Cloud Identity and Access Management Essentials

Cloud Identity and Access Management (IAM) is about who can access cloud resources and what they can do. It links identifying people and services with the controls that limit actions. A well‑built IAM keeps systems safe while letting teams work smoothly.

What IAM covers

  • Identities: users, service accounts, and bots
  • Authentication: logins, tokens, and MFA
  • Authorization: roles, policies, and permissions
  • Governance: audits, access reviews, and alerts

Core components

  • Identities, Groups, and Roles
  • Policies that state who may do what
  • Access reviews to keep rights up to date
  • Multifactor authentication (MFA) to reduce risk

Key practices

  • Principle of least privilege: grant only what is needed
  • Use groups and roles to simplify management
  • Enable SSO and federate with an identity provider
  • Turn on logging and alerting for critical actions
  • Practice credential hygiene: rotate keys, disable unused accounts

Getting started

  • Inventory resources: apps, storage, databases, and services
  • Define a small set of roles with clear scopes
  • Implement MFA for all administrative accounts
  • Establish automated access reviews on a schedule
  • Separate duties: developers, operators, and auditors

Example scenario A team needs read access to production logs. Create a DataViewer role with read permissions to logs, assign it to a group, and require MFA for access to sensitive resources. Review the granting of rights regularly to catch changes.

Governance for growth Set up alerts for unusual sign‑in activity and expand reviews as your cloud footprint grows. IAM is not a one‑time setup; it scales with your organization and constantly improves security.

Key Takeaways

  • Start with inventory, then apply least privilege and roles
  • Use groups, roles, and MFA to simplify and protect access
  • Enable auditing, access reviews, and alerts
  • Prefer SSO and federate with identity providers
  • Rotate credentials and remove unused access
  • View IAM as ongoing governance, not a one‑time task