Route 53 Hosted Zones

AWS Route 53 hosted zones incur monthly charges regardless of whether they are actively serving DNS queries. Unused zones are a common oversight in cloud environments.

Implementation Effort: Low - Estimated time: less than 30 minutes. Delete the unused hosted zone after confirming no active DNS resolution.

What We Detect

• Unused hosted zones -- Hosted zones with no meaningful DNS records beyond the default system records, indicating they are no longer serving any application

Why It Matters

Each hosted zone costs $0.50/month. While small individually, organizations with many abandoned zones from decommissioned projects accumulate unnecessary charges and DNS clutter.

Recommendations

1. Verify no application depends on the zone for DNS resolution
2. Delete unused zones to reduce costs and simplify DNS management
3. Audit zones regularly as part of project decommissioning

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