More Info:

The access keys should rotated periodically.

Risk Level

Medium

Address

Security

Compliance Standards

HIPAA, GDPR, CISAWS, CBP, NIST, HITRUST

Triage and Remediation

How to Prevent

To prevent the issue of user account access keys not being rotated in IAM using the AWS Management Console, follow these steps:

  1. Enable Access Key Rotation Policy:

    • Navigate to the IAM dashboard in the AWS Management Console.
    • Go to the “Policies” section and create a new policy or modify an existing one.
    • Add a policy statement that enforces access key rotation by specifying conditions that require keys to be rotated within a certain period (e.g., 90 days).
  2. Set Up CloudWatch Alarms:

    • Go to the CloudWatch dashboard.
    • Create a new alarm that monitors the age of IAM access keys.
    • Set the alarm to trigger when an access key is older than the specified rotation period (e.g., 90 days).
    • Configure notifications to alert administrators when the alarm is triggered.
  3. Enable IAM Credential Reports:

    • In the IAM dashboard, go to the “Credential Report” section.
    • Generate a credential report to review the age of all access keys.
    • Schedule regular reviews of this report to ensure compliance with the access key rotation policy.
  4. Implement IAM Access Analyzer:

    • Navigate to the IAM Access Analyzer in the AWS Management Console.
    • Enable the Access Analyzer to continuously monitor and analyze IAM policies and access keys.
    • Review findings and take action on any access keys that are not compliant with the rotation policy.

By following these steps, you can proactively manage and enforce access key rotation policies to enhance the security of your AWS environment.

Additional Reading: