AWSOverview
Enable IAM Access analyzer for IAM policies about all resources in each region.
IAM Access Analyzer is a technology introduced at AWS re:Invent 2019. After the Analyzer is enabled in IAM, scan results are displayed on the console, showing the accessible resources. Scans show resources that other accounts and federated users can access, such as KMS keys and IAM roles. So the results allow you to determine if an unintended user is allowed, making it easier for administrators to monitor least privileges access. Access Analyzer analyzes only policies that are applied to resources in the same AWS Region.
AWS IAM Access Analyzer helps you identify the resources in your organization and accounts, such as Amazon S3 buckets or IAM roles, that are shared with an external entity. This lets you identify unintended access to your resources and data. IAM Access Analyzer continuously monitors all policies for S3 bucket, IAM roles, KMS(Key Management Service) keys, AWS Lambda functions, and Amazon SQS(Simple Queue Service) queues.
Remediation guidance
From Console
Perform the following to enable IAM Access analyzer for IAM policies:
- Sign into the AWS console and open the IAM Dashboard.
- In the left navigation pane, choose Access analyzer.
- Click Create analyzer.
- On the
Create analyzerpage, confirm that the region displayed is the region where you want to enable Access Analyzer. - Enter a name for the analyzer or can keep the system generated.
- Optional. add any tags that you want to apply to the analyzer.
- Choose Create analyzer.
From Command Line
Run the following command:
aws accessanalyzer create-analyzer --analyzer-name --type
Note: The type of analyzer to create. Only ACCOUNT and ORGANIZATION analyzers are supported. You can create only one analyzer per account per Region. You can create up to 5 analyzers per organization per Region.
Multiple Remediation Paths
AWS
SERVICE-WIDE (RECOMMENDED when many resources are affected): Deploy centralized guardrails and remediation using AWS Config Conformance Packs and (if applicable) AWS Organizations SCPs.
aws configservice put-organization-conformance-pack --organization-conformance-pack-name <pack-name> --template-s3-uri s3://<bucket>/<template>.yaml
ASSET-LEVEL: Apply the resource-specific remediation steps above to only the affected assets.
PREVENTIVE: Add CI/CD policy checks (CloudFormation/Terraform validation) before deployment to prevent recurrence.
References for Service-Wide Patterns
- AWS Config Conformance Packs: https://docs.aws.amazon.com/config/latest/developerguide/conformance-packs.html
- AWS Organizations SCP examples: https://docs.aws.amazon.com/organizations/latest/userguide/orgs_manage_policies_scps_examples.html
Operational Rollout Workflow
Use this sequence to reduce risk and avoid repeated drift.
1. Contain at Service-Wide Scope First (Recommended)
- AWS: deploy/adjust organization conformance packs and policy guardrails.
aws configservice put-organization-conformance-pack --organization-conformance-pack-name <pack-name> --template-s3-uri s3://<bucket>/<template>.yaml
2. Remediate Existing Affected Assets
- Execute the control-specific Console/CLI steps documented above for each flagged resource.
- Prioritize internet-exposed and production assets first.
3. Validate and Prevent Recurrence
- Re-scan after each remediation batch.
- Track exceptions with owner and expiry date.
- Add preventive checks in IaC/CI pipelines.
Query logic
These are the stored checks tied to this control.
IAM Access analyzer is enabled for all regions
Connectors
Covered asset types
Expected check: eq []
AWS140IAM20{...AssetFragment}
