Identity Access Management (IAM)

What is IAM?

AWS Identity and Access Management (IAM) is a service provided by AWS that allows us to manage access to AWS resources securely. IAM lets us control who has permission to do what within our AWS account. It’s a fundamental component of AWS security and plays a crucial role in ensuring the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of our AWS resources.

Here are some key features and concepts of AWS IAM.

• Users: We can create IAM users, each with a unique username and set of credentials, such as access keys or passwords. Users represent individuals or entities that require access to our AWS resources.

• Groups: IAM groups are collections of IAM users. By assigning permissions to groups, we can grant the same access rights to multiple users easily.

• Roles: IAM roles are similar to users but intended for use by AWS services or trusted entities. Roles define what can assume the role and what actions they can take. For example, we can create roles for AWS Lambda functions, EC2 instances, or even external AWS accounts to access resources in our account. An example of a role is admin, which would give a user administrative privileges to the application. Another example may be readonly, which would give a user read-only access.

• Permissions: IAM allows us to define fine-grained permissions through policies. Policies are JSON documents that specify the permissions and resources that are allowed or denied for users, groups, or roles. We can attach policies to users, groups, or roles to control their access to AWS services and resources.

• Access control: IAM provides robust access control mechanisms, including the principle of least privilege, which means granting only the permissions necessary to perform specific tasks. This minimizes the risk of unintended actions or data exposure.

• Multifactor authentication (MFA): We can enable MFA for IAM users to add an extra layer of security to their accounts, requiring a second factor (e.g., a mobile application or hardware token) for authentication.

• Identity federation: IAM supports identity federation, allowing us to integrate with external identity providers (e.g., Active Directory, SAML-based systems) to grant temporary AWS access to users within our organization.

• Security credentials: IAM users can have access keys for program access (e.g., AWS CLI, SDKs) and console passwords for web-based access. IAM also supports temporary security tokens for temporary and limited access.

• Auditing and logging: AWS CloudTrail can be used to record all IAM actions, providing an audit trail for monitoring and compliance purposes.

• Password policies: IAM allows us to define and enforce password policies for users, including requirements for complexity and rotation.