Which of the following options would MOST securely accomplish this goal?
Create a new AWS account to hold user and service accounts, such as an identity account. Create users and groups in the identity account. Create roles with appropriate permissions in the production and testing accounts. Add the identity account to the trust policies for the roles.
Modify permissions in the production and testing accounts to limit creating new IAM users to members of the Operations team. Set a strong IAM password policy on each account. Create new IAM users and groups in each account to limit developer access to just the services required to complete their job function.
Create a script that runs on each account that checks user accounts for adherence to a security policy. Disable any user or service accounts that do not comply.
Create all user accounts in the production account. Create roles for access in the production account and testing accounts. Grant cross-account access from the production account to the testing account.
Explanations:
Creating a new identity account for centralized management of users and permissions allows for better isolation and control over access to production and testing environments. This approach enhances security by ensuring that only trusted accounts can assume roles in production and testing, minimizing the risk of credential leakage or unauthorized access.
While limiting IAM user creation to the Operations team and enforcing a strong password policy improves security, it does not provide the required isolation between production and testing environments or centralized management of permissions. This option still relies on separate IAM management within each account, which can lead to inconsistencies and security gaps.
A script that checks for compliance with a security policy is reactive rather than proactive. It does not address the root issue of isolation and centralized management of user accounts. Additionally, disabling non-compliant accounts does not prevent the creation of potentially insecure accounts in the first place.
Creating all user accounts in the production account poses a significant security risk. It leads to the potential for testing users to inadvertently access production resources, as it relies on cross-account access that could be misconfigured. This does not enhance isolation between environments and can compromise security.
I suspect that the answer is:
Create a new AWS account to hold user and service accounts, such as an identity account. Create users and groups in the identity account. Create roles with appropriate permissions in the production and testing accounts. Add the identity account to the trust policies for the roles.