Authorization Models in IAM

Role based

Attributed based

AWS Identity and Access Management (IAM) supports different authorization models to control how users and services access AWS resources. SecureCart follows AWS best practices by implementing role-based access control (RBAC), attribute-based access control (ABAC), and permission boundaries to enforce least privilege access across multiple accounts.

✔ Why SecureCart Needs IAM Authorization Models?

• Ensures fine-grained access control across AWS environments.

• Implements scalable access management using roles and policies.

• Prevents privilege escalation and enforces security compliance.

• Simplifies permissions management across multiple AWS accounts.

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🔹 Step 1: Understanding IAM Authorization Models

✔ AWS provides multiple authorization models for managing access control. SecureCart selects the right model based on security and scalability needs.

Authorization Model	Purpose	Key AWS Components	SecureCart Implementation
Role-Based Access Control (RBAC)	Grants access based on job roles and responsibilities.	IAM Roles, IAM Groups, IAM Policies	SecureCart assigns IAM roles to Developers, Admins, and Security teams with predefined permission sets.
Attribute-Based Access Control (ABAC)	Grants access based on user attributes (e.g., department, project, environment).	IAM Policies with Tags, IAM Roles, AWS Organizations	SecureCart tags IAM roles with attributes like environment=prod to restrict access dynamically.
Permission Boundaries	Defines the maximum permissions an IAM identity can have.	IAM Policies, IAM Roles	SecureCart enforces permission boundaries to ensure developers cannot grant themselves admin privileges.
Service Control Policies (SCPs)	Restricts permissions across AWS accounts in an organization.	AWS Organizations, SCPs	SecureCart applies SCPs to prevent root user access and restrict actions in production accounts.

✅ Best Practices: ✔ Use RBAC for standard role-based permissions (e.g., Developer, Security Analyst). ✔ Leverage ABAC to dynamically assign permissions based on user attributes. ✔ Apply permission boundaries to prevent excessive privilege assignments. ✔ Use SCPs in AWS Organizations to enforce security policies across accounts.

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🔹 Step 2: Implementing Role-Based Access Control (RBAC) in SecureCart

✔ SecureCart grants access based on job roles using IAM roles and permission sets.

Role	Permissions	SecureCart Implementation
Developer	Read/write access to non-production environments.	SecureCart developers assume an IAM role with ReadOnlyAccess to Production and FullAccess to Dev.
Security Analyst	Full access to AWS security services.	SecureCart security teams have IAM roles with full access to AWS Security Hub, GuardDuty, and IAM.
Admin	Full access to all AWS services.	SecureCart’s Cloud Administrators have elevated privileges through IAM roles.

✅ Best Practices: ✔ Use IAM roles instead of IAM users to grant permissions. ✔ Apply least privilege by assigning only necessary permissions. ✔ Use permission sets in IAM Identity Center for cross-account RBAC. ✔ Monitor IAM role usage using AWS CloudTrail.

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🔹 Step 3: Implementing Attribute-Based Access Control (ABAC) in SecureCart

✔ SecureCart uses IAM policies with tags to enforce dynamic access control.

ABAC Strategy	Purpose	SecureCart Implementation
Tag IAM roles with environment=prod or environment=dev	Restricts access based on the environment.	SecureCart allows only developers with environment=dev tags to deploy to Dev accounts.
Use department tags to enforce permissions	Assigns permissions based on department.	SecureCart assigns IAM roles dynamically based on department=engineering or department=security.
Combine ABAC with RBAC for granular control	Provides flexible access management.	SecureCart combines role-based IAM policies with ABAC to fine-tune permissions.

✅ Best Practices: ✔ Use tags to manage permissions dynamically across multiple AWS accounts. ✔ Combine ABAC with RBAC to provide fine-grained access control. ✔ Restrict access based on attributes like project, department, or environment. ✔ Use IAM Access Analyzer to detect unintended public access.

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🔹 Step 4: Enforcing Permission Boundaries for SecureCart’s IAM Roles

✔ SecureCart prevents privilege escalation using permission boundaries.

Permission Boundary Strategy	Purpose	SecureCart Implementation
Limit IAM Role Creation Privileges	Prevents users from creating overly permissive roles.	SecureCart enforces a permission boundary that prevents developers from assigning AdministratorAccess.
Restrict Actions for Temporary Roles	Ensures temporary credentials don’t exceed predefined permissions.	SecureCart applies permission boundaries to AWS STS session policies.
Apply Boundaries for Cross-Account Access	Controls max permissions for assumed roles.	SecureCart enforces permission boundaries to limit DevOps cross-account access.

✅ Best Practices: ✔ Use permission boundaries to prevent users from escalating their own privileges. ✔ Combine permission boundaries with SCPs for multi-account governance. ✔ Restrict temporary session permissions using session policies. ✔ Monitor permission boundary violations using AWS IAM Access Analyzer.

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🔹 Step 5: Enforcing Multi-Account Governance with SCPs

✔ SecureCart applies SCPs to enforce security controls across all AWS accounts.

SCP Strategy	Purpose	SecureCart Implementation
Prevent IAM User Creation in Workload Accounts	Ensures only IAM Identity Center (SSO) is used.	SecureCart blocks IAM user creation in non-management accounts.
Restrict Unapproved AWS Regions	Ensures resources are deployed in approved locations.	SecureCart limits deployments to us-east-1 and eu-west-1.
Deny CloudTrail Log Deletion	Protects security logs from unauthorized changes.	SecureCart prevents security logs from being deleted in any account.

✅ Best Practices: ✔ Apply SCPs at the Organizational Unit (OU) level for centralized policy enforcement. ✔ Use SCPs to restrict critical actions like disabling CloudTrail and IAM changes. ✔ Regularly review and update SCPs to align with security best practices. ✔ Ensure SCPs do not override necessary permissions for required workflows.

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🔹 Step 6: Monitoring & Auditing IAM Authorization Models

✔ SecureCart ensures access security through continuous monitoring and auditing.

AWS Monitoring Tool	Purpose	SecureCart Implementation
AWS IAM Access Analyzer	Detects unintended public access and cross-account permissions.	SecureCart scans IAM policies for overly permissive configurations.
AWS CloudTrail	Logs all IAM role assumptions and API calls.	SecureCart tracks IAM role usage across accounts.
AWS Config	Monitors compliance with IAM best practices.	SecureCart flags non-compliant IAM policy changes.
AWS Security Hub	Aggregates security findings across multiple accounts.	SecureCart centralizes security monitoring for IAM-related threats.

✅ Best Practices: ✔ Use IAM Access Analyzer to detect unintended public and cross-account access. ✔ Monitor CloudTrail logs to track IAM role assumptions and API calls. ✔ Enable AWS Config to detect unauthorized IAM policy modifications. ✔ Use AWS Security Hub to centralize IAM security alerts.

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🚀 Summary

✔ Use RBAC to assign permissions based on roles and job functions. ✔ Leverage ABAC to grant dynamic permissions based on user attributes and tags. ✔ Apply permission boundaries to prevent privilege escalation. ✔ Use SCPs to enforce security guardrails across AWS accounts. ✔ Continuously monitor IAM authorization models using AWS IAM Access Analyzer, CloudTrail, and AWS Config.