diff --git a/ubuntu-security-status b/ubuntu-security-status
index 92251924..ee5994ff 100755
--- a/ubuntu-security-status
+++ b/ubuntu-security-status
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@
 import apt
 import argparse
 import distro_info
+import json
 import os
 import sys
 import gettext
@@ -17,6 +18,7 @@ from urllib.request import urlopen
 
 # TODO make DEBUG an environmental variable
 DEBUG = False
+UA_STATUS_FILE = "/var/lib/ubuntu-advantage/status.json"
 
 
 class PatchStats:
@@ -81,32 +83,46 @@ def whats_in_esm(url):
     return pkgs
 
 
-def livepatch_is_enabled():
-    """ Check to see if livepatch is enabled on the system"""
+def get_ua_status():
+    """Return dict of active ua status information from ubuntu-advantage-tools
+
+    Prefer to obtain status information from cache on disk to avoid costly
+    roundtrips to contracts.canonical.com to check on available services.
+
+    Fallback to call ua status --format=json.
+
+    If there are errors running: ua status --format=json or if the status on
+    disk is unparseable, return an empty dict.
+    """
+    if os.path.exists(UA_STATUS_FILE):
+        with open(UA_STATUS_FILE, "r") as stream:
+            status = stream.read()
+    else:
+        try:
+            status = subprocess.check_output(
+                ['ua', 'status', '--format=json']
+            ).decode()
+        except subprocess.CalledProcessError as e:
+            print_debug('failed to run ua status: %s' % e)
+            return {}
     try:
-        c_livepatch = subprocess.run(["/snap/bin/canonical-livepatch",
-                                      "status"],
-                                     stdout=subprocess.PIPE,
-                                     stderr=subprocess.PIPE)
-    # it can't be enabled if it isn't installed
-    except FileNotFoundError:
-        return False
-    if c_livepatch.returncode == 0:
-        return True
-    elif c_livepatch.returncode == 1:
-        return False
-
-
-def esm_is_enabled():
-    """ Check to see if esm is an available source"""
-    acp = subprocess.Popen(["apt-cache", "policy"],
-                           stdout=subprocess.PIPE, stderr=subprocess.PIPE)
-    grep = subprocess.run(["grep", "-F", "-q", "https://%s" % esm_site],
-                          stdin=acp.stdout, stdout=subprocess.PIPE)
-    if grep.returncode == 0:
-        return True
-    elif grep.returncode == -1:
-        return False
+        return json.loads(status)
+    except json.decoder.JSONDecodeError as e:
+        print_debug('failed to parse JSON from ua status output: %s' % e)
+        return {}
+
+
+def is_ua_service_enabled(service_name: str) -> bool:
+    """Check to see if named esm service is enabled.
+
+    :return: True if UA status reports service as enabled.
+    """
+    status = get_ua_status()
+    for service in status.get("services", []):
+        if service["name"] == service_name:
+            # Machines unattached to UA will not provide service 'status' key.
+            return service.get("status") == "enabled"
+    return False
 
 
 def trim_archive(archive):
@@ -353,12 +369,9 @@ if __name__ == "__main__":
                                    "%s-apps-security" % codename,
                                    "main")
 
-    livepatch_enabled = livepatch_is_enabled()
-    esm_enabled = esm_is_enabled()
-    is_esm_infra_used = (suite_esm_main in all_origins) or \
-                        (suite_esm_main_security in all_origins)
-    is_esm_apps_used = (suite_esm_universe in all_origins) or \
-                       (suite_esm_universe_security in all_origins)
+    livepatch_enabled = is_ua_service_enabled("livepatch")
+    esm_enabled = is_ua_service_enabled("esm-infra")
+    ua_attached = get_ua_status().get("attached", False)
 
     # Now do the final loop through
     for pkg in cache:
@@ -561,6 +574,6 @@ if __name__ == "__main__":
                            len(pkgstats.pkgs_um)))
             if livepatch_enabled:
                 print("\nEnable ESM Apps with: ua enable esm-apps")
-    if lts and not livepatch_enabled:
+    if lts and not ua_attached:
         print("\nThis machine is not attached to an Ubuntu Advantage "
               "subscription.\nSee https://ubuntu.com/advantage")