Check ID: dynamodb_table_autoscaling_enabled
Provider: AWS
Service: dynamodb
Severity: MEDIUM
Categories: resilience
Resource type: AwsDynamoDbTable

What this check verifies

DynamoDB tables use automatic capacity scaling via on-demand mode or PROVISIONED mode with auto scaling enabled for both read and write capacity units. Provisioned tables are evaluated for scaling on both dimensions.

Risk

Insufficient capacity scaling causes throttling that degrades availability and increases latency. Sustained throttling can trigger retry storms, timeouts, and backlogs, risking missed writes or out-of-order processing that impacts data integrity and drives operational costs.

Recommendation

Adopt elastic capacity: prefer on-demand for unpredictable traffic, or use PROVISIONED with auto scaling on both reads and writes. Define safe utilization targets and bounds, monitor consumption, and plan for bursts to maintain availability and resilience over manual fixed throughput.

Remediation

aws dynamodb update-table —table-name <table-name> —billing-mode PAY_PER_REQUEST

References

Where this check fires

This check runs on every scheduled scan against your AWS account. Findings appear at Cloud Security → Findings filterable by Check ID = dynamodb_table_autoscaling_enabled. To re-evaluate after a fix, hit Run now on the account’s schedule under Cloud Security → Schedules — the next scan re-checks this control and marks the finding fixed or keeps it persistent.
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