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Ensure That IAM Access Analyzer is Enabled

This rule ensures the IAM Access Analyzer is enabled to meet compliance standards.

Rule Ensure that IAM Access analyzer is enabled
Frameworkcis_v130
Severity
High

Ensure that IAM Access Analyzer is enabled for CIS v1.3.0

Introduction

CIS (Center for Internet Security) v1.3.0 refers to a specific version of the security benchmarks established by the CIS. IAM Access Analyzer is an AWS service that helps you identify the resources in your organization and accounts that are shared with an external entity. This tool is vital for maintaining security best practices as outlined by CIS benchmarks.

The rule in question requires that the IAM Access Analyzer be enabled across all AWS accounts to help identify policies that grant a wide range of access and to review such permissions carefully.

Detailed Description

IAM Access Analyzer helps in analyzing resource-based policies to determine which resources can be accessed from outside the AWS account. By enabling this, you can review findings and take action to restrict access if necessary. This aligns with CIS AWS Foundations Benchmark recommendations, especially around minimizing security risks and ensuring least privilege access.

Having IAM Access Analyzer enabled helps with:

  1. 1.
    Identifying resources that can be accessed publicly or from other accounts and services.
  2. 2.
    Highlighting unintended external access to an AWS resource with detailed findings.
  3. 3.
    Reviewing the external access paths into your account, such as through public policies, cross-account role sharing, etc.

Troubleshooting Steps

If IAM Access Analyzer is not enabled, or you're encountering issues with it, follow these troubleshooting steps:

  1. 1.

    Verify Access Analyzer Status:

    • Use AWS Management Console or AWS CLI to check whether the IAM Access Analyzer is activated.
  2. 2.

    Permissions Check:

    • Ensure you have the necessary permissions to enable and work with the IAM Access Analyzer.
  3. 3.

    Evaluate Findings:

    • If Access Analyzer is enabled, but you're not seeing any findings, check that there are policies and resources within the scope of the analyzer.
  4. 4.

    Network Issues:

    • Make sure your network configuration doesn't block the AWS service endpoints.

Required AWS CLI Commands

To enable IAM Access Analyzer through the AWS CLI, you would typically perform the following steps. Please note, this assumes you have the AWS CLI installed and configured with the proper credentials and permissions.

# Create an analyzer for your account
aws accessanalyzer create-analyzer --analyzer-name "YourAnalyzerName" --type ACCOUNT

# Check the status of the analyzer
aws accessanalyzer list-analyzers

Adjust

YourAnalyzerName
to a preferred name for your analyzer.

Step by Step Guide for Remediation

  1. 1.

    Sign in to the AWS Management Console.

  2. 2.

    Navigate to the IAM service.

  3. 3.

    In the IAM dashboard, look for Access Analyzer and click on it.

  4. 4.

    Check if an analyzer exists, if not, click "Create Analyzer".

  5. 5.

    Enter a name for your analyzer and select the type as "Account".

  6. 6.

    Review and Create the analyzer.

  7. 7.

    Once created, it will automatically begin evaluating your existing policies.

Remember, remediation steps might require additional actions once the findings are reviewed, such as modifying resource-based policies or updating permissions.

Final Remarks

Following these guidelines ensures you're on the path to compliance with CIS benchmarks regarding IAM Access Analyzer. While the direct impact on SEO for this compliance guideline is not significant, having robust security practices indirectly influences trust and reliability of services, thus can contribute to SEO and user experience.

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