IAM Security Tools
2 min read
IAM Security Tools in AWS, focusing specifically on:
IAM Credential Report
IAM Access Advisor
Both of these tools help you analyze and audit IAM users, with the goal of improving security and reducing unused permissions.
🛡️ 1. IAM Credential Report (Account-Level)
✅ What it is:
A CSV report generated by AWS that contains credential-related information for all IAM users in your account.
📄 What does it include?
For each IAM user, you’ll get details like:
User creation time
Whether a password is enabled
Last time the password was used
Whether MFA (Multi-Factor Authentication) is enabled
Access key info:
Active or inactive
Last used date
Age of access key (helps identify old/stale keys)
📌 Why use it?
To identify weak IAM hygiene, such as:
Users without MFA
Users with unused passwords or access keys
Very old credentials (e.g., 90+ days)
🛠️ How to generate:
AWS Console → IAM → "Credential Report" → Click “Download Report”
🔍 2. IAM Last Access (Users-Level)
✅ What it is:
It shows you which services an IAM user or role has accessed and when.
📄 What does it include?
List of services the IAM entity has permissions for
Last accessed timestamp for each service
Services never accessed
📌 Why use it?
To perform permissions cleanup (least privilege):
Remove permissions for services that were never accessed
Identify over-permissioned users or roles
🛠️ Where to find:
AWS Console → IAM → Choose a User or Role → Last Access tab
💡 Example Use Case
Let’s say you have a user with:
Access keys that haven’t been used in 6 months
Full admin access but has never accessed half the services
Using:
Credential Report, you identify and rotate or delete stale keys
Access Advisor, you trim unnecessary permissions
This improves security posture and minimizes attack surface.