On the IAM Dashboard, check the Security Status panel for quick insights into security best practices, such as multi-factor authentication (MFA) for root accounts, access key rotation, and password policies.
Users:
In the left-hand menu, select Users to view a list of IAM users in your account. Click on a user to explore details, including their Permissions, Groups, Policies, Access keys, and MFA status.
Groups:
Click on User groups to view groups configured in your account. Review the group permissions and members to understand how access is managed collectively.
Roles:
Navigate to Roles to see the list of IAM roles. Click on a role to view its associated policies, trust relationships, and permissions. Roles are often used to grant temporary access to resources for users, applications, or services.
Policies:
Select Policies to view the list of policies defined in your account. Click on a policy to inspect its details, including the Policy summary, which shows the services and actions allowed or denied.
3. Exploring the AWS Well-Architected Framework Pillars
In the Users and User groups sections, check how IAM users are organized. Grouping users based on roles (e.g., admins, developers, auditors) simplifies permissions management and enhances operational efficiency.
Access Key Management:
Under the Users section, click on individual users to inspect the Security credentials tab. Review the status and age of Access keys. Ensuring keys are rotated regularly and unused keys are disabled or deleted is critical for operational excellence.
Policies:
In the Policies section, review policies to ensure they use managed policies where possible. Managed policies allow for consistent permission management and ease of updates, supporting operational best practices.
IAM Best Practices:
Check the Security Status section on the IAM Dashboard for compliance with best practices, such as enabling MFA for the root account and setting up a strong password policy. Following these practices improves the operational security of your account.
In the Users, Groups, and Roles sections, review permissions to ensure that policies adhere to the least privilege principle. Ensure users and roles have only the necessary permissions to perform their required tasks.
MFA Configuration:
Check the Security credentials tab for each user to see if Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) is enabled. Enforcing MFA adds an extra layer of security to protect against unauthorized access.
Inline vs. Managed Policies:
In the Policies section, identify whether inline or managed policies are used. Managed policies are recommended because they can be centrally managed and reused, reducing the risk of misconfigurations.
Roles and Trust Relationships:
Under the Roles section, click on each role to review its Trust relationships. Ensure that only the necessary entities (users, services, or accounts) are allowed to assume these roles.
Access Analyzer:
If enabled, use IAM Access Analyzer (found in the left-hand menu) to review findings related to resources that are accessible outside your account. This tool helps identify potential security risks in your IAM configuration.
By implementing IAM roles instead of sharing IAM user credentials, you ensure that the access to AWS resources is more reliable and can be easily audited and adjusted when needed.
Audit Trail:
Verify that IAM changes (e.g., policy changes, user creation) are logged using AWS CloudTrail. CloudTrail provides an audit trail that allows you to investigate changes to IAM configurations and respond to any potential incidents.
Service Roles:
Under the Roles section, identify roles that AWS services use (e.g., EC2, Lambda) to interact with other AWS resources. Properly configuring service roles ensures that services can reliably access necessary resources.
In the Users and Roles sections, identify unused or unnecessary users and roles. Removing inactive users, roles, and access keys helps minimize the risk of unauthorized access and reduces management overhead.
Managed Policies:
Using AWS managed policies in the Policies section simplifies permissions management and reduces the need for creating multiple custom policies, streamlining policy maintenance and potentially lowering operational costs.
Temporary Access:
For temporary tasks or third-party access, use IAM roles instead of creating permanent IAM users. This approach minimizes the need for managing long-term credentials and can lead to a more cost-effective access management strategy.
In the Policies section, review policies to ensure they are not overly permissive (e.g., using * in resource or action fields). Well-defined and specific policies help improve the performance of access evaluations by reducing unnecessary checks.
Groups for Permissions:
In the User groups section, check how permissions are assigned. Assigning permissions at the group level instead of directly to users enhances performance by simplifying permission evaluation and ensuring consistent access control.
Roles for Cross-Account Access:
In the Roles section, review roles that provide cross-account access. Properly configured roles for cross-account activities enhance performance by streamlining access management across multiple AWS accounts.
For each user or role, use the Access Advisor tab to view the last accessed time for each service. This information helps you identify unused permissions, allowing you to further optimize your IAM policies.
AWS Config:
If AWS Config is enabled, review compliance rules related to IAM, such as ensuring IAM policies do not grant admin privileges or that IAM users have MFA enabled.