Question

Difficulty: EasyIdentity and Access Management (IAM)

A company is configuring a newly created AWS account. A solutions architect must set up secure administrative access for a newly hired systems engineer who will perform daily operations, such as managing Amazon EC2 instances and configuring Amazon S3 buckets. The systems engineer should not have access to billing information.

Which actions should the solutions architect take to configure this access securely? (Select TWO.)

  1. Create an IAM user for the systems engineer and attach a policy that grants only the permissions required for daily operations.Answer
  2. Enable multi-factor authentication (MFA) on both the AWS account root user and the systems engineer's IAM user.Answer
  3. C
    Provide the systems engineer with the email address and password of the AWS account root user to perform daily operations.
  4. D
    Manually create individual IAM users with long-term access keys for each engineer in the corporate directory instead of configuring single sign-on federation.
  5. E
    Store the systems engineer's AWS access keys as plaintext String parameters in Systems Manager Parameter Store to automate command-line tasks.

Answer

Create an IAM user with least-privilege permissions and enable multi-factor authentication (MFA) for both the root user and the systems engineer's IAM user.
Creating a dedicated IAM user with only the necessary permissions ensures that the systems engineer cannot access billing or perform unauthorized actions, adhering to the principle of least privilege. Enabling multi-factor authentication (MFA) on both the root user and the IAM user provides an essential layer of security to prevent unauthorized access.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Analyze requirements for the newly hired systems engineer.
The systems engineer requires access to manage EC2 and S3 for daily tasks but must not have access to billing or the ability to close the account.
This establishes that the systems engineer should not use the root account and requires restricted permissions.
2
Select the correct IAM identity type and permissions model.
Create an IAM user for the systems engineer and apply a policy granting only the necessary permissions.
This implements the principle of least privilege, isolating standard administrative work from billing and account ownership.
3
Apply multi-factor authentication (MFA) requirements.
Enable MFA on both the AWS account root user and the systems engineer's IAM user.
MFA is essential to secure administrative access and protect the account from unauthorized access.

Key Concept

Principle of least privilege and securing credentials using IAM users and MFA.
Estimated Time:1m 0s
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