{"id":30917,"date":"2024-09-12T06:38:13","date_gmt":"2024-09-12T14:38:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.alexrusin.com\/?p=30917"},"modified":"2024-09-12T06:38:15","modified_gmt":"2024-09-12T14:38:15","slug":"iam-policies-and-permissions-in-aws","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.alexrusin.com\/iam-policies-and-permissions-in-aws\/","title":{"rendered":"IAM Policies and Permissions in AWS"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Access in AWS is controlled by creating policies and assigning them to IAM identities<\/a> such as users, user groups, roles, or directly to AWS resources. This blog post will guide you through the basics of IAM policies and permissions, including policy types, document structure, and a practical demo on how to create and use policies in AWS.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What are IAM Policies and Permissions?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

IAM policies<\/a> are objects in AWS that define the permissions for an identity or resource. When an IAM principal (user or role) makes a request, AWS evaluates these policies to determine whether the request should be allowed or denied. The main purpose of policies is to control access to AWS services and resources, ensuring security and compliance by enforcing the principle of least privilege.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Types of IAM Policies<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

AWS supports several types of policies:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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  1. Identity-Based Policies<\/strong>: These policies grant permissions to an identity (users, groups, or roles). Managed and inline policies can be attached to IAM identities.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  2. Resource-Based Policies<\/strong>: These policies are attached directly to resources like Amazon S3 buckets or IAM role trust policies. They grant permissions to specified principals, which can be in the same AWS account or different accounts.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  3. Permission Boundaries<\/strong>: These policies set the maximum permissions that identity-based policies can grant to an entity but do not grant permissions themselves.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  4. Service Control Policies (SCPs)<\/strong>: Used within AWS Organizations, SCPs determine the maximum permissions for accounts that are members of an organization or organizational unit.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  5. Access Control Lists (ACLs)<\/strong>: ACLs are cross-account permission policies that grant permissions to specified principals. ACLs do not use JSON policy document structures.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  6. Session Policies<\/strong>: These policies limit permissions granted by the identity-based policies for the duration of a session. They are used with services like AWS IAM Identity Center to control session tokens’ expiry.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n
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    Identity-Based Policy Categories<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    Identity-based policies can be further categorized into:<\/p>\n\n\n\n