GAMESEC01-BP05 Use a central identity provider

A central identity provider acts as a single source for storing and managing user credentials, identities, permissions, and authentication.

Level of risk exposed if this best practice is not established: Medium

Implementation guidance

Use a central identity provider to streamline your user authentication process, enforce consistent security polices, and simplify your user management across your AWS accounts and applications. Having a centralized approach removes the need to manage user identities and credentials separately, which reduces the risk of inconsistencies, redundancies, and other security vulnerabilities. Consolidating user identities and authentication into one place also allows for better visibility, control, and auditability for your entire AWS environment. 

Customer example

AnyCompany Games faced significant challenges with managing developer access across their rapidly expanding AWS infrastructure. Their development team grew from 50 to 200 people across three major titles. Initially, each project team managed their own AWS access credentials, resulting in inconsistent security practices, delayed onboarding for new developers, and occasional security incidents.

The studio implemented AWS IAM Identity Center as their central identity provider, consolidating user management into a single system. They connected it with their existing corporate directory, enabling developers to use their same company credentials for AWS access. Now developers use their single, existing company login to gain the AWS access they require to complete their work

Implementation steps