Sovereign Cloud Assurance Review
Independent, board-ready assurance for MOD suppliers and regulated industries.
In an era of Secure by Design, "good enough" cloud is a project risk.
We provide the independent evidence required to prove a cloud environment is compliant, contained, and defensible. Our Sovereign Cloud Assurance Review validates data residency and administrative sovereignty to ensure alignment with JSP 453, Secure by Design, and UK National Security mandates for organisations operating under the following constraints:
Sovereignty Audits: Validating data residency and jurisdiction for MOD bodies and Primes.
Boundary Control: Forensic review of access enclaves for sensitive and classified data.
Secure by Design: Independent validation that your architecture meets the latest UK Defence mandates.
Defence & National Security
Healthcare & Highly Regulated Public Sector
Clinical Safety: Ensuring data sovereignty for sensitive patient data in multi-cloud environments.
Compliance Assurance: Meeting strict regulatory and audit requirements for NHS-linked systems.
Defensible Governance: Translating complex cloud risk into board-ready assurance.
Critical Infrastructure & Regulated Industry
Supply Chain Security: Managing data sovereignty across complex, multi-provider supply chains.
Risk Baseline: Providing a third-party benchmark for nationally important infrastructure.
Accountability: Bridging the gap between technical operations and executive accountability.
Why an Independent Sovereign Cloud Review?
Cloud environments are not static; original security boundaries often blur as platforms multiply and delivery teams rotate. This review identifies critical Sovereignty Gaps—specific points where metadata residency, administrative access, or encryption key ownership no longer meet JSP 453 or Secure by Design mandates. We provide the technical evidence required to benchmark your current state against the rigorous requirements of sovereign and air-gapped architectures.
| FEATURE | STANDARD PUBLIC CLOUD | SOVEREIGN CLOUD | AIR-GAPPED / HIGH-SIDE |
|---|---|---|---|
| Data Residency | Global or Regional | Strictly UK-Based | Physically Isolated |
| Jurisdiction | Subject to Foreign Acts | UK Law Only | UK Sovereign Only |
| Personnel & Vetting | Global Staff (Unvetted) | UK-Based, SC Cleared | UK-Based, DV Cleared |
| Compliance | General Security Standards | JSP 453 & Secure by Design | Strategic Mission Secret |
| Control | Provider-Managed | Cryptographic (EKM) | Hardware-Rooted Trust |
| Best For | Enterprise Applications | Official-Sensitive | Secret / Above Secret |
Not sure where your current environment sits on this scale? We can help you define your sovereignty requirements during an initial scope call.
Our Sovereign Cloud Assurance Methodology
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We start by establishing the "Ground Truth" for your cloud environment. This ensures your technical architecture is aligned with your specific mission and legal obligations.
Requirements Mapping: Defining data sensitivity and classification needs.
Regulatory Alignment: Identifying specific sovereignty and JSP mandates.
Governance Review: Auditing organizational structure and decision ownership.
Platform Audit: Assessing the cloud platforms and environments currently in use.
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We conduct a deep-dive assessment into how your environment actually operates versus its original security design.
Segmentation Audit: Verifying how data is governed and isolated across environments.
Boundary Validation: Testing how security boundaries are defined and enforced in practice.
Control Application: Reviewing how governance is maintained as the environment evolves.
Drift Identification: Pinpointing where complexity or unmanaged risk has deviated from JSP 453 or Secure by Design mandates.
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You receive a comprehensive, defensible report designed for use with senior leadership, boards, and external regulators.
Compliance Posture: Clear evidence of how current arrangements align with JSP 453, Secure by Design, and UK data protection obligations.
Assurance Evidence: Independent verification of where controls and boundaries are operating effectively.
Risk Gap Analysis: A RAG-rated assessment highlighting specific areas of ambiguity or unmanaged Sovereignty Gaps.
Remediation Roadmap: A prioritized action plan for addressing gaps and maintaining your Permission to Work.
Evidence in Practice: Establishing Cloud Governance for UK Defence.
See how we applied the Sovereign Cloud Assurance framework to help a major defence organisation secure their boundaries and maintain regulatory compliance.
Delivering a Defensible Path Forward
The Sovereign Cloud Assurance Review is designed to provide you with a clear, evidence-based starting point. What happens next depends entirely on the findings and your organisation’s specific priorities.
Where issues or areas of concern are identified, you typically choose one of three paths:
Internal Resolution: Address any identified gaps using your existing internal teams or current suppliers.
Specialist Support: Engage Defended Solutions to support the remediation or change process.
Independent Baseline: Use the review as an independent, third-party baseline while remediation is delivered by another provider.
In all cases, the review provides a clear starting point for next steps without locking your organisation into a particular delivery model.
An Independent Standard of Assurance
Our methodology is grounded in the latest UK Government and Defence standards. We operate as an independent partner, ensuring your cloud architecture remains compliant with the evolving security landscape.
All engagements are led by UK-resident, National Security Vetted (SC/DV) personnel.
Discover our Insights:
