IAM
Abbreviation · Security & Infosec
Definitions
Identity and Access Management — a framework for managing digital identities and their permissions. In cloud platforms, IAM controls who (users, services, roles) can do what (actions) on which resources. Follows the principle of least privilege. AWS IAM, GCP IAM, and Azure AD are the major implementations.
In plain English: The system that controls who can access what in your cloud account, like a permissions manager for everything.
Example: "The Lambda needs an IAM role with s3:GetObject permission on that specific bucket — don't give it admin access."
Related Terms
- Authorization
- Capability
- OAuth 2.0 Flow
- Service Account
- Confidential Computing
- JWT Claims
- Device Fingerprinting
- Domain Hijacking
- Fail-Closed
- Fail-Safe Default
- Identity Federation
- JSON Web Signature
- Password Policy
- Permission Boundary
- Principal
- Privilege Boundary
- Privileged Access Management
- SAML
- Service Principal
- Trust Anchor
- Trust Boundary
- Zero Trust Architecture
- Zero Trust Network Access
- Cloud HSM
- Cloud IAM
- Cross-Forest Attack
- Data Lake Security
- Database Firewall
- Domain Controller
- Domain Trust
- Identity Governance
- Just-in-Time Provisioning
- Machine Identity
- Management Plane Security
- Multi-Tenancy Security
- Privileged Identity
- Revocation