Management

AWS CloudWatch

Amazon CloudWatch monitors AWS resources and applications. Collect metrics, logs, and events; set alarms; and automatically react to changes in your environment.

What is CloudWatch? (Simple Explanation)

Think of CloudWatch like a fitness tracker for your cloud. It monitors your servers, checks if they're healthy, and alerts you if something goes wrong — like a heart rate monitor that calls a doctor.

When Would You Use This?

  • Infrastructure monitoring
  • Application performance monitoring
  • Log aggregation and analysis
  • Automated incident response

Who Uses CloudWatch?

From startups to enterprises, CloudWatch powers:

StartupsMid-size CompaniesLarge EnterprisesGovernmentNonprofits

What Makes CloudWatch Powerful

Metrics with 1-second granularity
CloudWatch Logs with Live Tail and metric filters
Composite alarms for complex monitoring
Synthetics for canary testing
ServiceLens for end-to-end tracing with X-Ray

Services That Work with CloudWatch

CloudWatch is rarely used alone. It's typically combined with:

Compliance & Security

How AWS CloudWatch fits into major compliance standards:

CIS AWS Foundations

CloudWatch configuration is audited by CIS Benchmarks 1.5–3.0 for secure cloud defaults.

NIST 800-53

CloudWatch access controls, encryption, and audit logging map to NIST 800-53 AC, SC, and AU control families.

PCI DSS 4.0

CloudWatch encryption, access control, and logging support PCI DSS for cardholder data environments.

SOC 2

CloudWatch security, availability, and confidentiality controls evaluated under SOC 2 Trust Services Criteria.

ISO 27001

CloudWatch configuration and monitoring controls map to ISO 27001 Annex A information security management.

Ready to secure your CloudWatch configuration?

Pavora continuously monitors your AWS CloudWatch for misconfigurations, compliance violations, and security risks.