Safe Resource Deletion with Forensic-Level Risk Assessment
Cloud Sleuth’s Risk Profiling feature acts as your safety net during cloud optimization. Like a bomb disposal expert examining each wire before cutting, we assess the potential impact of every resource modification or deletion, ensuring your cost-cutting never cuts into your operations.
Key Capabilities
🛡️ Impact Analysis
Comprehensive assessment of what happens when each resource is modified or removed. Understand dependencies, downstream effects, and potential service disruptions.
🚦 Risk Scoring System
Every resource gets a risk score from 1-10, with clear explanations of what makes it risky to remove. Green means go, red means stop, yellow means proceed with caution.
🔗 Dependency Mapping
Visual representation of how resources connect and depend on each other. See the full chain reaction before making any changes.
⏰ Temporal Risk Assessment
Understand how risk changes over time. A resource might be critical during business hours but safe to modify on weekends.
Risk Categories We Analyze
Production Risk Assessment
- Critical Path Analysis: Is this resource part of your main application flow?
- User Impact Score: How many users would be affected?
- Revenue Impact: Could removal affect revenue-generating services?
- SLA Implications: Would this breach any service level agreements?
Technical Risk Factors
- Dependency Count: How many other resources depend on this one?
- Data Persistence: Does it contain stateful data or configurations?
- Recovery Complexity: How hard would it be to restore if needed?
- Backup Status: Are there recent backups available?
Compliance & Security Risks
- Regulatory Requirements: Is this resource required for compliance?
- Audit Trail Impact: Would removal affect audit logs?
- Security Posture: Does it play a role in your security architecture?
- Access Control: Does it manage permissions for other resources?
Risk Levels Explained
🟢 Low Risk (Score 1-3)
Safe for Immediate Action
- No active connections in the last 30 days
- No dependencies identified
- Development or test resources
- Complete backups available
🟡 Medium Risk (Score 4-6)
Proceed with Caution
- Occasional usage patterns detected
- Few non-critical dependencies
- Staging environment resources
- May require notification to specific teams
🔴 High Risk (Score 7-8)
Requires Careful Planning
- Active production resource
- Multiple service dependencies
- Contains customer data
- Needs migration strategy before removal
⛔ Critical Risk (Score 9-10)
Do Not Remove
- Core infrastructure component
- Payment or authentication services
- Compliance-mandated resources
- Would cause immediate outage
Smart Recommendations
Mitigation Strategies
For each risky resource, we provide:
- Safe Alternatives: Lower-risk optimization options
- Migration Paths: Step-by-step guides to safely transition
- Testing Procedures: How to validate changes before production
- Rollback Plans: Quick recovery if something goes wrong
Timing Recommendations
- Optimal Windows: Best times for modifications based on usage patterns
- Blackout Periods: When you should never make changes
- Gradual Approach: Phased decommissioning strategies
Real-World Impact
Case Study: The Near-Miss Prevention
A startup was about to delete what appeared to be an unused database to save $3,000/month. Our Risk Profiling revealed:
- Hidden Dependency: A critical microservice queried it once daily for compliance reports
- Data Criticality: Contained 5 years of audit logs required by regulations
- Alternative Solution: We recommended archiving to cold storage instead
- Result: 90% cost savings without compliance violations
Case Study: The Safe Cleanup
An enterprise needed to reduce cloud costs by 30% urgently. Our Risk Profiling enabled:
- Identified $500K in truly safe-to-remove resources
- Flagged $200K in resources needing migration first
- Prevented deletion of $100K in critical but underutilized resources
- Outcome: 25% immediate savings with zero incidents
Risk Profiling Process
- Discovery Phase: Catalog all resources and their relationships
- Analysis Phase: Evaluate each resource against our risk criteria
- Scoring Phase: Assign risk scores with detailed justifications
- Recommendation Phase: Provide safe optimization strategies
- Monitoring Phase: Track changes and update risk assessments
Integration Features
🔄 Change Management Integration
Export risk assessments to your ticketing system. Automatically create approval workflows for high-risk changes.
📊 Business Context Mapping
Import your business service catalog to enhance risk assessment with business criticality scores.
🚨 Alert Integration
Get notified if someone attempts to modify high-risk resources. Integrate with PagerDuty, Slack, or email.
Benefits
- Prevent Outages: Never accidentally delete critical resources
- Confident Optimization: Know exactly what’s safe to remove
- Faster Decisions: Clear risk scores eliminate guesswork
- Compliance Assurance: Maintain regulatory compliance during cleanup
- Team Alignment: Everyone understands the risks before acting
Getting Started
Risk Profiling begins automatically after resource discovery. Within 24 hours, every resource in your environment will have a comprehensive risk assessment. Configure your risk tolerance levels and business context for even more accurate assessments.
Ready to optimize safely? Let Cloud Sleuth be your safety net.