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AWS Identity and Access Management (IAM)

AWS Identity and Access Management (IAM) - is a web service that helps you securely control access to AWS resources for your users. It enables you to manage users, security credentials such as access keys, and permissions that control which AWS resources users can access.

Key definitions for AWS Identity and Access Management (IAM):

  • Users

    Individuals, systems, or applications that interact with AWS.

  • Groups

    A collection of users, simplifying permission assignments.

  • Roles

    IAM identities that you can create and assign permissions to.

  • Policies

    Documents that formally state permissions.

  • Identity Federation

    Linking of a user's identity across multiple security domains.

  • Access Keys

    Pair of keys (Access Key ID and Secret Access Key) used for programmatic calls.

  • Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA)

    A security feature that requires multiple forms of authentication.

  • Permissions Boundary

    An advanced feature to set the maximum permissions a user or role can have.

  • Session

    A temporary set of credentials that are created dynamically and provided to the user.

  • Security Token Service (STS)

    Provides temporary, limited-privilege credentials for IAM and AWS resources.

Service integrates with:

Usage use cases

  • Secure Access Control.

    IAM enables you to grant unique credentials and manage permissions for every user in your AWS environment.

  • Granular Permissions.

    IAM provides granular permissions, allowing you to specify allowed and denied actions and resources.

  • Multi-Factor Authentication.

    IAM enables MFA for a secure, two-step verification process.

  • Identity Federation.

    IAM supports identity federation for AWS Management Console access via identities from a SAML-compatible Identity Provider (IdP) or web identity providers like Login with Amazon, Google, or Facebook.

  • Cross-Account Access.

    With IAM roles, you can define a set of permissions to access resources that are in different AWS accounts.

FAQ for AWS Identity and Access Management (IAM)

  • What is the AWS IAM service used for?

    AWS Identity and Access Management (IAM) is a web service that helps you securely control access to AWS resources for your users. It enables you to manage users, security credentials such as access keys, and permissions that control which AWS resources users can access.

  • What are the key components of AWS IAM?

    The key components of AWS IAM include users, groups, roles, policies, access keys, multi-factor authentication (MFA), and security token service (STS).

  • What are some best practices for enhancing IAM security?

    Some best practices for enhancing IAM security include implementing least privilege, regularly rotating security credentials, enforcing multi-factor authentication (MFA), and monitoring user activity using AWS CloudTrail.