Credential handling is a critical aspect of securing any AWS application, and it’s an aspect students/would-be certified developers must handle with the utmost care, if they are to succeed in the AWS Certified Developer – Associate (DVA-C02) exam. Robust and secure credential handling can help protect your AWS resources from unauthorized access and unnecessary exposure.
Importance of AWS IAM
AWS Identity and Access Management (IAM) plays a crucial role in secure credential handling. IAM allows you to manage access to AWS services and resources securely. It helps you create and manage AWS users and groups, and use permissions to allow and deny their access to AWS resources.
Credential Management in AWS
The chief approach to AWS credential management revolves around the use of Access Keys, IAM Roles, and Security Tokens.
- Access Keys: These are typically made up of an Access Key ID and Secret Access Key, which you can use to programatically access AWS services.
- IAM Roles: These are unique entities that act as an intermediary for granting permissions. When you want to delegate access without sharing long-term credentials, you would use an IAM Role.
- Security Tokens: These are temporally limited credentials that only last for the duration of a specified session, and are automatically rotated by AWS.
To efficiently manage your AWS credentials:
- Rotate IAM access keys regularly and standardize on using IAM roles instead.
- Enable Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) for privileged users.
- Use AWS provided libraries, like AWS SDK or CLI, to automatically handle key rotation in your applications.
Coding securely with AWS Credentials
When developing applications that interact with AWS Services, the AWS SDK and the AWS CLI handle locating and using credentials automatically. For instance, with JavaScript SDK for Node.js:
var AWS = require('aws-sdk');
AWS.config.credentials = new AWS.SharedIniFileCredentials({profile: 'myProfile'});
In this example, AWS SDK is loaded and a particular profile from your .ini file is set up for use within the application. Avoid hardcoding credentials in your application code as this poses a significant security risk.
Using AWS Secrets Manager
AWS Secrets Manager helps protect access to your applications, services, and IT resources, without the upfront investment and on-going maintenance costs of operating your own infrastructure. It allows you to easily rotate, manage, and retrieve database credentials, API keys, and other secrets throughout their lifecycle.
AWS Security Token Service (STS)
STS is another service you can use to grant trusted users and applications temporary, limited access to your AWS resources. You don’t have to share your security credentials; instead, you delegate permissions by sharing the security tokens that convey those permissions.
For example, to request temporary security credentials for Identity Federation, call the AssumeRole API operation and provide the ARN of the role to assume:
AWS.config.credentials = new AWS.STS().assumeRole({
RoleArn: 'arn:aws:iam::123456789012:role/demo',
RoleSessionName: 'bob'
}, function(err, data) {
if (err) { // an error occurred
console.log('Cannot assume role');
console.log(err, err.stack);
} else { // successful response
console.log('Role assumed');
}
});
By increasing your knowledge on Amazon’s approach to credential management, IAM’s role, and the dos and don’ts of dealing with AWS credentials, you’ll be one step closer to acing the AWS Certified Developer – Associate (DVA-C02) exam. These insights will also be beneficial when developing and managing applications on AWS.
Practice Test
True or False: AWS uses secure tokens for temporary access instead of access keys.
- True
- False
Answer: True
Explanation: AWS Security Token Service (STS) is a web service that enables you to request temporary, limited-privilege credentials for AWS Identity and Access Management (IAM) users.
Which of the following AWS services can you use to manage IRC credentials securely?
- a) AWS Secrets Manager
- b) Amazon Macie
- c) AWS Config
- d) Amazon CloudWatch
Answer: a) AWS Secrets Manager
Explanation: AWS Secrets Manager helps you protect access to your applications, services, and IT resources without the upfront investment and on-going maintenance costs of operating your own infrastructure.
True or False: You can store AWS access keys directly in your application’s code.
- True
- False
Answer: False
Explanation: This is not a secure method of storing access keys. It is recommended to use IAM roles for Amazon EC2 instances which provides access keys to your applications automatically.
Which AWS service can be used to rotate and replace old keys automatically?
- a) Amazon S3
- b) Amazon CloudFront
- c) AWS Secrets Manager
- d) Amazon Athena
Answer: c) AWS Secrets Manager
Explanation: AWS Secrets Manager protects access to your applications, services, and IT resources. This service enables you to easily rotate, manage, and retrieve database credentials, API keys, and other secrets throughout their lifecycle.
True or False: Hard coding credentials in plain text in your application code is a recommended practice.
- True
- False
Answer: False
Explanation: Hard coding credentials in plain text is not secure and is highly discouraged. It’s better to manage access keys through IAM roles, environment variables, or AWS Secrets Manager.
Every IAM user can be assigned two access keys at the same time. This allows for secure transition from an old key to a new one. True or false?
- True
- False
Answer: True
Explanation: An IAM user can have two active access keys at the same time. This allows for secure rotation of keys by introducing a new key before invalidating the old one.
To secure AWS Access keys, the AWS Management Console password can be used instead. True or false?
- True
- False
Answer: False
Explanation: Access keys and console passwords serve different purposes. An AWS Management Console password is not a secure replacement for access keys.
Which AWS service manages the complexity of creating and managing AWS keys?
- a) AWS Key Management Service
- b) AWS Glacier
- c) AWS Lambda
- d) AWS DynamoDB
Answer: a) AWS Key Management Service
Explanation: AWS Key Management Service (KMS) makes it easy for you to create and manage cryptographic keys and control their use across a wide range of AWS services and in your applications.
True or False: The root user access keys can be safely used on an individual EC2 instance.
- True
- False
Answer: False
Explanation: You should never use root user access keys. Instead, adhere to the best practice of using IAM roles to delegate permissions.
Which AWS service allows the programmatic retrieval of secrets to replace embedded plaintext credentials in your code?
- a) Amazon RDS
- b) AWS Secrets Manager
- c) Amazon DynamoDB
- d) AWS CloudTrail
Answer: b) AWS Secrets Manager
Explanation: AWS Secrets Manager enables you to rotate, manage, and retrieve secrets such as database credentials and API keys, helping to replace embedded plaintext credentials in your code.
Interview Questions
What is secure credential handling in AWS?
Secure credential handling in AWS involves managing and controlling access to AWS services and resources securely by using AWS Identity and Access Management (IAM) and other related services.
What is the role of AWS IAM in secure credential handling?
AWS IAM enables you to manage access to AWS services and resources securely. It lets you create and manage AWS users and groups and use permissions to allow and deny their access to AWS resources.
How does AWS Secure Token Service (STS) contribute to secure credential handling?
AWS STS is a service that enables you to request temporary, limited-privilege credentials for IAM users or for users that you authenticate from a trusted external system.
Why should developers avoid embedding credentials in code while using AWS services?
It is a security risk to hardcode keys into your software because if your code is ever exposed, so are your access keys. In general, it’s always a best practice to avoid such exposure.
What is the best practice for storing sensitive data or credentials securely in AWS?
AWS Secrets Manager or AWS Parameter Store is recommended for secure storage and retrieval of sensitive data or credentials.
What is the main function of AWS Secrets Manager in secure credential handling?
AWS Secrets Manager protects access to applications, services, and IT resources, without the upfront investment and on-going maintenance costs of operating your own infrastructure.
Discuss the role of Key Management Service in secure credential handling.
AWS Key Management Service (KMS) enables digital signing for your data and allows control over cryptographic keys. In credential handling, AWS KMS creates and manages the cryptographic keys used to encrypt and decrypt data.
What is the IAM best practice for handling credentials securely in AWS?
Best practice involves minimal user permission — use IAM groups to assign permissions whenever possible, regularly rotate and remove unused AWS access keys, enable multi-factor authentication, and use roles for EC2 instances instead of sharing security credentials.
How can you securely handle AWS access keys?
The best way to securely handle AWS access keys is to only create them when necessary, delete them when they are no longer needed, rotate them regularly, and never share them.
What mechanism of defining permissions is recommended for secure AWS credential handling?
It is recommended to use policy-based permissions, ensuring that each policy grants the least privilege necessary for that entity to perform its tasks.
What is an IAM Role as it pertains to secure AWS credential handling?
An IAM Role allows you to assign specific permissions to trusted entities without sharing your AWS security credentials. This way, you can provide access without exposing sensitive information.
How can IAM policies contribute to secure credential handling?
IAM policies define permissions for an action regardless of the method that you use to perform the operation. It helps in controlling access to AWS resources, thus contributing to secure credential handling.
Why should an AWS-developer use IAM roles for EC2 instances?
IAM roles for EC2 instances allows applications running on the instance to securely access AWS services without having to use and store AWS credentials.
Explain the importance of multi-factor authentication (MFA) in secure credential handling.
MFA adds an extra layer of protection to a user’s account by combining a username and password (something the user knows) with a unique verification code (something the user has). It significantly reduces the risk of unauthorized access to AWS resources.
How often should AWS access keys be rotated for secure credential handling?
As a best practice, AWS recommends that you regularly rotate (or change) AWS access keys.
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