AWS IAM Skills#

Security-first identity and access management patterns.

🚀 Core Commands#

Identity Audit#

bash

# List all users with ARN and creation date
aws iam list-users --query "Users[].{User:UserName,Arn:Arn,Date:CreateDate}" --output table

# Find unused access keys (90+ days)
aws iam list-users --query "Users[].UserName" --output text | xargs -I {} aws iam list-access-keys --user-name {} --query "AccessKeyMetadata[?Status==\`Active\` && CreateDate < \`2025-12-31\`]"

Role Orchestration#

bash

# Assume a role and get temporary credentials
aws sts assume-role --role-arn <role-arn> --role-session-name "OpenClawSession"

# List policies attached to a specific role
aws iam list-attached-role-policies --role-name <role-name> --query "AttachedPolicies[].PolicyName"

Policy Verification#

bash

# Get effective policy document
aws iam get-policy-version --policy-arn <arn> --version-id <id> --query "PolicyVersion.Document"

🧠 Best Practices#

1. Never use Root: Use IAM users or SSO roles for daily operations.
2. Short-lived Credentials: Prefer sts assume-role over permanent access keys.
3. MFA Enforcement: Enable Multi-Factor Authentication for all console and sensitive CLI access.
4. Access Analyzer: Regularly run IAM Access Analyzer to find unintended public or cross-account access.