IAM Users
An IAM user is an identity within an AWS account that can represent a person or, in specific use cases, a workload that needs to interact with AWS resources.
Key Topics
- • AWS identities
- • Console access
- • Programmatic access
- • Permissions
AWS Security Tutorial
AWS IAM
Learn AWS Identity and Access Management and understand IAM users, groups, roles, policies, permissions, authentication, and cloud security best practices.
Level: Beginner
Service: AWS IAM
IAM Learning Path
Learn AWS Access Management
Understand IAM Identities
Learn Users and Groups
Work with IAM Roles
Create IAM Policies
Apply Security Best Practices
Introduction
What is AWS IAM?
AWS Identity and Access Management, commonly known as IAM, helps you manage access to AWS services and resources.
IAM uses identities and policies to control what principals can access and what actions they are allowed to perform.
IAM is a fundamental part of AWS security because permissions can be managed for users, groups, roles, applications, and AWS services.
Core Concepts
IAM fundamentals every beginner should understand
Users, groups, roles, and policies are important concepts for understanding how permissions are managed in AWS.
IAM Groups
IAM groups allow you to organize IAM users and manage permissions for multiple users through shared group policies.
Key Topics
- • User organization
- • Shared permissions
- • Group policies
- • Access management
IAM Roles
IAM roles provide permissions that can be assumed by trusted principals such as AWS services, users, applications, or identities from another AWS account.
Key Topics
- • Temporary credentials
- • Trust policies
- • Cross-account access
- • Service roles
IAM Policies
IAM policies define permissions by specifying which actions are allowed or denied on AWS resources and, when applicable, under which conditions.
Key Topics
- • JSON policies
- • Actions
- • Resources
- • Conditions
IAM Architecture
How AWS IAM controls access
A principal makes a request to access an AWS resource. AWS evaluates the applicable permissions and policies to determine whether the requested action is allowed or denied.
Policies can define actions, resources, effects, and optional conditions that influence access decisions.
Simplified IAM Access Flow
User / Application
│
▼
┌──────────────────────┐
│ Authentication │
│ │
│ User / Federated ID │
└──────────────────────┘
│
▼
┌──────────────────────┐
│ IAM Identity │
│ │
│ User / Group / Role │
└──────────────────────┘
│
▼
┌──────────────────────┐
│ IAM Policies │
│ │
│ Permissions │
└──────────────────────┘
│
▼
┌──────────────────────┐
│ AWS Resources │
│ │
│ S3 / EC2 / RDS / etc │
└──────────────────────┘Access Management
Basic IAM access configuration workflow
Access should be configured according to the requirements of the user, application, workload, or AWS service that needs to interact with AWS resources.
Create an Identity
Create or configure the appropriate identity method based on the access requirements for the person, application, or AWS workload.
Configure Authentication
Configure the required authentication method, such as console access or programmatic access, according to the use case.
Assign Permissions
Attach appropriate policies directly to an identity or provide permissions through groups or roles.
Apply Least Privilege
Grant only the permissions required to perform the intended task instead of giving unnecessary broad access.
Review Access
Regularly review permissions, policies, credentials, and unused access to help maintain a secure AWS environment.
Use Roles Where Appropriate
Use IAM roles for supported AWS services, applications, temporary access, and delegated or cross-account access scenarios.
IAM Policies
Understand the structure of AWS permissions
IAM policies are commonly represented as JSON documents and define permissions that are evaluated when an identity makes an AWS request.
Effect
Defines whether the policy statement allows or explicitly denies access.
Action
Specifies the AWS actions or operations that the policy statement applies to.
Resource
Defines the AWS resources that the policy permissions apply to when supported by the action.
Condition
Optionally defines additional conditions that must be satisfied for the policy statement to apply.
Example IAM Policy
{
"Version": "2012-10-17",
"Statement": [
{
"Effect": "Allow",
"Action": [
"s3:ListBucket",
"s3:GetObject"
],
"Resource": [
"arn:aws:s3:::my-example-bucket",
"arn:aws:s3:::my-example-bucket/*"
]
}
]
}IAM Roles
Provide temporary and delegated access
IAM roles can be assumed by trusted principals and provide permissions without being permanently associated with one specific user.
Roles are commonly used by AWS services, applications, federated identities, and cross-account access scenarios.
A role includes a trust policy that defines which principal can assume the role and permissions policies that define what actions can be performed after the role is assumed.
Example Role Trust Policy
{
"Version": "2012-10-17",
"Statement": [
{
"Effect": "Allow",
"Principal": {
"Service": "ec2.amazonaws.com"
},
"Action": "sts:AssumeRole"
}
]
}Security Best Practices
Build a more secure IAM environment
IAM permissions should be designed carefully because overly broad access can increase security risk.
Least Privilege
Grant only the permissions required for a user, application, or workload to perform its intended tasks.
Multi-Factor Authentication
Use MFA where appropriate to add an additional layer of authentication protection.
Avoid Unnecessary Long-Term Credentials
Prefer temporary credentials and supported identity federation approaches when appropriate instead of unnecessary long-term credentials.
Use IAM Roles
Use roles to delegate access to AWS services, workloads, federated identities, and cross-account scenarios.
Review Permissions
Regularly review policies and permissions to identify unnecessary or overly broad access.
Validate Policies
Review and validate IAM policies before attaching them to identities to help identify security or configuration issues.
AWS CLI IAM Commands
# List IAM users aws iam list-users # Create an IAM user aws iam create-user \ --user-name example-user # List IAM roles aws iam list-roles # Create an IAM role aws iam create-role \ --role-name ExampleRole \ --assume-role-policy-document file://trust-policy.json # List IAM policies aws iam list-policies \ --scope Local
AWS CLI
Manage IAM from the command line
The AWS Command Line Interface can be used to manage IAM users, roles, policies, and other AWS identity and access resources.
CLI-based IAM management can be useful for automation, infrastructure workflows, administration, and operational tasks.
What You Will Learn
Build your AWS IAM foundation
AWS Access Management
Understand how AWS controls access to services and resources through identities, roles, and policies.
IAM Policies
Learn how JSON policies define actions, resources, permissions, and optional conditions.
Cloud Security
Build a foundation in least privilege, authentication, access reviews, and secure AWS permission management.
AWS Roles and Automation
Understand how IAM roles can provide permissions to AWS services, applications, and other trusted identities.
Continue Learning
Explore more AWS and cloud tutorials
☁️
AWS for Beginners
Learn the foundations of Amazon Web Services and understand core AWS cloud concepts.
🖥️Amazon EC2
Learn AWS virtual servers, compute infrastructure, networking, security, and instance fundamentals.
🗄️Amazon S3
Learn AWS object storage, buckets, objects, versioning, permissions, and lifecycle management.
Next Step
Build secure AWS access management skills
You now understand the fundamentals of AWS IAM. Continue exploring AWS services and learn how identity, permissions, roles, and security work together in cloud environments.