Business Case Study: Implementing Identity and Access Management (IAM) in AWS

Company Background
TechWave Solutions is a mid-sized software development company specializing in
cloud-based solutions. With a growing client base and an increasing number of
internal projects, TechWave Solutions faces challenges in managing access to its
AWS resources effectively. The company has over 500 employees, including
developers, testers, project managers, and IT support staff, all requiring varying
levels of access to AWS services.

Problem Statement
TechWave Solutions is experiencing several issues related to managing access to AWS
resources:

Unrestricted Access: Many employees have more access than necessary, increasing the
risk of accidental or malicious changes to critical resources.
Complexity in User Management: As the number of projects and employees grows,
managing user access manually has become cumbersome and error-prone.
Audit and Compliance: The company needs to comply with industry regulations that
require detailed auditing of who has access to what resources and when.
Challenges
Scalability: Managing access for a large number of users and resources across
multiple projects.
Least Privilege Principle: Ensuring users have the minimum necessary permissions to
perform their tasks.
Federated Access: Integrating existing corporate identities with AWS to simplify
user management.
Compliance and Reporting: Providing detailed reports on user activities and access
levels to meet compliance requirements.
Automated Provisioning: Reducing manual effort in granting and revoking access as
employees join, leave, or change roles within the company.
Solutions and Practical Implementation
1. AWS IAM Policies and Roles

Defining Policies: Create IAM policies that define permissions required for
different roles within the company. Use AWS-managed policies as a baseline and
customize them as needed.
Role-Based Access Control (RBAC): Implement roles for different job functions
(e.g., Developer, Tester, Project Manager) and assign policies to these roles. This
way, users can assume roles based on their job functions.