What is an IAM user account?

In Chapter 1, An Introduction to IAM and AWS IAM Concepts, we introduced the foundational objects that AWS IAM uses to manage authentication and authorization to AWS resources under the context of AWS as an infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS) platform. A principal—that is to say, a person or application that wants to access an AWS resource—will present itself using a known IAM object (such as an IAM user or a federated user) to AWS IAM. The principal validates their entitlement to assume that IAM object by confirming a shared secret, such as the IAM user object's password or access key ID and secret access key. By presenting the shared secret for the IAM user object, AWS IAM is able to authenticate the principal or determine who the principal is.

IAM user accounts are distinct user profiles managed by AWS IAM that distinguish and authenticate users within an AWS account. Using the AWS Management Console or the AWS CLI, we can perform...