Amazon Web Services (AWS) is a private cloud computing platform and subsidiary of Amazon, founded in 2006. It is a globally recognized leader in cloud computing, offering a wide range of services such as computing power, storage solutions, machine learning, and data analytics. AWS stands out for its scalability, security, and reliability, serving millions of customers including startups, enterprises, and public sector organizations. Its innovative solutions power some of the world's most prominent applications, making it a cornerstone of modern technological infrastructure.

Security should be your first priority when developing cloud native applications. The goal of this course is to provide you with foundational knowledge and skills that will enable you to grow in your use of both AWS IAM and the rest of the AWS ecosystem. Throughout the course, the focus will be on the base-level knowledge needed for understanding the functionality of IAM, and simple ways to implement its usage. We start by introducing you to some background concepts needed to understand how and why identity and access management are necessary, and then go on to show you the first level of AWS IAM components. Through the rest of the course, you will see deeper dives into those and other concepts. The class closes by providing best practices and troubleshooting tips and tools. While progressing through the course, make sure you are taking advantage of the activities, assessments, and provided notes. They will be great for reinforcing the concepts covered during that week, as well as providing great locations to bookmark for faster reference as you continue growing and learning after the course. We expect that you have basic knowledge of AWS already. Some examples of concepts you should be familiar with are: you should know the basics of the AWS Global infrastructure, like what regions and availability zones are. You should also understand what an Amazon EC2 instance is, what Amazon S3 is, what a VPC is, as well as other basic AWS terminology.