Instructor: In this lesson,
we will learn about Cloud Identity and Access Management
Access and Trust Policies.
Cloud identity and access management, or IAM,
access and trust policies
are used to manage and enforce
who has access to cloud resources and under what conditions.
Additionally, cloud IAM is a framework that is used
to assign rules and permissions
to users, groups, and services,
directing what actions they can perform
within the cloud environment.
Trust policies are then used to define the relationship
and trust boundaries
between different cloud accounts or services.
Let's learn more about cloud IAM access
and trust policies.
First, we have cloud IAM access policies.
Cloud identity and access management, or IAM,
access policies are essential tools
for managing who can access cloud resources
and what actions they can perform.
Access policies do this by defining permissions
for users, groups, and services,
specifying what they can do within the cloud environment.
For example, an access policy may grant a user permission
to read data from a storage bucket,
but not to delete or modify that data.
In this way, access policies help ensure
that only authorized individuals and services
can perform specific actions,
reducing the risk of unauthorized access.
Access policies are common in all major cloud platforms,
such as Amazon Web Services, or AWS; Microsoft Azure;
and the Google Cloud Platform, or GCP.
In AWS, access policies are defined
using JavaScript Object Notation, or JSON, documents
that are associated with users, groups, or roles;
Microsoft Azure uses Role-Based Access Control
to manage access;
while Google Cloud allows permissions
to be assigned directly to users or groups.
So, each platform provides tools that allow administrators
to create, manage, and monitor these policies,
ensuring that access controls
align with the organization's security requirements.
They can also track and audit access activities
to ensure that policies are being followed,
providing an additional layer of security oversight.
A common example of an access policy in action
is granting a data analyst
access to read from a data warehouse,
but restricting their ability
to alter configurations or delete resources
within the data warehouse.
This ensures that the analyst can perform their job
without compromising the security
or stability of the data warehouse.
By carefully defining
and applying access policies like this,
organizations can maintain control
over their cloud resources
and prevent unauthorized actions
that could lead to data breaches or service disruptions.
Second, we have cloud IAM trust policies.
Cloud identity and access management,
or IAM, trust policies
define the relationships and trust boundaries
between different cloud accounts,
services, or external entities.
Trust policies are used
to specify which entities are trusted
to assume certain roles or access specific resources
within a cloud environment.
For example, in a multi account environment within AWS,
a trust policy can be configured
to allow an administrator in one AWS account
to assume a role in another AWS account,
providing them with specific permissions
that are needed for cross-account operations.
In this case,
trust policies play a key role when different cloud accounts
need to interact with each other securely.
For instance, an organization might have separate accounts
for the development, testing, and production environments.
A trust policy may be established
to allow resources in the development account
to communicate with resources in the testing account
under controlled conditions.
This setup would help maintain security boundaries
while enabling necessary interactions between accounts,
reducing the risk of unauthorized access.
Well-known cloud platforms, like AWS, Azure, and GCP,
provide robust tools for managing trust policies.
AWS uses trust policies as part of its IAM roles,
allowing one service or account to assume a role in another;
in Azure, trust relationships can be established
using service principles and managed identities;
and Google Cloud
allows the configuration of trust boundaries
between projects and services,
each of these enabling secure cross-environment operations.
An example of a trust policy in action
would be an AWS Lambda function in one account
needing to access resources in another account.
A trust policy could be set up so that the Lambda function
assumes a role in the second account,
giving it the necessary permissions it needs
to perform its task.
By defining these trust relationships,
organizations can safely manage cross-account
and cross-service access,
ensuring that only authorized entities
can assume specific roles.
So, remember, cloud identity and access management, or IAM,
access and trust policies
manage who can access cloud resources
and under what conditions.
Access policies define roles and permissions
for users, groups, and services,
specifying what actions they can perform
within the cloud environment.
Trust policies establish relationships and trust boundaries
between different cloud accounts or services,
specifying which entities can assume specific roles
or access resources.
These policies individually help maintain security
by ensuring that access is controlled, monitored,
and compliant with organizational requirements.
And access and trust policies work together
by using access policies
to define permissions and trust policies
to manage how those permissions are securely shared
between accounts and services.