Access Analyzer

Access Analyzer is a regional service that needs to be enabled in the desired region.

AWS Access Analyzer workflow

AWS Access Analyzer works by continuously monitoring the resource policies within our AWS environment to identify potential security risks and compliance violations. It analyzes the policies attached to various AWS resources, such as S3 buckets, IAM roles, KMS keys, and Lambda functions, to detect any unintended or overly permissive access configurations. By examining these policies, Access Analyzer can identify issues such as resource sharing across accounts, access to sensitive resources, or violations of industry-standard best practices. It provides detailed findings and insights into the identified access risks, including information on the affected resources and recommended remediation steps.

Access Analyzer also validates policies against policy best practices and compliance standards to ensure adherence to security and regulatory requirements. With its continuous monitoring capabilities, Access Analyzer alerts us to any new risks that arise due to changes in policy configurations or resource permissions, allowing us to take proactive measures to address security vulnerabilities and maintain compliance within our AWS environment.

Key features of AWS Access Analyzer

Here are some key features of Access Analyzer:

• Continuous monitoring: Access Analyzer continuously monitors resource policies for changes and evaluates them against security best practices, providing ongoing visibility into access permissions.

• Policy validation: It automatically validates policies against policy best practices and industry standards to identify issues such as overly permissive access, resource sharing across accounts, or access to sensitive resources.

• Detailed findings: Access Analyzer provides detailed findings and recommendations, including information on the resources affected, the nature of the access risk, and remediation steps to address the issues.

Resources monitored by Access Analyzer

When Access Analyzer is enabled in a region, it continuously monitors the resource-based policies attached to the supported resources in that region. The list of supported resources is as follows:

When the access analyzer is enabled, it marks the current account as the zone of trust. Now, if any of these resources become accessible to any entity outside their zone of trust because of the resource-based policy attached to them, Access Analyzer flags them in its findings. This way, we can find out which resources are vulnerable and then modify the resource-based policy to mitigate this risk.

Benefits of AWS Access Analyzer

Some benefits of using AWS Access Analyzer are as follows:

• Enhanced security: Access Analyzer helps improve security posture by identifying and mitigating potential access risks, reducing the likelihood of data breaches or unauthorized access.

• Compliance assurance: It assists in maintaining compliance with regulatory requirements by identifying access permissions that violate security and compliance standards.

• Simplified compliance audits: Access Analyzer provides audit-ready reports and insights into access permissions, streamlining compliance audits and reporting processes.

AWS Access Analyzer is a valuable security tool for identifying and mitigating access risks within our AWS environment. By leveraging its features and best practices, organizations can enhance their security posture, maintain compliance with regulatory requirements, and mitigate the risk of unauthorized access to sensitive resources. Access Analyzer provides actionable insights and recommendations to help organizations proactively address security vulnerabilities and maintain a secure AWS infrastructure.