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  • Lab
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    • Cloud
    • Security
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Labs

Managing AWS IAM User Permissions Using Groups and Policies

In this hands-on lab scenario, you are a security engineer working for a new startup that's launching an online bookstore for rare and antique books. The founder, Kia, needs your help with setting up her development team with the proper access permissions. In order to provide access and ensure the proper security measures are in place, you will use AWS Identity & Access Management (IAM). You will group users and assign permissions for the developer group using policies.

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Lab Info
Level
Beginner
Last updated
Sep 24, 2025
Duration
30m

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Table of Contents
  1. Challenge

    Create a Customer-Managed Policy
    1. Navigate to IAM using the Services menu or the unified search bar.
    2. Below IAM Resources, select Users to view the existing users. You should see cloud_user as well as 3 developer users.
    3. From the left dashboard menu, click Policies to create a new policy with developer access.
    4. Click Create Policy.
    5. Select the Visual editor tab.
    6. Fill in the policy permissions for DynamoDB:
      • Service: Select Choose a service, then search for and select DynamoDB.
      • Actions: Below Manual actions, select All DynamoDB actions (dynamodb:*).
      • Resources: Select All resources.
    7. Click Add additional permissions.
    8. Fill in the policy permissions for Lambda:
      • Service: Select Choose a service, then search for and select Lambda.
      • Actions: Below Manual actions, select All Lambda actions (lambda:*).
      • Resources: Select All resources.
    9. Click Add additional permissions.
    10. Fill in the policy permissions for S3:
      • Service: Select Choose a service, then search for and select S3.
      • Actions: Below Manual actions, select All S3 actions (s3:*).
      • Resources: Select All resources.
    11. Click Add additional permissions.
    12. Fill in the policy permissions for API Gateway:
      • Service: Select Choose a service, then search for and select API Gateway.
      • Actions: Below Manual actions, select All API Gateway actions (apigateway:*).
      • Resources: Select All resources.
    13. Click Next: Tags. You won't need to add any tags for this lab.
    14. Click Next: Review.
    15. In the Name field, enter onlinebookstore-dev-developergroup-fullaccess-iam-policy.
    16. Click Create policy.

      NOTE: If successfully created, a green banner will appear on the top of the screen

  2. Challenge

    Create a Group Controlled via a Customer-Managed Policy and Assign Users to a Group
    1. From the left dashboard menu, select User groups.
    2. Click Create group.
    3. In the User group name field, enter Developers.
    4. In the Add users to the group - Optional section, select the following user names to assign the developers to this group:
      • developer-1
      • developer-2
      • developer-3
    5. In the Attach permissions policies- Optional section, select the policy you just created: onlinebookstore-dev-developergroup-fullaccess-iam-policy.
    6. Click Create group. You have now created a policy that gives full access to DynamoDB, Lambda, S3, and API Gateway, and you've created a Developers group to grant developers access to the policy.
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