A Comprehensive Guide to AWS IAM Identity Center Session Duration Limit Increase from 7 to 90 Days

/ Tutorial

Amazon Web Services (AWS) recently announced an increase in the IAM (Identity Access Management) Identity Center session duration limit from 7 to a whopping 90 days. This change provides customers with a substantial increase in flexibility, allowing them to adjust the session duration limit based on their specific security context and desired end-user experience. This article provides an in-depth discussion on this significant increase and its implications. Also, it sheds light on crucial aspects of AWS IAM Identity Center including its key features, benefits, and how to use it effectively, taking advantage of this new update.

Table of Contents

  • Understanding IAM
  • Exploring the IAM Identity Center
  • The Session Duration Increase & Its Benefits
  • Setting Session Duration Limits
  • Tips for Maximizing the New Session Duration Limit
  • Conclusion

Understanding IAM

AWS IAM allows you to control access to AWS services and resources securely. With IAM, you can create and manage AWS users and groups and use permissions to authorize and deny their access to AWS resources. IAM offers you the ability to:

  • Enable Identity Federation: You can allow users leeway to use their existing identities (from a corporation or internet Identity Provider) to securely access your AWS environment without needing an IAM user account.
  • Granular Permissions: IAM enables you to grant unique permissions to different users, ensuring an efficient delegation of access.

Now that we understand IAM, let’s delve deeper into the Identity Center.

Exploring the IAM Identity Center

The IAM Identity Center is a centralized location for managing identities across AWS and your applications. It seeks to simplify your IAM workflows, providing a unified view of identities and key security metrics. The Identity Center allows you to manage and automate your identity governance throughout the lifecycle of an application or project. It enables you to:

  • Manage Identities Across AWS: This central platform allows you to harness the power of AWS IAM and manage all of your AWS-related users and user groups.
  • Automated Security & Compliance: Utilize customizable security policies and automated compliance checks to create a secure and tightly-regulated environment.

With an understanding of IAM Identity Center, we can now dive into the session duration increase and why it’s beneficial.

The Session Duration Increase & Its Benefits

In the past, AWS IAM Identity Center administrators could set session durations between 15 minutes and 7 days. Recently, however, Amazon extended the upper limit from 7 days to 90 days, offering customers additional flexibility. This longer session capacity can bolster productivity, especially in cases where users require continuous and lengthy access to particular resources or services.

Benefits of Longer Session Duration:

  1. Increased Flexibility: Customers can derive great benefit from this change because they can set the session duration based on their unique security policies and user experience desires.
  2. Enhanced User Experience: With longer session durations, users can stay logged in for extended periods without having to worry about re-logins, leading to a seamless user experience.
  3. Improved Efficiency: Extended session durations mean less user downtime due to unnecessary logins, thereby improving operational efficiency.
  4. Security: Despite the extended duration, AWS continues to ensure the session’s security, guaranteeing that user credentials remain secure.

Despite the change, the default IAM Identity Center session duration continues to be eight (8) hours. Moreover, any existing customer-configured session limits will remain unchanged unless manually adjusted.

Setting Session Duration Limits

Setting the session duration limit in the AWS IAM Identity Center entails a simple and straightforward process. Here’s how to go about it:

  1. Go to the IAM console and choose ‘Roles’ from the navigation panel.
  2. Choose the role you want to modify.
  3. Under ‘Access token expiration’, you can define your desired session duration between 15 minutes and 90 days.

Follow this simple process, and within no time, you will have set your desired session duration limit.

Tips for Maximizing the New Session Duration Limit

While the new session duration limit offers various benefits, it is essential to exercise caution and adhere to best practices. Here are some tips:

  1. Be Security Conscious: While increased session time can be more convenient, it could potentially pose a risk if access is gained by unauthorized individuals. Therefore, ensure to match your session duration with the level of risk associated with given users or roles.
  2. Regular Reviews: Regularly review and adjust your IAM policies and user roles. Your session duration should align with the necessity to access resources in your AWS environment.
  3. Use Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA): MFA provides an additional layer of security during authentication, further safeguarding your AWS resources.

Conclusion

The extension of the IAM Identity Center session limit is a major development geared towards enhanced customer experiences. Businesses using AWS now have the room to be flexible without compromising on the security of their AWS resources. The increase in duration promises a better, fuller, and more productive experience for AWS users.

The administrator needs to ensure that while they are maximizing these new changes, they always prioritize the security aspect. By following sound security practices and regularly reviewing user roles and responsibilities, they can successfully achieve a balance between increased convenience and security.