aws-india-compliance 0.2.0

MCP server to assess AWS infrastructure against India's DPDP Act 2023, RBI Master Direction, and SEBI CSCRF

AWS India Compliance MCP Server

An MCP server that assesses AWS infrastructure against four Indian regulatory frameworks:

• DPDP Act 2023 (Digital Personal Data Protection) + Rules 2025
• RBI Master Direction on IT Governance 2023
• SEBI CSCRF 2024 (Cybersecurity and Cyber Resilience Framework)
• CERT-In Directions 2022 (Incident reporting, log retention, NTP sync)

Works with Kiro, Claude Desktop, Cursor, or any MCP-compatible client.

Important: This tool provides automated assessment guidance based on published regulatory frameworks. It does not constitute legal advice or compliance certification. Organizations should consult qualified compliance and legal professionals for definitive regulatory compliance determinations.

Quick start

1. Add to your MCP client

No installation required. Add to your MCP config and uvx handles the rest:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "aws-india-compliance": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": ["aws-india-compliance@latest"]
    }
  }
}

This works if your default AWS credentials are already configured (via ~/.aws/credentials, environment variables, or an active SSO session).

If you use a named profile, pass it explicitly:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "aws-india-compliance": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": ["aws-india-compliance@latest"],
      "env": {
        "AWS_PROFILE": "my-sso-profile"
      }
    }
  }
}

Add the config to your MCP client's settings file:

• Kiro: .kiro/settings/mcp.json
• Claude Desktop: claude_desktop_config.json
• Claude Code: ~/.claude/mcp.json

Requires uv installed. On macOS: brew install uv

2. Configure AWS credentials

The server needs read-only AWS access. Use AWS IAM Identity Center (SSO) — this is the recommended approach for teams.

First-time SSO setup:

aws configure sso

Follow the prompts:

• SSO session name: my-sso (any name)
• SSO start URL: your org's SSO URL (e.g., https://d-xxxxxxxxxx.awsapps.com/start)
• SSO region: us-east-1 (or wherever your Identity Center is)
• It opens a browser — sign in and authorize
• Select the account and role (e.g., ReadOnlyAccess)
• CLI profile name: my-sso-profile (remember this)

Login before each session:

aws sso login --profile my-sso-profile

This opens a browser for authentication. Once approved, your CLI has temporary credentials for ~8 hours.

Verify it works:

aws sts get-caller-identity --profile my-sso-profile

Alternative: static credentials (not recommended for teams) If you have long-lived access keys in ~/.aws/credentials, those work too — but SSO is preferred for security.

3. Verify

Ask your MCP client:

"List the DPDP control domains"

If it returns 10 domains, you're set. To scan your AWS account:

"Scan my AWS account in ap-south-1 for DPDP and RBI compliance"

Alternative: install from source (for development)

git clone https://github.com/aws-samples/sample-aws-india-compliance-mcp.git
cd sample-aws-india-compliance-mcp
pip install -e .

Then configure your MCP client to use the local install:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "aws-india-compliance": {
      "command": "aws-india-compliance",
      "env": {
        "AWS_PROFILE": "my-sso-profile"
      }
    }
  }
}

Prerequisites

• Python 3.10+
• AWS Config recorder enabled in target accounts/regions
• IAM credentials with read-only access (see IAM policy below)
• For org-wide scans: a Config Aggregator (auto-discovered, or pass name explicitly)

Tools (7)

The server follows a compact summary + drill-down pattern: scan_aws_account returns a compact summary (~2-3K tokens), and get_compliance_gaps provides paginated access to full gap details. Maintainer tools (regulatory updates, mapping management) are CLI-only and not exposed via MCP.

Tool	Purpose
scan_aws_account	Discover resources via AWS Config, assess against all frameworks. Returns a compact summary with posture scores, gap counts, and top critical findings. Use get_compliance_gaps to drill into details. Supports tag filtering, exception rules, SEBI entity tiering, and save_to_file to persist results.
scan_control_tower	Enumerate enabled guardrails across OUs, recommend missing ones per framework including CERT-In. Per-OU breakdown with domain coverage.
get_compliance_gaps	Drill into compliance gaps from the most recent scan. Filter by framework, risk level, or domain. Paginated (default 20 per page, max 50).
search_regulatory_text	Search regulatory text from government sources. Falls back to bundled mappings when sites are unreachable.
list_control_domains	List domains for a framework: dpdp (10), rbi (7), sebi (6), or certin (4).
generate_conformance_pack	Generate a deployable AWS Config conformance pack YAML for a compliance framework.
format_report	Generate a production-grade DOCX (default) or Markdown report from scan results. Uses cached scan data if no input provided. Defaults to save_to_file=True.

Sample prompts

Try these with any MCP-compatible client (Kiro, Claude Desktop, Cursor, etc.):

What you want to do	Example prompt
Scan a single AWS account	"Scan my AWS account in ap-south-1 for DPDP and RBI compliance"
Scan your entire AWS organization	"Scan my AWS organization for compliance"
Scan with SEBI framework	"Scan my AWS account as a SEBI MII entity"
Drill into scan gaps	"Show me all critical DPDP gaps" or "Show RBI gaps page 2"
Assess Control Tower guardrails	"Scan my Control Tower and check guardrail coverage"
Search regulatory text	"What does DPDP say about breach notification timelines?"
List control domains	"List the SEBI CSCRF control domains"
Generate a formatted report	"Format my last scan as a Word document"
Save report to disk	"Scan my AWS account and save the report to file"
Generate a conformance pack	"Generate an AWS Config conformance pack for RBI"
Filter by tags	"Scan my account but only resources tagged Environment=Production"
Exclude resources	"Scan my account excluding resources tagged Team=Legacy"
Assess as Significant Data Fiduciary	"Scan my AWS account — we are a Significant Data Fiduciary under DPDP"

Key features

Confidence scoring

Every compliance gap includes a confidence level:

• High — Direct technical check verifiable from AWS Config (e.g., encryption disabled, public access enabled)
• Medium — Interpretive mapping from regulatory requirement to AWS control (e.g., data localization)
• Low — Organizational requirement where infrastructure is only a proxy (e.g., DPO appointment, consent tracking)

Each gap also carries evidence (triggering property values), checked_at (ISO 8601 timestamp), and confidence_rationale.

CERT-In Directions 2022

Four control domains assessed:

1. Incident Reporting Readiness (GuardDuty + EventBridge + SNS pipeline)
2. Log Retention — 180 days (CloudWatch LogGroup retention check)
3. NTP Synchronization (advisory — AWS uses Amazon Time Sync by default)
4. Reportable Incident Awareness (Security Hub enablement)

Per-account breakdown

Org-wide scans group gaps by AWS account ID with individual DPDP, RBI, and SEBI posture scores per account.

Resource-level compliance tracking

Per-domain resource compliance percentages (e.g., "dpdp:6 — 482 checked, 320 passed, 66.4%").

Exception management

• Auto-suppression of AWSControlTowerExecution roles (by design)
• Custom exception rules via resource_pattern (fnmatch) and exclude_tag
• Suppressed gaps tracked separately with suppression reason

Tag-based filtering

• filter_tags: Include only resources matching ALL specified tag key-value pairs
• exclude_tags: Exclude resources matching ANY specified tag key-value pair

SEBI entity tiering

• MII tier: C-SOC readiness checks (GuardDuty + Security Hub + Detective), BYOK verification
• qualified_re tier: BYOK check, skip C-SOC
• other_re tier: Baseline SEBI checks only

Nuanced data localization

• Storage resources outside India → high-risk gap (RBI 2018 Circular)
• Compute resources outside India → medium-risk advisory (processing may be permissible)
• Global services (IAM, CloudFront, Route53, WAFv2) → excluded from localization checks
• DataClassification tag value included in gap description when present

Report formatting

The format_report tool generates production-grade compliance reports:

DOCX (default): Word document suitable for sharing with auditors. Features:

• Professional cover page with scan metadata and confidentiality notice
• Color-coded posture scores (green/orange/red based on thresholds)
• Dark blue styled table headers with alternating row shading
• Risk-level cell coloring (red for critical, orange for high, yellow for medium)
• Confidence-level cell coloring (green for high, orange for medium, red for low)
• Landscape orientation with full-width tables
• Control Tower section with guardrails, per-OU breakdown, and recommendations
• Phased remediation timeline
• Disclaimer page

Markdown (output_format="markdown"): Structured text report for chat display and quick review.

Output behavior:

• save_to_file=True (default): Persists the report to the reports/ directory and returns the file path.
• save_to_file=False: Returns content inline. Markdown as text, DOCX as base64-encoded string.

If no report_json or report_path is provided, format_report automatically uses the cached results from the most recent scan_aws_account call.

Regulatory monitoring (CLI-only)

Regulatory monitoring tools are not exposed via MCP — they are used by maintainers via CLI or GitHub Actions:

1. Staleness — Flags frameworks where last_verified exceeds threshold (default 30 days)
2. Content hashing — Fetches regulatory source pages and compares SHA-256 hashes against baselines
3. New circular detection — Scans RBI and SEBI circular listing pages for publications matching compliance keywords

Run scripts/check_regulatory_updates.py or use the GitHub Actions workflow for scheduled checks.

How scanning works

1. AWS Config Advanced Query pulls resource configurations in a single API call. If no aggregator name is provided, the scanner auto-discovers organization-level aggregators for org-wide coverage.
2. The scanner extracts compliance-relevant properties per resource type (encryption, public access, logging, retention, key rotation, TLS enforcement, VPC flow logs, security group rules, secrets rotation, backup plans, etc.).
3. Fallback API checks cover Security Hub, GuardDuty, CloudTrail, WAF, AWS Backup, and Amazon Inspector.
4. The assessment engine evaluates each resource against applicable DPDP, RBI, SEBI, and CERT-In control domains.
5. scan_aws_account returns a compact summary (~2-3K tokens) with posture scores, gap counts, top critical findings, and a remediation timeline. Full gap details are cached in memory.
6. Use get_compliance_gaps to drill down — filter by framework, risk level, or domain with pagination.

This pattern keeps initial responses fast and token-efficient while allowing detailed exploration on demand.

For org-wide scans, the scanner auto-discovers organization-level Config Aggregators via DescribeConfigurationAggregators. If one is found, it's used automatically — no need to pass a name. You can still pass an explicit aggregator_name to override auto-discovery (e.g., aws-controltower-ConfigAggregatorForOrganizations). The aggregator must be configured in the management or delegated admin account.

Resource checks

Resource	What gets checked
S3	Encryption at rest, lifecycle policies, Block Public Access, versioning, access logging, Object Lock (audit buckets), TLS enforcement (bucket policy)
RDS	Storage encryption, public accessibility, Multi-AZ, audit logging, SSL enforcement
DynamoDB	KMS encryption, TTL, point-in-time recovery
Lambda	Secrets in environment variables, dead letter queue
EC2	Public IP assignment, IMDSv2 enforcement, EBS encryption
EKS	Secrets envelope encryption, API server endpoint visibility, control plane logging
ECS	Container Insights
CloudTrail	Log file validation, KMS encryption, CloudWatch Logs integration
KMS	Automatic key rotation for customer-managed keys, BYOK verification (SEBI)
API Gateway	WAF association
CloudFront	WAF association, access logging
SQS/SNS	Encryption at rest
SageMaker	Direct internet access, KMS encryption, VPC configuration, consent tracking for ML data
IAM Roles	Overprivileged policies (AdministratorAccess, PowerUserAccess, IAMFullAccess)
VPC	Flow Logs enablement and destination
Security Groups	Open SSH (22) and RDP (3389) to 0.0.0.0/0
Secrets Manager	Automatic rotation configuration
AWS Backup	Backup plan existence, Vault Lock status
Amazon Inspector	Enablement status (SEBI VAPT requirement)

RBI-regulated scans additionally flag resources deployed outside ap-south-1 and ap-south-2 per the RBI Data Localization Circular 2018, with nuanced classification (storage vs compute vs global services).

Control domains

DPDP Act (10 domains): Lawful Processing, Data Minimization, Privacy Notices, Data Principal Rights, Breach Notification, Reasonable Security Safeguards, Data Retention Limits, Cross-Border Data Transfer, Children's Data Protection, Significant Data Fiduciary Obligations.

RBI Master Direction (7 domains): IT Governance, IT Infrastructure, IT Risk Management, Information Security, Cyber Security, Business Continuity/DR, Information Systems Audit.

SEBI CSCRF (6 domains): Cyber Governance, Cyber Risk Identification, Cyber Protection, Cyber Detection, Cyber Response, Cyber Recovery.

CERT-In Directions (4 domains): Incident Reporting Readiness, Log Retention (180 days), NTP Synchronization, Reportable Incident Awareness.

Regulatory version tracking

Framework	Version	Source
DPDP Act	As enacted August 11, 2023 + Rules 2025 (Nov 14, 2025)	dpdpact.in
RBI Master Direction	DoS.CO.CSITE.SEC.3/31.01.015/2023-24 (April 7, 2023)	rbi.org.in
SEBI CSCRF	Circular SEBI/HO/ITD/ITD-SEC-1/P/CIR/2024/113 (August 20, 2024)	sebi.gov.in
CERT-In Directions	Directions dated April 28, 2022	cert-in.org.in

Control mappings are maintained in control_mappings.json with manifest_version, last_verified dates, and source URLs per framework. Mappings are updated via new PyPI releases when regulatory changes occur.

Security

This server performs read-only operations. It does not modify AWS resources.

Input validation:

• AWS region format validated via regex (^[a-z]{2}(-[a-z]+-\d+)?$)
• Config Aggregator name validated (^[a-zA-Z0-9_-]{1,256}$)
• Report file paths constrained to reports/ directory (path traversal blocked)
• top_k parameter capped at 50
• Error messages sanitized to avoid leaking filesystem paths

Transport: stdio by default (local process, no network exposure). For remote deployment over HTTP, set MCP_API_KEY and use OAuth 2.1 or equivalent authentication.

Credentials: Use IAM roles or SSO profiles. Do not hardcode credentials in config files or source code.

Data handling: No persistence, no telemetry. Scan results are cached in memory for drill-down via get_compliance_gaps and discarded on process exit. Large scan reports are saved to reports/ (gitignored) only when save_to_file=True. Logs (stderr, INFO level) contain resource ARNs and type identifiers but not credential material or data values.

XML parsing: draw.io templates are parsed with defusedxml, which blocks XXE, DTD processing, and entity expansion.

Outbound network: HTTPS-only calls to regulatory sites (dpdpact.in, rbi.org.in, sebi.gov.in, cert-in.org.in). Domain allowlist enforced. Response size capped at 5 MB. Rate-limited to 10 requests/minute per domain. 30-second timeout.

Minimum IAM policy

{
  "Version": "2012-10-17",
  "Statement": [
    {
      "Sid": "ConfigAdvancedQuery",
      "Effect": "Allow",
      "Action": [
        "config:SelectAggregateResourceConfig",
        "config:SelectResourceConfig",
        "config:DescribeConfigurationRecorders",
        "config:DescribeConfigurationAggregators"
      ],
      "Resource": "*"
    },
    {
      "Sid": "SecurityServices",
      "Effect": "Allow",
      "Action": [
        "securityhub:GetFindings",
        "securityhub:DescribeHub",
        "guardduty:ListDetectors",
        "guardduty:GetDetector",
        "cloudtrail:DescribeTrails",
        "cloudtrail:GetTrailStatus",
        "wafv2:ListWebACLs",
        "wafv2:GetWebACL",
        "backup:ListBackupPlans",
        "backup:ListBackupVaults",
        "inspector2:BatchGetAccountStatus"
      ],
      "Resource": "*"
    },
    {
      "Sid": "ControlTower",
      "Effect": "Allow",
      "Action": [
        "controltower:ListLandingZones",
        "controltower:GetLandingZone",
        "controltower:ListEnabledControls",
        "organizations:ListRoots",
        "organizations:ListOrganizationalUnitsForParent"
      ],
      "Resource": "*"
    }
  ]
}

For org-wide scans, add config:SelectAggregateResourceConfig on the aggregator ARN. Consider adding an explicit Deny statement for destructive actions (DeleteTrail, StopLogging, DeleteDetector, etc.).

Conformance packs

The project includes a conformance pack generator that produces deployable AWS Config conformance pack YAML templates from control_mappings.json. Each pack maps AWS-managed Config rules to regulatory control domains.

A pre-built DPDP Act conformance pack is available at conformance-packs/DPDP-Act-Conformance-Pack.yaml. Deploy it with:

aws configservice put-conformance-pack \
  --conformance-pack-name DPDP-Act-2023-Conformance-Pack \
  --template-body file://conformance-packs/DPDP-Act-Conformance-Pack.yaml

To generate packs programmatically for any framework:

from aws_india_compliance.conformance_pack import generate_conformance_pack

result = generate_conformance_pack(framework="dpdp")  # or "rbi", "sebi", "certin"
print(result["yaml_content"])

Options:

• framework: "dpdp", "rbi", "sebi", or "certin"
• include_domains: List of domain numbers to include (default: all)
• exclude_domains: List of domain numbers to exclude
• pack_name_prefix: Custom prefix for the conformance pack name

Framework-specific parameter overrides are applied automatically (e.g., CERT-In uses 180-day log retention, DPDP uses 365-day).

Project structure

src/aws_india_compliance/
  server.py              # MCP server — 7 user-facing tools (compact summary + drill-down)
  admin.py               # CLI-only maintainer tools (regulatory update workflow)
  assessment.py          # Compliance assessment engine (confidence scoring, resource tracking, exceptions)
  aws_scanner.py         # AWS Config query + fallback API checks (Backup, Inspector)
  control_tower.py       # Control Tower scanner + per-OU guardrail mapping
  parsers.py             # CloudFormation/Terraform/draw.io parsers
  knowledge.py           # Live regulatory text search + content hash monitoring
  domains.py             # Domain definitions + manifest loader + staleness check
  report_formatter.py    # Markdown report generator (account scan + Control Tower)
  docx_formatter.py      # DOCX report generator with color coding
  conformance_pack.py    # AWS Config conformance pack YAML generator
  control_mappings.json  # Versioned control-to-AWS mapping manifest (DPDP, RBI, SEBI, CERT-In)
scripts/
  check_regulatory_updates.py  # CI script for GitHub Actions workflow
conformance-packs/       # Pre-built conformance pack templates
tests/                   # 28 tests covering all modules
reports/                 # Scan report output (gitignored)

Tests

PYTHONPATH=src python3 -m pytest tests/ -v

28 tests covering assessment logic, scanner component extraction, Control Tower gap analysis, domain definitions, manifest integrity, and all three parsers.

Environment variables

Variable	Default	Purpose
AWS_PROFILE	—	AWS SSO profile name
LOG_LEVEL	INFO	Logging level (DEBUG, INFO, WARNING, ERROR)
REGULATORY_CACHE_TTL	0	Seconds to cache regulatory site responses. 0 = no caching.
STALENESS_THRESHOLD_DAYS	30	Days after last_verified before staleness warnings appear (CLI monitoring only).
MCP_TRANSPORT	stdio	Transport mode: stdio for local, streamable-http for remote
MCP_HOST	127.0.0.1	Host for HTTP transport
MCP_PORT	8000	Port for HTTP transport (validated 1-65535)
REPORT_DIR	reports/	Directory for persisted reports (only used when save_to_file=True). Defaults to cwd/reports when not set.

Disclaimer: This is a sample tool for educational and assessment purposes. It performs read-only operations and does not modify AWS resources. Users should validate compliance findings against their specific regulatory requirements and consult qualified compliance professionals.

License

Apache 2.0