AWS IAM (Identity and Access Management)

1. Introduction to IAM

AWS IAM (Identity and Access Management) is a global service used to securely manage access to AWS resources. It allows you to define who can access what within your AWS account.

IAM provides:

Authentication → Who are you? (User/Role)
Authorization → What can you access? (Policies)

2. IAM Users

What is an IAM User?

An IAM user represents a real person or an application that needs access to AWS resources.

Types of Access for IAM Users

Console Access (username + password)
Programmatic Access (Access Key + Secret Key)

Example Scenario

User	Role	Access
developer1	Backend Developer	EC2 + S3 read-only
devops1	DevOps Engineer	Full access to EC2, IAM limited

3. IAM Groups

What is a Group?

A group is a collection of IAM users. Policies attached to a group apply to all users inside it.