Why IAM is the foundation of cloud security
Almost every cloud breach you read about starts the same way: a credential or permission that was broader than it needed to be. Not a clever zero-day, just an access key with too much power, or an S3 bucket open to everyone. IAM (Identity and Access Management) is the system that decides who can do what. Get it right and most attack paths simply close.
It feels intimidating because of the jargon, principals, policies, roles, ARNs. But underneath, IAM answers exactly one question for every single request:
Is THIS identity allowed to perform THIS action on THIS resource, yes or no?
Note: Who this is for: Beginners. If you've ever gotten an "Access Denied" and not known why, this article is for you.
