AWS Identity and Access Management (IAM) is the gatekeeper of your AWS cloud environment. Think of it as your organization’s security command center, where you control who gets access to what resources and under what conditions. 

In today’s cloud-first world, where businesses run critical operations on AWS, IAM serves as your first line of defense against unauthorized access and potential security breaches.

At its core, IAM is a robust service that lets you manage access to your AWS services and resources securely. 

Why creating IAM Users is better than using the Root Account

Instead of sharing your AWS root account credentials (which is like handing over the master key to your house), IAM enables you to create and manage individual users, each with their own set of permissions. This granular control ensures that developers, administrators, and applications get exactly the access they need – nothing more, nothing less.

The importance of IAM cannot be overstated. Consider these key benefits:

• Accountability: With multiple IAM users, you can track who made what changes through AWS CloudTrail. Root account usage makes it impossible to distinguish between different users.
• Flexibility: IAM user permissions can be modified, revoked, or expanded instantly. If an employee leaves, you can immediately disable their access without affecting others.
• Limited Exposure: If root account credentials are compromised, attackers gain full access to your AWS resources, including billing information. IAM users are only restricted to only the required privileges.
• Granular Control: You can’t restrict root account permissions, but IAM users can be given exact permissions they need for their role. For example, a developer will need EC2 access but not billing access.

Target Audience

This guide is specifically designed for: 

• AWS newcomers who are setting up their first proper access management system
• Small business owners or startups beginning their AWS journey
• System administrators transitioning from on-premise to cloud infrastructure
• Development team leads who need to set up secure access for their teams
• IT professionals who want to implement AWS security best practices
• Anyone who currently uses the root account and wants to switch to a more secure setup

No prior AWS experience is required, though basic understanding of cloud computing concepts is a nice bonus to have.

Understanding IAM Basics: What is AWS IAM?

This is a service that will allow you to securely control access to AWS resources. It helps answers three important questions:

• Authentication: Who can access your AWS resources?

• Authorization: What resources can they access?

• Permissions: What can they do with those resources?

IAM Concepts

1. Users: An IAM User represents a person or a service that needs access to AWS resources
   1. They are identified by a unique name
   2. They have security credentials such as password or access keys
   3. They are allocated specific permissions to access AWS resources.
2. Groups: They represent a collection of IAM users. They allow managing permissions of several users instead of doing this individually for each user.
   1. Groups can be based on departments i.e. Development & Infrastructure.
   2. You can assign permissions to an entire group, and they will be inherited by its members
   3. Users can be removed and added as needed.
3. Roles: This is an Identity that is assumable by anyone who needs it. A role doesn’t have long-term credentials such as passwords or access keys associated with it. Instead, you are provided with temporary security credentials for a role session. 
   1. They delegate temporary access to external users.
   2. Allow applications to access AWS resources.
   3. Allocate AWS services access to other AWS services.
4. Policies: They define permissions to the identity or resource associated with it. The permissions outlined within them determine whether a request will be allowed or denied. JSON documents are how policies are stored. You can find this symbol * in a policy document. This is a wild card which is a special character that means “match anything”.

JSON defining AWSAccountManagementReadOnlyAccess IAM Policy

• Version: This is a standard date that represents the latest IAM policy version

• Statement: Contains a single or multiple set of permissions.

• Inside the Statement

1. 1. “Effect”; “Allow” Indicates the policy is granting permissions. This can also be set as Deny to highlight the permissions not granted.
   2. “Action” Lists the specific actions that are allowed.
      1. “account:Get*”- Allows all account-related Get operations.
      2. “account:List*”- Allows all account-related List Operations.
   3. “Resource” “*”– The wildcard means the highlighted actions are allowed on all resources.

Conclusion

AWS Identity and Access Management (IAM) forms the cornerstone of a secure cloud infrastructure. By moving away from root account usage and implementing proper IAM practices, you establish not just better security but also greater operational flexibility and accountability.

Remember these key takeaways:

• IAM provides granular control over who can access your AWS resources and what they can do with them
• Users, groups, roles, and policies work together to create a comprehensive security framework
• Proper IAM implementation enables accountability through tracking, minimizes security risks, and provides the flexibility to adjust permissions as your organization evolves

Whether you’re a startup just beginning your AWS journey or an established business migrating to the cloud, investing time in understanding and correctly configuring IAM will pay dividends in security and operational efficiency. Start with the principle of least privilege—grant only the permissions necessary for each user or service to perform their tasks—and build your IAM strategy from there.

The effort you put into IAM today will protect your AWS environment from potential security incidents tomorrow, allowing you to focus on what matters most: leveraging AWS services to drive your business forward.

You can view our comprehensive guide here on how to Create an IAM User & Group within the AWS Management Console.