Field Guide

Replace long-lived AWS access keys with federated access and temporary credentials safely.

AWS guidance favors federation, temporary credentials, MFA, and least privilege. This guide turns that into an operational transition path that reduces key sprawl without breaking active workloads or administrative access patterns.

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Situation

Long-lived keys usually survive because teams fear migration risk more than standing risk.

The real problem is not just the key itself. It is the lack of ownership, auditability, rotation discipline, and permission boundaries around how that key is used. Replacing keys safely requires discovering those dependencies first.

What To Verify

Map usage before revocation.

  • Identify which humans, workloads, and automation still rely on access keys.
  • Separate interactive admin access from machine-to-machine use cases.
  • Review current permission scope and whether least privilege can be tightened during migration.
  • Confirm MFA and federation support for human access paths.
  • Decide where IAM roles, instance profiles, or workload identity can replace static credentials.
Working Sequence

Reduce blast radius in deliberate steps.

  • Inventory keys and group them by owner, workload, privilege, and replacement path.
  • Move human access to federation with temporary credentials first.
  • Transition workloads to roles and test least-privilege policy before deleting old keys.
  • Use Access Analyzer and usage data to trim overbroad permissions.
  • Retire unused keys aggressively once replacement paths are proven.