AWS Identity and Access Management (IAM) is a web service that helps you securely control access to AWS services and resources for your users. With IAM, you can create and manage AWS users and groups, and use permissions to allow and deny their access to AWS resources.

1. Users: Individual accounts that represent a person or service.
2. Groups: Collections of users that share the same permissions.
3. Roles: Temporary credentials for AWS services or applications.
4. Policies: Documents that define permissions and are attached to users, groups, or roles.

1. Sign in to the AWS Management Console.
2. Navigate to the IAM Dashboard.
3. Click on "Users" in the left-hand navigation pane.
4. Click on "Add user".
5. Enter a User Name and select the type of access (Programmatic access, AWS Management Console access, or both).
6. Set Permissions:
   • Attach existing policies directly.
   • Add user to group.
   • Copy permissions from existing user.
   • Attach custom policies.
7. Review and Create User.

1. Navigate to the IAM Dashboard.
2. Click on "Groups" in the left-hand navigation pane.
3. Click on "Create New Group".
4. Enter a Group Name.
5. Attach Policies to the group.
6. Review and Create Group.

1. Navigate to the IAM Dashboard.
2. Click on "Roles" in the left-hand navigation pane.
3. Click on "Create role".
4. Select the type of trusted entity (AWS service, another AWS account, etc.).
5. Attach Policies to the role.
6. Review and Create Role.

1. Managed Policies: AWS managed or customer managed.
2. Inline Policies: Policies that are embedded directly into a single user, group, or role.

1. Create a user named "Alice" with programmatic access.
2. Create a group named "Admins" and attach the policy AdministratorAccess.
3. Add "Alice" to the "Admins" group.

Solution

1. Create a role named "LambdaExecutionRole".
2. Attach the policy AWSLambdaBasicExecutionRole to the role.

Solution

• Not using MFA (Multi-Factor Authentication): Always enable MFA for added security.
• Over-permissioning: Follow the principle of least privilege. Only grant the permissions necessary for the task.
• Not rotating access keys: Regularly rotate access keys to minimize the risk of compromised credentials.

In this section, you learned about AWS Identity and Access Management (IAM), including how to create users, groups, roles, and policies. You also practiced setting up IAM entities and assigning permissions. Understanding IAM is crucial for managing access to your AWS resources securely and efficiently. In the next module, we will dive into AWS Key Management Service (KMS) to learn about managing encryption keys.