Privileged Accounts

FedRAMP RSC guidance for managing privileged access, role-based controls, and administrative account lifecycle

FedRAMP RSC 1 applicable requirement HIGH sensitivity Last updated: 2026-01-09

Impact Levels: Confidentiality: HIGH Integrity: HIGH Availability: HIGH

FRR-RSC-03

Privileged Accounts Guidance

AC-2 AC-3 AC-6 IA-2 IA-5

✓ SHOULD - Recommended for all FedRAMP services

OSCAL Control ID: FRR-RSC-03 UUID: frr-rsc-03-control

Requirement

Providers SHOULD create and maintain guidance that explains security-related settings that can be operated only by privileged accounts and their security implications.

Component Implementation (OSCAL)

Component UUID: iam-privileged-component-003

Component Type: Account

Control Implementation: AC-2 (Account Management), AC-3 (Access Enforcement), AC-6 (Least Privilege), IA-2 (Identification and Authentication), IA-5 (Authenticator Management)

Implementation Status: Implemented

Executive Summary

This guidance provides AWS recommended practices for managing privileged accounts and security-related settings that require elevated permissions in AWS environments. Privileged accounts control critical security configurations and require enhanced controls, monitoring, and governance to support FedRAMP compliance considerations. This guidance demonstrates how to implement granular privilege delegation by use case categories, helping organizations avoid broad administrative roles and reduce potential security impact.

This document covers security-related settings that can only be operated by privileged accounts, their security implications, and recommended implementation approaches. Key areas include AWS Organizations Service Control Policies, cross-account trust relationships, encryption key management, and organization-wide security service configuration.

The term "account: in these guides is not an isolated AWS account, but rather a pattern of usage and application to segregation of duties as applied to users in AWS. These are typically assigned via Users, Groups or roles.

Key Coverage Areas:

Privileged Account Classification: Defines security, network, infrastructure, and database administration account types with specific responsibilities and risk levels.

Privileged-Only Security Settings: Explains AWS configurations that require privileged access, including Service Control Policies, organization-wide security services, and cross-account trust relationships.

Security Implications Analysis: Details the blast radius, recovery complexity, and compliance considerations for each privileged setting.

Access Management Framework: Provides just-in-time access, break-glass procedures, and comprehensive monitoring for privileged operations.

Compliance and Governance: Offers automated compliance checking, regular access reviews, and incident response integration for privileged account management.

Privileged Account Classification

This section defines the primary types of privileged accounts in AWS environments, their specific responsibilities, risk levels, and security requirements. The examples below provide an approach that provides segregation of duties, but would also apply to any user granted the AWS Managed Administrator policy that has unrestricted access to AWS resources.

Security Administration Accounts

This subsection covers accounts responsible for managing security services, policies, and compliance configurations across AWS environments.

Purpose: Manage security services, policies, and compliance configurations

Risk Level: Critical - Can modify security controls and access policies

Responsibilities and Permissions:

AWS IAM Management: Create, modify, and delete IAM users, roles, and policies
AWS CloudTrail: Configure audit logging, modify trail settings, and manage log integrity
AWS Config: Deploy and manage configuration rules, remediation actions, and compliance reporting
AWS Security Hub: Manage security findings, configure integrations, and customize standards
Amazon GuardDuty: Configure threat detection, manage findings, and set up automated responses
AWS KMS: Manage encryption keys, key policies, and cryptographic operations

Security Requirements

Multi-Factor Authentication: Hardware security keys (FIDO2) required for all security admin accounts
Session Duration: Maximum 4-hour session duration with re-authentication required
IP Restrictions: Access limited to corporate, trusted network ranges and approved VPN endpoints
Time-based Access: Consider restricting access to business hours unless emergency procedures are invoked

Example IAM Policy (Security Administrator):

json

{
  "Version": "2012-10-17",
  "Statement": [
    {
      "Effect": "Allow",
      "Action": [
        "iam:*",
        "cloudtrail:*",
        "config:*",
        "securityhub:*",
        "guardduty:*",
        "kms:*",
        "organizations:List*",
        "organizations:Describe*"
      ],
      "Resource": "*",
      "Condition": {
        "Bool": {
          "aws:MultiFactorAuthPresent": "true"
        },
        "NumericLessThan": {
          "aws:MultiFactorAuthAge": "14400"
        },
        "IpAddress": {
          "aws:SourceIp": [
            "203.0.113.0/24",
            "198.51.100.0/24"
          ]
        }
      }
    }
  ]
}

Network Administration Accounts

This subsection covers accounts responsible for managing network infrastructure, connectivity, and network security controls.

Purpose: Manage network infrastructure, connectivity, and security controls Risk Level: High - Can modify network security controls and connectivity

Responsibilities and Permissions:

Amazon VPC: Create and modify VPCs, subnets, route tables, and network ACLs
Security Groups: Configure firewall rules and network access controls
AWS Direct Connect: Manage dedicated network connections and virtual interfaces
AWS Transit Gateway: Configure inter-VPC and on-premises connectivity
AWS Network Firewall: Deploy and manage stateful network security controls
Amazon Route 53: Manage DNS configurations and health checks

Security Controls:

Change Management: All network changes require approval through formal change control process
Backup Configurations: Automated backup of network configurations before changes
Testing Requirements: Network changes must be tested in non-production environments first
Rollback Procedures: Documented rollback procedures for all network modifications

Infrastructure Administration Accounts

This subsection covers accounts responsible for managing compute resources, storage, and system-level configurations.

Purpose: Manage compute resources, storage, and system-level configurations Risk Level: High - Can access and modify system resources and data

Responsibilities and Permissions:

Amazon EC2: Launch, terminate, and modify EC2 instances and associated resources
Amazon EBS: Create, attach, and manage encrypted storage volumes
AWS Systems Manager: Execute commands, manage patches, and configure systems
Amazon CloudWatch: Configure monitoring, alarms, and log management
AWS Lambda: Deploy and manage serverless functions and execution roles
Amazon S3: Manage storage buckets, objects, and access policies

Privileged Access Management:

Session Manager: Use AWS Systems Manager Session Manager for secure shell access
Instance Profiles: Assign minimal IAM roles to EC2 instances based on function
Encryption Requirements: All storage volumes and S3 buckets must use AWS KMS encryption
Audit Logging: Enable detailed CloudTrail logging for all system administration activities

Database Administration Accounts

This subsection covers accounts responsible for managing database services, configurations, and access controls with direct access to sensitive data.

Purpose: Manage database services, configurations, and access controls Risk Level: Critical - Direct access to sensitive data and database configurations

Database Services Coverage

Amazon RDS: Relational database management (MySQL, PostgreSQL, Oracle, SQL Server)
Amazon Aurora: High-performance managed database clusters
Amazon DynamoDB: NoSQL database management and configuration
Amazon ElastiCache: In-memory caching services (Redis, Memcached)
Amazon DocumentDB: MongoDB-compatible document database
Amazon Neptune: Graph database for connected data applications

Enhanced Security Controls

Database Authentication: Use IAM database authentication where supported
Credential Management: Store master credentials in AWS Secrets Manager with automatic rotation
Network Isolation: Deploy databases in private subnets with restrictive security groups
Encryption at Rest: Enable encryption for all database instances using customer-managed KMS keys
Encryption in Transit: Force SSL/TLS connections for all database communications
Audit Logging: Enable database audit logs and forward to CloudWatch Logs

Example RDS Configuration with Enhanced Security

Create RDS instance with comprehensive security controls

bash

aws rds create-db-instance \
  --db-instance-identifier secure-db-instance \
  --db-instance-class db.r5.large \
  --engine postgres \
  --engine-version 13.7 \
  --master-username dbadmin \
  --manage-master-user-password \
  --master-user-secret-kms-key-id alias/rds-secrets \
  --allocated-storage 100 \
  --storage-type gp3 \
  --storage-encrypted \
  --kms-key-id alias/rds-encryption \
  --vpc-security-group-ids sg-12345678 \
  --db-subnet-group-name private-db-subnet-group \
  --backup-retention-period 30 \
  --backup-window "03:00-04:00" \
  --maintenance-window "sun:04:00-sun:05:00" \
  --enable-performance-insights \
  --performance-insights-kms-key-id alias/rds-performance \
  --enable-cloudwatch-logs-exports postgresql \
  --deletion-protection \
  --copy-tags-to-snapshot

Privileged-Only Security Settings

This section explains AWS security-related settings that can only be operated by privileged accounts, their security implications, and recommended management approaches.

AWS Organizations Service Control Policies

This subsection covers organization-wide policy controls that can only be managed by privileged accounts in the management account.

Security Significance: Service Control Policies act as guardrails for all accounts in the organization and can prevent or allow specific AWS service actions across the entire organization.

Privileged-Only Operations

Create and modify Service Control Policies at the organization level
Attach SCPs to organizational units or individual member accounts
Enable and disable AWS service access organization-wide
Manage policy inheritance hierarchy and precedence rules
Configure policy exceptions and exemptions for specific accounts

Security Implications

Immediate Impact: SCP changes take effect immediately across all affected accounts
Blast Radius: Can affect hundreds or thousands of accounts simultaneously
Recovery Complexity: Overly restrictive SCPs may require root account access to resolve
Compliance Considerations: SCP changes may affect FedRAMP boundary definitions and control implementations

Implementation Requirements

Formal change management process for all SCP modifications
Testing in non-production organizational units before production deployment
Documentation of business justification for policy changes
Rollback procedures and emergency access protocols

Create Service Control Policy with security guardrails:

The example policy uses a sample IAM role of SecurityAdministratorRole to indicate you organizations security administrtor role that has far reaching access to your org. EmergencyAccessRole is a role your organization can adopt as a break-glass mechanism for access to AWS. AWS recommends implementing a break-glass mechanism to your AWS accounts in case of emergencies. Please read more in the AWS DevOps Guidance docs

bash

aws organizations create-policy \
  --name "SecurityGuardrails-SCP" \
  --description "Prevent high-risk security actions" \
  --type SERVICE_CONTROL_POLICY \
  --content '{
    "Version": "2012-10-17",
    "Statement": [
      {
        "Effect": "Deny",
        "Action": [
          "iam:DeleteRole",
          "iam:DeletePolicy",
          "cloudtrail:StopLogging",
          "cloudtrail:DeleteTrail",
          "config:DeleteConfigRule",
          "guardduty:DeleteDetector"
        ],
        "Resource": "*",
        "Condition": {
          "StringNotEquals": {
            "aws:PrincipalArn": [
              "arn:aws:iam:*:role/SecurityAdministratorRole",
              "arn:aws:iam:*:role/EmergencyAccessRole"
            ]
          }
        }
      }
    ]
  }'

Cross-Account Trust Relationships

This subsection covers IAM trust policies that enable cross-account access and can only be established by privileged accounts.

Security Significance: Cross-account trust relationships enable resource sharing and centralized management but can create security vulnerabilities if misconfigured.

Privileged-Only Operations:

Create and modify IAM role trust policies for cross-account access
Establish trust relationships between AWS Organizations accounts
Configure external account trust for third-party integrations
Manage assume role permissions and conditions

Security Implications:

Immediate Impact: Trust policy changes can immediately grant or revoke cross-account access
Blast Radius: Affects security boundaries between AWS accounts
Recovery Complexity: Broken trust relationships may require coordination across multiple accounts
Compliance Considerations: Cross-account access must align with data classification and access control requirements

Create secure cross-account trust relationship

In this example the important factor is the ExternalID IAM condition that limits access to assume the role to only accounts that are allowed and provide the unique external ID.

bash

aws iam create-role \
  --role-name CrossAccountSecurityRole \
  --assume-role-policy-document '{
    "Version": "2012-10-17",
    "Statement": [
      {
        "Effect": "Allow",
        "Principal": {
          "AWS": "arn:aws:iam:TRUSTED-ACCOUNT-ID:root"
        },
        "Action": "sts:AssumeRole",
        "Condition": {
          "StringEquals": {
            "sts:ExternalId": "unique-external-id"
          },
          "Bool": {
            "aws:MultiFactorAuthPresent": "true"
          },
          "NumericLessThan": {
            "aws:MultiFactorAuthAge": "3600"
          }
        }
      }
    ]
  }'

AWS KMS Key Policies and Administrative Access

This subsection covers encryption key management operations that require privileged access to maintain data security.

Security Significance: KMS key policies control access to encryption keys that protect sensitive data across AWS services.

Privileged-Only Operations

Create and modify KMS key policies and administrative permissions
Enable and disable encryption keys for data protection
Configure key rotation policies and schedules
Manage cross-account key access and sharing
Grant and revoke key usage permissions for AWS services

Security Implications

Immediate Impact: Key policy changes can immediately affect data access across multiple services
Blast Radius: Can impact encrypted data in S3, EBS, RDS, and other AWS services
Recovery Complexity: Incorrect key policies may cause data access issues requiring emergency procedures
Compliance Considerations: Key management changes must maintain encryption requirements for sensitive data

Create KMS key with comprehensive administrative controls

bash

aws kms create-key \
  --description "Privileged access encryption key" \
  --key-usage ENCRYPT_DECRYPT \
  --key-spec SYMMETRIC_DEFAULT \
  --policy '{
    "Version": "2012-10-17",
    "Statement": [
      {
        "Sid": "KeyAdministration",
        "Effect": "Allow",
        "Principal": {
          "AWS": "arn:aws:iam:ACCOUNT-ID:role/KMSAdministratorRole"
        },
        "Action": [
          "kms:Create*",
          "kms:Describe*",
          "kms:Enable*",
          "kms:List*",
          "kms:Put*",
          "kms:Update*",
          "kms:Revoke*",
          "kms:Disable*",
          "kms:Get*",
          "kms:Delete*",
          "kms:ScheduleKeyDeletion",
          "kms:CancelKeyDeletion"
        ],
        "Resource": "*"
      }
    ]
  }'

Organization-Wide Security Service Configuration

This subsection covers AWS security services that can only be configured at the organization level by management account privileged users.

Security Significance: Organization-wide security services provide centralized visibility and control but require careful configuration to avoid service disruptions. Being able to aggregate and delgate these service can help you to centralize your AWS security services and limit access to one AWS account only.

Privileged-Only Operations:

Configure AWS Security Hub master account and member account aggregation
Set up AWS Config organization aggregators and compliance rules
Establish AWS CloudTrail organization trails with cross-account logging
Configure Amazon GuardDuty master account and threat intelligence sharing
Manage AWS Access Analyzer organization-wide findings

Security Implications:

Immediate Impact: Configuration changes affect security monitoring across all organization accounts
Blast Radius: Can impact compliance reporting and security incident detection organization-wide
Recovery Complexity: Service misconfigurations may require coordination across multiple security teams
Compliance Considerations: Changes must maintain continuous monitoring requirements for FedRAMP compliance

Enable Security Hub organization-wide with compliance standards

bash

# Enable Security Hub in management account
aws securityhub enable-security-hub \
  --enable-default-standards

# Create organization configuration
aws securityhub create-configuration-policy \
  --name "OrganizationSecurityPolicy" \
  --description "Organization-wide security configuration" \
  --configuration-policy '{
    "SecurityHub": {
      "ServiceEnabled": true,
      "EnabledStandardIdentifiers": [
        "arn:aws:securityhub::ruleset/finding-format/aws-foundational-security-standard/v/1.0.0",
        "arn:aws:securityhub:us-east-1:standard/cis-aws-foundations-benchmark/v/1.2.0"
      ]
    }
  }'

S3 Bucket Policies with Deny Statements

This subsection covers S3 bucket policies that can create access lockouts requiring privileged account intervention.

Security Significance: S3 bucket policies with deny statements can override all other access controls and may require root account access to resolve.

Privileged-Only Operations:

Create and modify S3 bucket policies with explicit deny statements
Remove bucket policies that deny access to all principals including bucket owner
Configure bucket policies that restrict access based on IP addresses or VPC endpoints
Manage cross-account bucket access policies and permissions

Security Implications:

Immediate Impact: Deny policies take effect immediately and can lock out all users including administrators
Blast Radius: Can affect applications and services that depend on S3 bucket access
Recovery Complexity: May require root account access or AWS Support intervention to resolve
Compliance Considerations: Bucket policy changes must maintain data access controls and audit requirements

Create S3 bucket policy with secure access controls

bash

aws s3api put-bucket-policy \
  --bucket secure-data-bucket \
  --policy '{
    "Version": "2012-10-17",
    "Statement": [
      {
        "Sid": "DenyInsecureConnections",
        "Effect": "Deny",
        "Principal": "*",
        "Action": "s3:*",
        "Resource": [
          "arn:aws:s3::secure-data-bucket",
          "arn:aws:s3::secure-data-bucket/*"
        ],
        "Condition": {
          "Bool": {
            "aws:SecureTransport": "false"
          }
        }
      },
      {
        "Sid": "AllowPrivilegedAccess",
        "Effect": "Allow",
        "Principal": {
          "AWS": "arn:aws:iam:ACCOUNT-ID:role/S3AdministratorRole"
        },
        "Action": "s3:*",
        "Resource": [
          "arn:aws:s3::secure-data-bucket",
          "arn:aws:s3::secure-data-bucket/*"
        ]
      }
    ]
  }'

Break-Glass Emergency Access

This subsection covers emergency access procedures for critical incidents requiring immediate privileged access outside normal approval processes. This is a recommendation on how customers could apply this to their organization. It is not a required configuraiton within your AWS account.

Purpose: Emergency access procedures for critical incidents requiring immediate response while maintaining security controls and audit trails.

Emergency Access Triggers

Security incidents requiring immediate containment or response actions
System outages affecting critical business operations or customer services
Data recovery operations necessary for business continuity
Compliance violations requiring immediate remediation to prevent regulatory impact

Break-Glass Procedures

Incident Declaration: Formal declaration of emergency requiring privileged access through incident management system
Emergency Role Assumption: Use pre-configured emergency IAM roles with enhanced monitoring
Immediate Notification: Automated alerts to security and management teams within 5 minutes
Enhanced Logging: Comprehensive logging and monitoring during emergency access period
Time Limitation: Emergency access limited to maximum 2 hours with extension requiring additional approval
Post-Incident Review: Mandatory review of all emergency access activities within 24 hours
Documentation Requirements: Complete documentation of actions taken and business justification

Assume emergency access role with enhanced monitoring

bash

aws sts assume-role \
  --role-arn "arn:aws:iam:ACCOUNT-ID:role/EmergencyAccessRole" \
  --role-session-name "emergency-$(date +%Y%m%d-%H%M%S)" \
  --duration-seconds 7200

Privileged Session Monitoring

This subsection covers comprehensive monitoring and analysis of privileged account activities for security and compliance purposes.

CloudWatch metric filter for privileged account activities

bash

aws logs put-metric-filter \
--log-group-name CloudTrail/PrivilegedAccounts \
--filter-name PrivilegedAccountActivity \
--filter-pattern '{ $.userIdentity.type = "AssumedRole" && $.userIdentity.arn = "_PrivilegedRole_" }' \
--metric-transformations \
metricName=PrivilegedAccountActivity,metricNamespace=Security/PrivilegedAccess,metricValue=1

CloudWatch alarm for unusual privileged activity

bash

aws cloudwatch put-metric-alarm \
  --alarm-name "Unusual-Privileged-Activity" \
  --alarm-description "Alert on unusual privileged account activity" \
  --metric-name PrivilegedAccountActivity \
  --namespace Security/PrivilegedAccess \
  --statistic Sum \
  --period 300 \
  --threshold 10 \
  --comparison-operator GreaterThanThreshold \
  --alarm-actions arn:aws:sns:region:account:security-alerts

Session Recording and Analysis:

AWS CloudTrail: Comprehensive API call logging for all privileged activities with log file validation
AWS Config: Configuration change tracking and compliance monitoring for privileged operations
VPC Flow Logs: Network traffic analysis for privileged instances and security assessment
Systems Manager Session Manager: Shell session recording and audit trails for system access

Compliance and Governance

This section covers ongoing compliance monitoring, access reviews, and governance processes for privileged account management. There are many ways to monitor and implement compliance. This is an example of how you can apply this in AWS.

Regular Access Reviews

This subsection covers systematic review processes for privileged account permissions and usage patterns.

Quarterly Privileged Account Review Process:

Account Inventory: Comprehensive list of all privileged accounts and roles with current status
Permission Analysis: Review of assigned permissions against current job functions and responsibilities
Usage Assessment: Analysis of account usage patterns, frequency, and access times
Risk Evaluation: Assessment of security risks and potential impact based on current permissions
Remediation Actions: Remove unnecessary permissions, disable unused accounts, and update role assignments
Documentation Update: Update privileged account documentation, procedures, and approval matrices

Access Review Automation:

Generate privileged account usage report

bash

# Generate credential report for privileged account analysis
aws iam generate-credential-report

# Get credential report data
aws iam get-credential-report \
  --query 'Content' \
  --output text | base64 -d > privileged-accounts-report.csv

# Analyze last used dates for privileged roles
aws iam list-roles \
  --query 'Roles[?contains(RoleName, `Admin`) || contains(RoleName, `Privileged`)].{RoleName:RoleName,LastUsed:RoleLastUsed.LastUsedDate}' \
  --output table

Automated Compliance Checking

This subsection covers automated monitoring and validation of privileged account compliance with security policies.

AWS Config rule for privileged account MFA compliance

bash

aws configservice put-config-rule \
  --config-rule '{
    "ConfigRuleName": "privileged-accounts-mfa-enabled",
    "Description": "Checks that privileged IAM users have MFA enabled",
    "Source": {
      "Owner": "AWS",
      "SourceIdentifier": "IAM_USER_MFA_ENABLED"
    },
    "Scope": {
      "ComplianceResourceTypes": ["AWS:IAM:User"]
    }
  }'

Incident Response Integration

This subsection covers integration of privileged account management with security incident response procedures.

Privileged Account Compromise Response:

Immediate Containment Actions:

Disable compromised account credentials and revoke active sessions
Revoke temporary credentials and assume role permissions
Block identified source IP addresses and suspicious network traffic
Enable enhanced monitoring and alerting for affected accounts and resources

Impact Assessment Procedures:

Review CloudTrail logs for unauthorized activities and configuration changes
Analyze configuration changes and resource modifications during compromise period
Assess data access patterns and evaluate potential data exfiltration
Evaluate lateral movement attempts and privilege escalation activities

Recovery and Remediation Steps:

Reset credentials, regenerate access keys, and update MFA devices
Review and update IAM policies, permissions, and trust relationships
Implement additional security controls and enhanced monitoring capabilities
Conduct comprehensive security assessment and penetration testing
Update incident response procedures based on lessons learned

Best Practices and Recommendations

This section provides comprehensive guidance for implementing effective privileged account management in AWS environments.

Principle of Least Privilege

This subsection covers implementation of least privilege access controls for privileged accounts.

Granular Permissions Implementation: Grant only the minimum permissions necessary for specific job functions and time-limited tasks

Resource-Specific Access Controls: Use resource-based policies and conditions to limit access to specific AWS resources and services

Condition-Based Policy Enforcement: Implement conditional access based on time windows, geographic location, and multi-factor authentication

Regular Permission Optimization: Conduct quarterly reviews to identify and remove unnecessary permissions and unused access rights

Defense in Depth Strategy

This subsection covers layered security controls for comprehensive privileged account protection.

Multi-Factor Authentication Requirements: Hardware security keys (FIDO2/WebAuthn) required for all privileged accounts with backup authentication methods

Network Segmentation Controls: Isolate privileged access networks and implement dedicated administrative workstations

Endpoint Security Enhancement: Deploy advanced security controls on privileged access workstations including EDR and application whitelisting

Behavioral Analytics Monitoring: Implement user and entity behavior analytics (UEBA) to detect unusual privileged account activity patterns

Automation and Orchestration

This subsection covers automated processes for consistent and secure privileged account management.

Automated Provisioning Processes: Use Infrastructure as Code (IaC) for consistent privileged account setup and configuration management

Policy Enforcement Automation: Implement Service Control Policies (SCPs) and AWS Config rules for organization-wide security controls

Compliance Monitoring Systems: Deploy automated compliance checking, remediation workflows, and continuous monitoring capabilities

Incident Response Automation: Implement automated response procedures for privileged account security events and policy violations

Summary and Implementation Guidance

This section provides a comprehensive overview of privileged account management requirements and implementation recommendations.

Critical Implementation Areas:

Privileged Account Classification: Establish clear categories for security, network, infrastructure, and database administration accounts with defined responsibilities and risk levels.

Privileged-Only Settings Management: Implement comprehensive controls for AWS Organizations SCPs, cross-account trust relationships, KMS key policies, and organization-wide security service configuration.

Access Management Framework: Deploy just-in-time access, break-glass emergency procedures, and comprehensive session monitoring for all privileged operations.

Compliance and Governance: Maintain regular access reviews, automated compliance checking, and integrated incident response procedures for privileged account security.

Operational Excellence: Privileged account management requires ongoing attention to security controls, monitoring capabilities, and governance processes. Organizations should implement comprehensive controls including just-in-time access, enhanced monitoring, regular reviews, and incident response procedures. The combination of AWS native security services, proper IAM configuration, and operational procedures provides a robust framework for managing privileged access while supporting FedRAMP compliance considerations.

Important Note: This guidance provides AWS recommended practices and considerations for privileged account management. Organizations are responsible for evaluating these recommendations against their specific compliance requirements and implementing appropriate controls to meet their regulatory obligations. Regular review and updates of privileged account procedures help ensure continued effectiveness and compliance alignment.