Cloud governance challenges, like shadow IT and outdated resources, expand an organization’s attack surface and often lead to unnecessary expenses. The decentralized ownership model and developer autonomy sometimes result in unapproved technologies, incomplete cleanups of retired projects, and workloads running on end-of-life services. These issues not only pose security risks but also inflate costs.  

Without proper checks and balances, cloud costs can quickly spiral out of control. This issue is even more pressing with the recent changes in Amazon EKS (Elastic Kubernetes Service) pricing for older Kubernetes versions. Identifying cost-saving opportunities has never been more urgent for engineering leaders and FinOps analysts. 

Wiz is here to help. Our platform now alerts customers to EKS clusters running on outdated versions, providing a quick win for engineering teams looking to do more with less. 

Understanding the AWS EKS pricing change 

On April 1, 2024, AWS introduced general availability of extended support for Kubernetes versions. You can now run EKS clusters using any Kubernetes version for up to 26 months. After the initial 14 months of standard support, clusters enter extended support, which includes continued security patches but comes with a higher cost of $0.60 per hour per cluster, compared to $0.10 during standard support. This change significantly impacts organizations running older Kubernetes versions, resulting in potentially substantial and unnecessary expenses. 

How Wiz helps identify opportunities to improve mileage in EKS clusters 

Wiz has developed a Cloud Configuration Rule within our Cost Optimization framework to detect EKS clusters running on extended support versions. By leveraging this new detection, customers can easily identify clusters eligible for cost optimization, providing actionable insights to either upgrade or delete these outdated clusters. 

Estimating the impact 

The cost savings from updating or deleting outdated EKS clusters can be substantial. For example, an AWS account with 100 outdated EKS clusters would experience significant annual savings: 

• Updating Clusters: Saves $0.5/hour/cluster, resulting in $438,000 per year. 

• Deleting Clusters: Saves $0.6/hour/cluster, resulting in $525,000 per year. 

These savings can quickly add up, allowing organizations to reinvest in innovation, scaling their services, or other strategic initiatives. 

Recommendations for Cloud Cost Management 

Determining whether to update or delete outdated EKS clusters requires thoroughly evaluating their usage. Wiz recommends the following approach: 

• Upgrade if the cluster is actively used: Updating to a supported version will ensure continued operation while reducing costs. 

• Delete if the cluster is not in use: This is the most cost-effective option, eliminating unnecessary waste in your cloud environment. 

Customers with a Kubernetes Connector in place can use a built-in query in the Wiz Security Graph to identify EKS clusters running on extended support versions that are not actively used. This targeted approach simplifies the decision-making process, maximizing the potential savings. 

Our analysis has shown that the potential for substantial savings amounts to tens of millions of dollars per year across our entire user base. By implementing this single control, organizations can significantly reduce their spend and “improve mileage” in the cloud. 

Getting Started with Wiz Cloud Cost 

To get started with identifying and addressing outdated EKS clusters, review the findings generated by the cloud configuration rule in your Wiz portal. For those new to Wiz frameworks, read the documentation for more details. 

Wiz is committed to helping customers secure and optimize their cloud environments and our new cloud configuration rule for Amazon EKS clusters is just the start. We’re also hard at work building our next iteration of Wiz Cloud Cost, which includes an updated Cost Optimization framework with new built-in rules, a new cost explorer, and a dashboard to help security and engineering teams discover new ways to reduce their organization’s attack surface and bill simultaneously. FinOps teams will also be able to leverage Wiz Cloud Cost to break down their cloud spend, identify low-hanging fruits, and most importantly, plan their long-term financial management strategy. 

If you have any questions or need further assistance, please reach out. Our team is here to help you achieve optimal cloud spend and secure your cloud environment effectively!