04Program
Secure cloud migration: landing zones, migration and cloud security as one program
Migration, landing zones and cloud security engineered together, so the environment you land in is governed, monitored and rebuildable from day one.
- Name
- Secure Cloud Migration
- Line
- 04 · Cloud
- Type
- Outcome program, combines several practices
01The problem
Migrations without security create debt quickly.
Cloud migrations run as pure infrastructure projects create security debt at cloud speed: over-privileged identities, unmonitored control planes and configurations nobody can reproduce. Retrofitting security after go-live costs more than building it in.
02Scope
What the cloud migration program covers.
- Landing zone and account topology design
- Cloud IAM and least-privilege architecture
- Infrastructure as code with security checks in the pipeline
- Control-plane logging and detection onboarding
- Migration execution with per-wave validation
- Post-migration posture assessment
03Approach
How a cloud migration engagement runs.
Delivered on Azure, AWS and Google Cloud. Control-plane telemetry can feed [security operations](/services/cybersecurity/managed-soc) from the first workload. The same detection patterns inform the design of [XDR](/products/xdr), which is in development.
Assess & architect
Workload inventory, dependency mapping and a target landing-zone design with security, cost and resilience modeled before anything moves.
Build guardrails first
Identity architecture, policy-as-code and control-plane logging deployed before the first production workload arrives.
Migrate in validated waves
Phased cutover with security validation and rollback plans at each wave. No big-bang weekends.
04Outcomes
What the cloud migration program is built to achieve.
- Landing zones with guardrails, policy-as-code and least-privilege IAM from the first workload
- Migration waves with security validation built into each cutover
- Control-plane logging and detection wired into security operations before production traffic arrives
- Infrastructure as code that makes the secure configuration the reproducible one
When this work fits
- Organizations moving from a data center or hosting provider to Azure, AWS or Google Cloud
- Companies with an early cloud environment that grew without structure, logging or guardrails
- Regulated businesses that must show security controls were in place from the first workload
- Teams with a migration deadline and no capacity to design the platform and move applications together
05Questions
Cloud migration: questions we are asked
A landing zone is the prepared foundation of a cloud environment: account or subscription structure, identity, network layout, logging, guardrail policies and cost controls. Building it first means every workload arrives into an environment that is already governed and monitored. Retrofitting the same controls after migration costs more and leaves a period in which nothing was logged.
Per application, not per program. Rehosting moves a system as it is and suits stable applications with a deadline. Replatforming swaps components for managed services, such as a managed database. Refactoring redesigns the application for the cloud and is justified when the system is strategic and changes often. A dependency and risk review of each application decides which path it takes.
By building controls into the platform instead of reviewing each workload by hand. Guardrails written as policy as code block unsafe configurations automatically, approved infrastructure templates give teams a secure starting point, and logging is on by default. Engineers move quickly inside those limits. Detailed review is reserved for the few systems that need exceptions. See cloud security for the assessment side.
It depends on the number of applications, how well their dependencies are understood, data volumes and how much refactoring is chosen. Discovery at the start of the program produces a wave plan with a realistic sequence. We prefer to migrate a small first wave early, because it tests the landing zone and the runbooks before the larger systems move.
Operations begin: monitoring, patching, backup testing, cost review and detection tuning. Many programs fail here, when the project team leaves and nobody owns the platform. We plan the operating model before cutover, either handing over to your team with runbooks or continuing under managed services, with cost and security reviews on a fixed cadence.
Often alongside