# Identity and Access Management for AWS User Experience Customization
<a name="security_iam"></a>

AWS User Experience Customization (UXC) uses IAM policies to manage access to UXC API Operations.

AWS Identity and Access Management (IAM) is an AWS service that helps an administrator securely control access to AWS resources. IAM administrators control who can be *authenticated* (signed in) and *authorized* (have permissions) to use User Experience Customization resources. IAM is an AWS service that you can use with no additional charge.

**Topics**
+ [

## Audience
](#security_iam_audience)
+ [

## Authenticating with identities
](#security_iam_authentication)
+ [

## Managing access using policies
](#security_iam_access-manage)
+ [

# How AWS User Experience Customization works with IAM
](security_iam_service-with-iam.md)
+ [

# Identity-based policy examples for AWS User Experience Customization
](security_iam_id-based-policy-examples.md)

## Audience
<a name="security_iam_audience"></a>

How you use AWS Identity and Access Management (IAM) differs based on your role:
+ **Service user** - request permissions from your administrator if you cannot access features (see [Troubleshooting AWS User Experience Customization identity and access](security_iam_service-with-iam.md#security_iam_troubleshoot))
+ **Service administrator** - determine user access and submit permission requests (see [How AWS User Experience Customization works with IAM](security_iam_service-with-iam.md))
+ **IAM administrator** - write policies to manage access (see [Identity-based policy examples for AWS User Experience Customization](security_iam_id-based-policy-examples.md))

## Authenticating with identities
<a name="security_iam_authentication"></a>

Authentication is how you sign in to AWS using your identity credentials. You must be authenticated as the AWS account root user, an IAM user, or by assuming an IAM role.

You can sign in as a federated identity using credentials from an identity source like AWS IAM Identity Center (IAM Identity Center), single sign-on authentication, or Google/Facebook credentials. For more information about signing in, see [How to sign in to your AWS account](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/signin/latest/userguide/how-to-sign-in.html) in the *AWS Sign-In User Guide*.

For programmatic access, AWS provides an SDK and CLI to cryptographically sign requests. For more information, see [AWS Signature Version 4 for API requests](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/IAM/latest/UserGuide/reference_sigv.html) in the *IAM User Guide*.

### AWS account root user
<a name="security_iam_authentication-rootuser"></a>

 When you create an AWS account, you begin with one sign-in identity called the AWS account *root user* that has complete access to all AWS services and resources. We strongly recommend that you don't use the root user for everyday tasks. For tasks that require root user credentials, see [Tasks that require root user credentials](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/IAM/latest/UserGuide/id_root-user.html#root-user-tasks) in the *IAM User Guide*. 

### IAM users and groups
<a name="security_iam_authentication-iamuser"></a>

An *[IAM user](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/IAM/latest/UserGuide/id_users.html)* is an identity with specific permissions for a single person or application. We recommend using temporary credentials instead of IAM users with long-term credentials. For more information, see [Require human users to use federation with an identity provider to access AWS using temporary credentials](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/IAM/latest/UserGuide/best-practices.html#bp-users-federation-idp) in the *IAM User Guide*.

An [https://docs.aws.amazon.com/IAM/latest/UserGuide/id_groups.html](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/IAM/latest/UserGuide/id_groups.html) specifies a collection of IAM users and makes permissions easier to manage for large sets of users. For more information, see [Use cases for IAM users](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/IAM/latest/UserGuide/gs-identities-iam-users.html) in the *IAM User Guide*.

### IAM roles
<a name="security_iam_authentication-iamrole"></a>

An *[IAM role](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/IAM/latest/UserGuide/id_roles.html)* is an identity with specific permissions that provides temporary credentials. You can assume a role by [switching from a user to an IAM role (console)](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/IAM/latest/UserGuide/id_roles_use_switch-role-console.html) or by calling an AWS CLI or AWS API operation. For more information, see [Methods to assume a role](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/IAM/latest/UserGuide/id_roles_manage-assume.html) in the *IAM User Guide*.

IAM roles are useful for federated user access, temporary IAM user permissions, cross-account access, cross-service access, and applications running on Amazon EC2. For more information, see [Cross account resource access in IAM](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/IAM/latest/UserGuide/access_policies-cross-account-resource-access.html) in the *IAM User Guide*.

## Managing access using policies
<a name="security_iam_access-manage"></a>

You control access in AWS by creating policies and attaching them to AWS identities or resources. A policy defines permissions when associated with an identity or resource. AWS evaluates these policies when a principal makes a request. Most policies are stored in AWS as JSON documents. For more information about JSON policy documents, see [Overview of JSON policies](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/IAM/latest/UserGuide/access_policies.html#access_policies-json) in the *IAM User Guide*.

Using policies, administrators specify who has access to what by defining which **principal** can perform **actions** on what **resources**, and under what **conditions**.

By default, users and roles have no permissions. An IAM administrator creates IAM policies and adds them to roles, which users can then assume. IAM policies define permissions regardless of the method used to perform the operation.

### Identity-based policies
<a name="security_iam_access-manage-id-based-policies"></a>

Identity-based policies are JSON permissions policy documents that you attach to an identity (user, group, or role). These policies control what actions identities can perform, on which resources, and under what conditions. To learn how to create an identity-based policy, see [Define custom IAM permissions with customer managed policies](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/IAM/latest/UserGuide/access_policies_create.html) in the *IAM User Guide*.

Identity-based policies can be *inline policies* (embedded directly into a single identity) or *managed policies* (standalone policies attached to multiple identities). To learn how to choose between managed and inline policies, see [Choose between managed policies and inline policies](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/IAM/latest/UserGuide/access_policies-choosing-managed-or-inline.html) in the *IAM User Guide*.

### Resource-based policies
<a name="security_iam_access-manage-resource-based-policies"></a>

Resource-based policies are JSON policy documents that you attach to a resource. Examples include IAM *role trust policies* and Amazon S3 *bucket policies*. In services that support resource-based policies, service administrators can use them to control access to a specific resource. You must [specify a principal](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/IAM/latest/UserGuide/reference_policies_elements_principal.html) in a resource-based policy.

Resource-based policies are inline policies that are located in that service. You can't use AWS managed policies from IAM in a resource-based policy.

### Other policy types
<a name="security_iam_access-manage-other-policies"></a>

AWS supports additional policy types that can set the maximum permissions granted by more common policy types:
+ **Permissions boundaries** – Set the maximum permissions that an identity-based policy can grant to an IAM entity. For more information, see [Permissions boundaries for IAM entities](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/IAM/latest/UserGuide/access_policies_boundaries.html) in the *IAM User Guide*.
+ **Service control policies (SCPs)** – Specify the maximum permissions for an organization or organizational unit in AWS Organizations. For more information, see [Service control policies](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/organizations/latest/userguide/orgs_manage_policies_scps.html) in the *AWS Organizations User Guide*.
+ **Resource control policies (RCPs)** – Set the maximum available permissions for resources in your accounts. For more information, see [Resource control policies (RCPs)](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/organizations/latest/userguide/orgs_manage_policies_rcps.html) in the *AWS Organizations User Guide*.
+ **Session policies** – Advanced policies passed as a parameter when creating a temporary session for a role or federated user. For more information, see [Session policies](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/IAM/latest/UserGuide/access_policies.html#policies_session) in the *IAM User Guide*.

### Multiple policy types
<a name="security_iam_access-manage-multiple-policies"></a>

When multiple types of policies apply to a request, the resulting permissions are more complicated to understand. To learn how AWS determines whether to allow a request when multiple policy types are involved, see [Policy evaluation logic](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/IAM/latest/UserGuide/reference_policies_evaluation-logic.html) in the *IAM User Guide*.

# How AWS User Experience Customization works with IAM
<a name="security_iam_service-with-iam"></a>

AWS User Experience Customization (UXC) works with IAM policies to manage access to UXC API Operations.

Before you use IAM to manage access to AWS User Experience Customization (User Experience Customization), learn what IAM features are available to use with User Experience Customization. We recommend you integrate with User Experience Customization through an AWS managed policy, for more information, see [AWS managed policies for the AWS Management Console](security-iam-awsmanpol.md).

Before you use IAM to manage access to User Experience Customization, learn what IAM features are available to use with User Experience Customization.


| IAM feature | User Experience Customization support | 
| --- | --- | 
|  [Identity-based policies](#security_iam_service-with-iam-id-based-policies)  |   Yes  | 
|  Resource-based policies  |   No   | 
|  [Policy actions](#security_iam_service-with-iam-id-based-policies-actions)  |   Yes  | 
|  Policy resources  |   No   | 
|  Policy condition keys  |   No   | 
|  [Temporary credentials](#security_iam_service-with-iam-roles-tempcreds)  |   Yes  | 
|  Cross-service principal permissions  |   No   | 
|  Service-linked roles  |   No   | 
|  Service roles  |   No   | 

To get a high-level view of how User Experience Customization and other AWS services work with most IAM features, see [AWS services that work with IAM](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/IAM/latest/UserGuide/reference_aws-services-that-work-with-iam.html) in the *IAM User Guide*.

## Identity-based policies for User Experience Customization
<a name="security_iam_service-with-iam-id-based-policies"></a>

Identity-based policies are JSON permissions policy documents that you can attach to an identity, such as an IAM user, group of users, or role. These policies control what actions users and roles can perform, on which resources, and under what conditions. To learn how to create an identity-based policy, see [Define custom IAM permissions with customer managed policies](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/IAM/latest/UserGuide/access_policies_create.html) in the *IAM User Guide*.

With IAM identity-based policies, you can specify allowed or denied actions and resources as well as the conditions under which actions are allowed or denied. To learn about all of the elements that you can use in a JSON policy, see [IAM JSON policy elements reference](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/IAM/latest/UserGuide/reference_policies_elements.html) in the *IAM User Guide*.

To view examples of User Experience Customization identity-based policies, see [Identity-based policy examples for AWS User Experience Customization](security_iam_id-based-policy-examples.md).

## Policy actions for User Experience Customization
<a name="security_iam_service-with-iam-id-based-policies-actions"></a>

Administrators can use AWS JSON policies to specify who has access to what. That is, which **principal** can perform **actions** on what **resources**, and under what **conditions**.

The `Action` element of a JSON policy describes the actions that you can use to allow or deny access in a policy. Include actions in a policy to grant permissions to perform the associated operation.

To see all User Experience Customization actions, refer to the [API Reference](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/awsconsolehelpdocs/latest/APIReference/Welcome.html).

Policy actions in User Experience Customization use the `uxc:` prefix before the action (for example `uxc:GetAccountCustomizations`).

To specify multiple actions in a single statement, separate them with commas:

```
"Action": [
      "uxc:GetAccountCustomizations",
      "uxc:ListServices"
         ]
```

To view examples of User Experience Customization identity-based policies, see [Identity-based policy examples for AWS User Experience Customization](security_iam_id-based-policy-examples.md).

## Policy resources for User Experience Customization
<a name="security_iam_service-with-iam-id-based-policies-resources"></a>

User Experience Customization does not support policy resources.

## Using temporary credentials with User Experience Customization
<a name="security_iam_service-with-iam-roles-tempcreds"></a>

Temporary credentials provide short-term access to AWS resources and are automatically created when you use federation or switch roles. AWS recommends that you dynamically generate temporary credentials instead of using long-term access keys. For more information, see [Temporary security credentials in IAM](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/IAM/latest/UserGuide/id_credentials_temp.html) and [AWS services that work with IAM](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/IAM/latest/UserGuide/reference_aws-services-that-work-with-iam.html) in the *IAM User Guide*.

## Troubleshooting AWS User Experience Customization identity and access
<a name="security_iam_troubleshoot"></a>

Use the following information to help you diagnose and fix common issues that you might encounter when working with User Experience Customization and IAM.

If you receive an error that you're not authorized to perform an action, your policies must be updated to allow you to perform the action.

The following example error occurs when the `mateojackson` IAM user tries to use the console to view details about a fictional `my-example-widget` resource but doesn't have the fictional `uxc:GetWidget` permissions.

```
User: arn:aws:iam::123456789012:user/mateojackson is not authorized to perform: uxc:GetWidget on resource: my-example-widget because no identity-based policy allows the GetWidget action 
```

In this case, the policy for the `mateojackson` user must be updated to allow access to the `my-example-widget` resource by using the `uxc:GetWidget` action.

If you need help, contact your AWS administrator. Your administrator is the person who provided you with your sign-in credentials.

After you create your IAM user access keys, you can view your access key ID at any time. However, you can't view your secret access key again. If you lose your secret key, you must create a new access key pair. 

Access keys consist of two parts: an access key ID (for example, `AKIAIOSFODNN7EXAMPLE`) and a secret access key (for example, `wJalrXUtnFEMI/K7MDENG/bPxRfiCYEXAMPLEKEY`). Like a user name and password, you must use both the access key ID and secret access key together to authenticate your requests. Manage your access keys as securely as you do your user name and password.

**Important**  
Do not provide your access keys to a third party, even to help [find your canonical user ID](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/accounts/latest/reference/manage-acct-identifiers.html#FindCanonicalId). By doing this, you might give someone permanent access to your AWS account.

When you create an access key pair, you are prompted to save the access key ID and secret access key in a secure location. The secret access key is available only at the time you create it. If you lose your secret access key, you must add new access keys to your IAM user. You can have a maximum of two access keys. If you already have two, you must delete one key pair before creating a new one. To view instructions, see [Managing access keys](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/IAM/latest/UserGuide/id_credentials_access-keys.html#Using_CreateAccessKey) in the *IAM User Guide*.

To allow others to access User Experience Customization, you must grant permission to the people or applications that need access. If you are using AWS IAM Identity Center to manage people and applications, you assign permission sets to users or groups to define their level of access. Permission sets automatically create and assign IAM policies to IAM roles that are associated with the person or application. For more information, see [Permission sets](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/singlesignon/latest/userguide/permissionsetsconcept.html) in the *AWS IAM Identity Center User Guide*.

If you are not using IAM Identity Center, you must create IAM entities (users or roles) for the people or applications that need access. You must then attach a policy to the entity that grants them the correct permissions in User Experience Customization. After the permissions are granted, provide the credentials to the user or application developer. They will use those credentials to access AWS. To learn more about creating IAM users, groups, policies, and permissions, see [IAM Identities](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/IAM/latest/UserGuide/id.html) and [Policies and permissions in IAM](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/IAM/latest/UserGuide/access_policies.html) in the *IAM User Guide*.

# Identity-based policy examples for AWS User Experience Customization
<a name="security_iam_id-based-policy-examples"></a>

By default, users and roles don't have permission to get or modify UXC resources. To grant users permission to perform actions on resources, an IAM administrator can create IAM policies. To learn how to create an IAM identity-based policy by using these example JSON policy documents, see [Create IAM policies (console)](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/IAM/latest/UserGuide/access_policies_create-console.html) in the *IAM User Guide*.

**Topics**
+ [

## Policy best practices
](#security_iam_id-based-policy-examples-best-practices)
+ [

## Read-only access to UXC Account Customizations
](#security_iam_id-based-policy-examples-readonly)
+ [

## Full access to UXC Account Customizations
](#security_iam_id-based-policy-examples-fullaccess)

## Policy best practices
<a name="security_iam_id-based-policy-examples-best-practices"></a>

Identity-based policies determine whether someone can create, access, or delete User Experience Customization resources in your account. These actions can incur costs for your AWS account. When you create or edit identity-based policies, follow these guidelines and recommendations:
+ **Get started with AWS managed policies and move toward least-privilege permissions** – To get started granting permissions to your users and workloads, use the *AWS managed policies* that grant permissions for many common use cases. They are available in your AWS account. We recommend that you reduce permissions further by defining AWS customer managed policies that are specific to your use cases. For more information, see [AWS managed policies](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/IAM/latest/UserGuide/access_policies_managed-vs-inline.html#aws-managed-policies) or [AWS managed policies for job functions](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/IAM/latest/UserGuide/access_policies_job-functions.html) in the *IAM User Guide*.
+ **Apply least-privilege permissions** – When you set permissions with IAM policies, grant only the permissions required to perform a task. You do this by defining the actions that can be taken on specific resources under specific conditions, also known as *least-privilege permissions*. For more information about using IAM to apply permissions, see [ Policies and permissions in IAM](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/IAM/latest/UserGuide/access_policies.html) in the *IAM User Guide*.
+ **Use conditions in IAM policies to further restrict access** – You can add a condition to your policies to limit access to actions and resources. For example, you can write a policy condition to specify that all requests must be sent using SSL. You can also use conditions to grant access to service actions if they are used through a specific AWS service, such as CloudFormation. For more information, see [ IAM JSON policy elements: Condition](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/IAM/latest/UserGuide/reference_policies_elements_condition.html) in the *IAM User Guide*.
+ **Use IAM Access Analyzer to validate your IAM policies to ensure secure and functional permissions** – IAM Access Analyzer validates new and existing policies so that the policies adhere to the IAM policy language (JSON) and IAM best practices. IAM Access Analyzer provides more than 100 policy checks and actionable recommendations to help you author secure and functional policies. For more information, see [Validate policies with IAM Access Analyzer](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/IAM/latest/UserGuide/access-analyzer-policy-validation.html) in the *IAM User Guide*.
+ **Require multi-factor authentication (MFA)** – If you have a scenario that requires IAM users or a root user in your AWS account, turn on MFA for additional security. To require MFA when API operations are called, add MFA conditions to your policies. For more information, see [ Secure API access with MFA](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/IAM/latest/UserGuide/id_credentials_mfa_configure-api-require.html) in the *IAM User Guide*.

For more information about best practices in IAM, see [Security best practices in IAM](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/IAM/latest/UserGuide/best-practices.html) in the *IAM User Guide*.

## Read-only access to UXC Account Customizations
<a name="security_iam_id-based-policy-examples-readonly"></a>

The following example shows how to create a policy that allows read-only access to UXC Account Customizations:

```
{
    "Version": "2012-10-17",		 	 	 
    "Statement": [
        {
            "Effect": "Allow",
            "Action": [
                "uxc:GetAccountCustomizations",
                "uxc:ListServices"
            ],
            "Resource": "*"
        }
    ]
}
```

## Full access to UXC Account Customizations
<a name="security_iam_id-based-policy-examples-fullaccess"></a>

The following example shows how to create a policy that allows full access to UXC Account Customizations:

```
{
    "Version": "2012-10-17",		 	 	 
    "Statement": [
        {
            "Effect": "Allow",
            "Action": [
                "uxc:*"
            ],
            "Resource": "*"
        }
    ]
}
```