AWS Identity and Access Management (IAM) is a web service that helps you securely control access to AWS resources. You use IAM to control who is authenticated (signed in) and authorized (has permissions) to use resources.

When you first create an AWS account, you begin with a single sign-in identity that has complete access to all AWS services and resources in the account. This identity is called the AWS account root user and is accessed by signing in with the email address and password that you used to create the account. We strongly recommend that you do not use the root user for your everyday tasks, even the administrative ones. Instead, adhere to the best practice of using the root user only to create your first IAM user. Then securely lock away the root user credentials and use them to perform only a few account and service management tasks.

Course covers Topics such as-

• Introduction to IAM


• IAM Features


• Accessing  IAM

• Understanding How IAM Works


• Overview of Identity Management:Users

• Overview of Access Management: Permissions and Policies

• Security Features Outside of IAM

• QuickLinks to CommonTasks

AWS Identity and Access Management (IAM) enables you to manage access to AWS services and resources securely. Using IAM, you can create and manage AWS users and groups, and use permissions to allow and deny their access to AWS resources. 

IAM is a feature of your AWS account offered at no additional charge. You will be charged only for use of other AWS services by your users.

To get started using IAM, or if you have already registered with AWS, go to the AWS Management Console and get started with these IAM Best Practices.

Use Cases

Use fine-grained access control, integrate with your corporate directory, and require MFA for highly privileged users

Fine-grained access control to AWS resources

IAM enables your users to control access to AWS service APIs and to specific resources. IAM also enables you to add specific conditions such as time of day to control how a user can use AWS, their originating IP address, whether they are using SSL, or whether they have authenticated with a multi-factor authentication device.

Manage access control for mobile applications with Web Identity Providers

You can enable your mobile and browser-based applications to securely access AWS resources by requesting temporary security credentials that grant access only to specific AWS resources for a configurable period of time.

Multi-factor authentication for highly privileged users

Protect your AWS environment by using AWS MFA, a security feature available at no extra cost that augments user name and password credentials. MFA requires users to prove physical possession of a hardware MFA token or MFA-enabled mobile device by providing a valid MFA code.

Integrate with your corporate directory

IAM can be used to grant your employees and applications federated access to the AWS Management Console and AWS service APIs, using your existing identity systems such as Microsoft Active Directory. You can use any identity management solution that supports SAML 2.0, or feel free to use one of our federation samples (AWS Console SSO or API federation).

Functionality

IAM assists in creating roles and permissions

AWS IAM allows you to:

·       Manage IAM users and their access – You can create users in IAM, assign them individual security credentials (in other words, access keys, passwords, and multi-factor authentication devices), or request temporary security credentials to provide users access to AWS services and resources. You can manage permissions in order to control which operations a user can perform.

·       Manage IAM roles and their permissions – You can create roles in IAM and manage permissions to control which operations can be performed by the entity, or AWS service, that assumes the role. You can also define which entity is allowed to assume the role. In addition, you can use service-linked roles to delegate permissions to AWS services that create and manage AWS resources on your behalf.

·       Manage federated users and their permissions – You can enable identity federation to allow existing identities (users, groups, and roles) in your enterprise to access the AWS Management Console, call AWS APIs, and access resources, without the need to create an IAM user for each identity. Use any identity management solution that supports SAML 2.0, or use one of our federation samples (AWS Console SSO or API federation).

IAM Best Practices

Flexible access management for users, groups, and applications.

AWS has a list of best practices to help IT professionals and developers manage access to AWS resources.

Users – Create individual users.

Groups – Manage permissions with groups.

Permissions – Grant least privilege.

Auditing – Turn on AWS CloudTrail.

Password – Configure a strong password policy.

MFA – Enable MFA for privileged users.

Roles – Use IAM roles for Amazon EC2 instances.

Sharing – Use IAM roles to share access.

Rotate – Rotate security credentials regularly.

Conditions – Restrict privileged access further with conditions.

Root – Reduce or remove use of root.