User account service inactive remediation

Using Console

Using CLI

To prevent User Account Service Inactivity in IAM using AWS CLI, you can follow these steps:

Create an IAM Policy to Enforce Password Rotation: Ensure that users are required to change their passwords regularly to prevent inactivity. Create a policy that enforces password rotation.

aws iam create-account-password-policy \
    --minimum-password-length 12 \
    --require-symbols \
    --require-numbers \
    --require-uppercase-characters \
    --require-lowercase-characters \
    --allow-users-to-change-password \
    --max-password-age 90 \
    --password-reuse-prevention 5

Enable MFA for IAM Users: Require Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) for all IAM users to ensure that accounts are actively used and secured.

aws iam create-virtual-mfa-device --virtual-mfa-device-name MyVirtualMFADevice
aws iam enable-mfa-device --user-name MyUserName --serial-number arn:aws:iam::123456789012:mfa/MyVirtualMFADevice --authentication-code1 123456 --authentication-code2 654321

Set Up CloudWatch Alarms for Inactive Users: Create CloudWatch alarms to monitor and alert you when users have not logged in for a specified period.

aws cloudwatch put-metric-alarm \
    --alarm-name InactiveUserAlarm \
    --metric-name UserLogin \
    --namespace AWS/IAM \
    --statistic Sum \
    --period 86400 \
    --threshold 1 \
    --comparison-operator LessThanThreshold \
    --dimensions Name=UserName,Value=MyUserName \
    --evaluation-periods 30 \
    --alarm-actions arn:aws:sns:us-east-1:123456789012:MySNSTopic

Automate Inactive User Deactivation: Use a Lambda function to automatically deactivate users who have been inactive for a specified period. This requires setting up a Lambda function and a CloudWatch event rule to trigger it.

aws lambda create-function \
    --function-name DeactivateInactiveUsers \
    --runtime python3.8 \
    --role arn:aws:iam::123456789012:role/MyLambdaRole \
    --handler lambda_function.lambda_handler \
    --zip-file fileb://function.zip

aws events put-rule \
    --name InactiveUserCheck \
    --schedule-expression "rate(1 day)"

aws events put-targets \
    --rule InactiveUserCheck \
    --targets "Id"="1","Arn"="arn:aws:lambda:us-east-1:123456789012:function:DeactivateInactiveUsers"

These steps will help you prevent user account service inactivity by enforcing password policies, enabling MFA, monitoring user activity, and automating the deactivation of inactive users.

Using Python

To prevent User Account Service Inactivity in IAM using Python scripts, you can follow these steps:

1. Set Up AWS SDK (Boto3)

First, ensure you have the AWS SDK for Python (Boto3) installed. You can install it using pip if you haven’t already:

pip install boto3

2. Create a Script to List Inactive Users

Create a Python script to list users who have been inactive for a specified period. This script will help you identify inactive users.

import boto3
from datetime import datetime, timedelta

# Initialize a session using Amazon IAM
iam = boto3.client('iam')

# Define the inactivity period (e.g., 90 days)
inactivity_period = 90
threshold_date = datetime.now() - timedelta(days=inactivity_period)

# List all IAM users
users = iam.list_users()

# Check for inactive users
inactive_users = []
for user in users['Users']:
    if 'PasswordLastUsed' in user:
        last_used = user['PasswordLastUsed']
        if last_used < threshold_date:
            inactive_users.append(user['UserName'])

print("Inactive users:", inactive_users)

3. Automate Deactivation of Inactive Users

Modify the script to deactivate users who have been inactive for the specified period. This can be done by disabling their login profile and access keys.

for user in inactive_users:
    # Deactivate login profile
    try:
        iam.delete_login_profile(UserName=user)
        print(f"Deleted login profile for user: {user}")
    except iam.exceptions.NoSuchEntityException:
        print(f"No login profile found for user: {user}")

    # Deactivate access keys
    access_keys = iam.list_access_keys(UserName=user)
    for key in access_keys['AccessKeyMetadata']:
        iam.update_access_key(UserName=user, AccessKeyId=key['AccessKeyId'], Status='Inactive')
        print(f"Deactivated access key {key['AccessKeyId']} for user: {user}")

4. Schedule the Script to Run Periodically

Use a scheduling tool like cron (on Unix-based systems) or Task Scheduler (on Windows) to run the script periodically. This ensures that inactive users are regularly identified and deactivated.

Example Cron Job (Unix-based systems):

# Open the crontab file
crontab -e

# Add the following line to run the script every day at midnight
0 0 * * * /usr/bin/python3 /path/to/your/script.py

By following these steps, you can automate the process of identifying and deactivating inactive IAM users using Python scripts, thereby preventing user account service inactivity in AWS IAM.

AWS Introduction

AWS Pricing

AWS Threats

AWS Misconfigurations