge
A specialty manufacturing company with about 50 employees had been running on the same on-premise server for years. The original owner who set it up had retired long ago, and no one on staff had IT expertise. The server just... worked. Until it didn't.
The system had started crashing regularly, grinding design work to a halt. The company produces custom designs that require storing and processing large image files—thousands of high-resolution assets that had accumulated over years of operation.
When we came in to diagnose the performance issues, we found something far more concerning: the server was completely exposed to the internet. Security groups equivalent to 0.0.0.0/0—open to the entire world. No firewall rules. No access controls. No monitoring.
The server logs showed constant bot attacks—automated scripts probing for vulnerabilities around the clock. The company had no idea. They'd been operating like this for years.
Our Approach
This wasn't just a performance problem—it was an existential risk. A successful breach could expose customer data, proprietary designs, and years of business records. We needed to solve the immediate security crisis while also addressing the underlying infrastructure issues.
The recommendation: migrate to AWS with security built in from the ground up.
The Solution
We executed a full cloud migration with comprehensive security controls:
Infrastructure Migration
- Migrated workloads from failing on-prem server to AWS EC2
- Deployed high-performance Windows Server sized for their 50-person team
- Implemented automated image lifecycle management with Lambda
- Configured S3 Glacier for cold storage of archived designs, reducing costs
Security Foundation
- Configured VPC with proper network segmentation
- Implemented Security Groups with principle of least privilege—no more 0.0.0.0/0
- Deployed AWS WAF for web application protection
- Enabled CloudTrail for complete audit logging
- Configured GuardDuty for threat detection and monitoring
Identity & Access Management
- Deployed AWS Directory Service for centralized identity management
- Implemented role-based access controls for all 50 users
- Enforced MFA for administrative access
- Created IP-based restrictions for sensitive operations
Ongoing Managed Security
- 24/7 security monitoring through our managed services
- Automated alerting for suspicious activity
- Regular security reviews and patch management
- Incident response procedures documented and tested
The Results
The transformation was immediate and dramatic.
Security Posture:
- Attack surface reduced from "everything" to properly scoped access
- Bot attacks now blocked at the perimeter—no more probing traffic reaching the server
- Complete visibility into who accesses what and when
- Threat detection catches anomalies before they become incidents
Operational Stability:
- Server crashes eliminated—properly sized infrastructure handles their workload
- Image storage costs reduced through intelligent lifecycle policies
- Performance improved for design-heavy workflows
Business Continuity:
- First real backup and disaster recovery capability in company history
- 24/7 monitoring means issues are caught before staff arrives in the morning
- Compliance-ready audit trails for customer requirements
The company went from not knowing they were under constant attack to having enterprise-grade security monitoring. Sometimes the scariest risks are the ones you don't know about.