Monitor IAM Activity

Contributed by: Vishakha Sadhwani

Difficulty level: Intermediate

It’s crucial to keep a vigilant eye on who is accessing your cloud resources and what actions they are taking. This is where monitoring identity and access management (IAM) activity comes into play. This helps you detect unauthorized access, identify potential security threats, and ensure compliance with regulatory requirements.

Let’s delve into the world of IAM activity monitoring and discover how it complements other security measures to create a comprehensive security strategy for your cloud environment.

The Core Idea

Enabling monitoring of IAM activity means keeping a watchful eye on who is doing what within your cloud environment. It’s like having security cameras in your house to see who’s coming and going and what they’re doing while they’re there.

How It Works

Here’s what happens when you monitor IAM activity:

• Log collection: Cloud providers automatically log IAM events, like when a user logs in, changes permissions, or accesses resources.

• Centralized storage: These logs are typically stored in a central location for easy analysis.

• Monitoring tools: You can use built-in or third-party tools to analyze these logs and set up alerts for suspicious activity.

• Real-time alerts: You can get notified instantly if something unusual happens, like a user trying to access a restricted area.

• Historical analysis: You can review past logs to investigate security incidents or identify ...