Disable AWS S3 Management Console

Question

I don't want any admin users to access customer files directly from the AWS S3. So can we disable the AWS S3 management console for security reasons? Is it actually possible?

Answer 1

Use IAM roles, and a VPC endpoint to connect to the S3 service because both of them can control access within your S3 buckets Bucket Policy.

Use this to deny List* actions where the source is not the VPC endpoint and this does not deny access to the root user.

For any IAM user/IAM role, they don't have access until you give it to them.

Denying Access To The Root User.

Use a service control policy to deny access to the root user. But to do this your account should be a part of an AWS organization. For more info: https://docs.aws.amazon.com/organizations/latest/userguide/orgs_manage_policies_scps_examples.html#example-ec2-root-user.

I hope this helps you.

Answer 2

Yes, it is possible to disable the AWS S3 management console for admin users to prevent them from accessing customer files directly. AWS provides various security features and access controls that can be implemented to restrict access to the S3 management console.

Here are a few options you can consider:

1. IAM Policies: Use Identity and Access Management (IAM) policies to control permissions and restrict access to the S3 management console. By defining specific policies, you can limit the actions that admin users can perform within the console.
2. Bucket Policies: Implement bucket policies at the S3 bucket level to control access to individual buckets. You can specify which users or groups are allowed to perform certain actions, such as read or write operations, on specific buckets.
3. Access Control Lists (ACLs): Utilize S3 Access Control Lists (ACLs) to define granular access permissions for individual objects within a bucket. This allows you to restrict access to specific files or directories within the S3 bucket.
4. AWS Identity Federation: Implement AWS Identity Federation, such as using AWS Single Sign-On (SSO) or federated identities with SAML, to control user authentication and access to the S3 management console. This enables you to enforce additional authentication methods and restrict console access to authorized users.

By implementing these security measures, you can effectively restrict admin users' access to the S3 management console, helping to ensure the confidentiality and security of customer files stored in AWS S3.

I hope this helps!

Join the AWS Certification program and learn more about AWS S3.

Thanks!