AWS

Amazon DocumentDB now supports R8g.24xlarge and R8g.48xlarge instances powered by AWS Graviton4 processors and DDR5 memory. The 24xlarge offers 96 vCPUs with 768 GiB memory, while the 48xlarge provides 192 vCPUs and 1,536 GiB memory. These configurations are designed to handle high-concurrency transactional applications and memory-intensive operational workloads with higher throughput and larger in-memory working sets.

• Graviton4-based R8g instances enable higher throughput for DocumentDB workloads.
• R8g.48xlarge supports 192 vCPUs and 1.5 TiB RAM for massive in-memory datasets.
• Deploy via Console, CLI, or SDK by modifying existing clusters or creating new ones.
• Ideal for high-concurrency transactions and large-scale document processing.

AWS Config has expanded its library with 191 new managed rules, significantly broadening governance capabilities for AI and core infrastructure services. The update covers Amazon Bedrock, SageMaker, ECS, EKS, RDS, Redshift, S3, and CloudTrail, enabling automated checks for encryption, logging, and network security. These rules can be deployed individually or bundled into conformance packs to streamline compliance across supported AWS Regions.

• Covers critical AI services like Bedrock and SageMaker alongside core infra like EKS and RDS.
• Automates checks for encryption, public access, logging, and data protection best practices.
• Deploy via individual rules or conformance packs for scalable governance.
• Availability depends on the underlying AWS service being active in the specific Region.

AWS has extended availability of R8-series instances, powered by sixth-generation Intel Xeon Scalable processors and Nitro cards, to the Asia Pacific (Tokyo) and Europe (Frankfurt, Ireland) regions. These new instances offer up to 43% better compute performance per vCPU compared to the R6in and R6idn generations. The R8in and R8idn variants provide 600 Gbps of network bandwidth, marking the highest enhanced networking speed available among EC2 instances.

• R8-series instances are now live in Tokyo, Frankfurt, and Ireland regions.
• Expect up to 43% compute performance gain per vCPU over R6in/R6idn.
• R8in and R8idn deliver 600 Gbps network bandwidth for high-throughput workloads.
• Ideal for real-time big data, in-memory caches, and 5G Telco applications.

AWS Organizations now automatically attaches Service Control Policies (SCPs) that prevent member accounts from leaving or closing themselves when a new organization is created via the console. This default behavior eliminates the need for manual initial configuration, ensuring immediate protection against unintended account departures. The change targets enterprises migrating to AWS or establishing new multi-account structures, providing central security teams with enforced governance from day one.

• New orgs created via console get departure-blocking SCPs automatically.
• Prevents member accounts from self-terminating or leaving the org.
• Simplifies initial security posture for new multi-account environments.
• Central teams get immediate governance without manual SCP setup.

AWS has extended Amazon S3 Vectors support to its US GovCloud regions. This service provides purpose-built vector storage for AI agents, RAG, and semantic search at billion-vector scale. It leverages S3’s elasticity and durability while offering dedicated APIs for vector operations without infrastructure provisioning.

• S3 Vectors is now live in US GovCloud (US-East and US-West) regions.
• Designed for billion-vector scale AI, RAG, and semantic search workloads.
• Uses dedicated APIs to store, access, and query vectors without provisioning.
• Retains core S3 guarantees: elasticity, durability, and availability.

AWS has expanded Amazon MSK Replicator to handle data replication from external Apache Kafka clusters—including on-premises, self-managed, or other cloud environments—into MSK Standard brokers. This update complements existing support for MSK Express brokers, enabling seamless workload migrations and disaster recovery strategies. The service automates replication, removing the need for custom infrastructure or open-source tool configuration.

• Replicate from external Kafka (on-prem, self-managed, other clouds) to MSK Standard brokers.
• Simplifies migration of workloads to MSK Standard without custom replication code.
• Enables hybrid and multi-cloud data distribution using managed replication.
• Supports disaster recovery by using MSK clusters as failover or backup targets.
• Eliminates need to manage custom replication infrastructure or open-source tools.

AWS Security Hub now includes an active Network Scanning feature that probes resources directly from the internet to verify actual public reachability. Unlike previous configuration-based checks, this capability discovers live IP addresses, VMs, and load balancers across AWS and Azure environments. It identifies open ports and running services, generating specific findings for each reachable endpoint to confirm exposure.

• Active probing confirms real internet exposure, not just theoretical risk from misconfigured rules.
• Covers resources across both AWS and Azure environments in a unified view.
• Discovers specific reachable ports and identifies services running behind them.
• Generates Security Hub findings for each open port to aid in remediation prioritization.