AWS IAM policies and security best practices

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AWS IAM (Identity and Access Management) controls access to cloud resources. Policies are JSON documents with Effect, Action, and Resource fields. The principle of least privilege grants only required permissions. Allow permits actions, Deny always overrides. Condition blocks restrict access by IP, time, MFA status, or tags. IAM roles provide temporary credentials—preferred over long-lived access keys. Service-linked roles grant permissions to AWS services. AssumeRolePolicyDocument defines who can assume a role. Policy variables like $${aws:username} enable dynamic policies. sts:AssumeRole enables cross-account access. Always require MFA for sensitive operations. Use AWS Organizations SCPs for account-level guardrails. Regular access reviews with IAM Access Analyzer identify overly permissive policies.