Google Cloud Identity and Access Management Concepts

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Internal

Overview

IAM allows granting granular access to Google Cloud resources. It supports the security principle of least privilege, which states that nobody should have more permission that they actually need. IAM manages control by defining who (the identity) has what access (the role) for which resource. Permissions to access resources are not granted directed to end users, but to roles. Roles are granted to authenticated members. The association between what roles are granted to which members is defined in an IAM Policy. IAM policies are attached to resources. When an authenticated member attempts to access a resource, IAM checks the resource's policy to determine whether the action is permitted.

Identity Concepts

Member

A member can be a Google account, a service account, a Google group, a Google Workspace or a Cloud Identity domain.

Google Account

A Google Account represents a developer, an administrator, or any other person who interacts with Google Cloud. The identity of the member in this case is the email address that's associated with a Google account.

Service Account

The identity of the member in this case is the email address that's associated with the service account.

Google Group

The identity of the member in this case is the email address that's associated with the Google group.

Google Workspace

The identity of the member in this case is the domain name that's associated with the Google Workspace.

Cloud Identity Domain

The identity of the member in this case is the domain name that's associated with the Cloud Identity domain.

Authenticated Member

Access Management Concepts

Resource

Google Cloud Platform Concepts | Resources

Role

A role is a collection of permissions. When a role is granted to a member, all the permissions that the role contains are granted to the member.

Permission

A permission determines what operations are allowed on a resource.

Role Binding

A role binding is the association between a member and a role. Role bindings are listed in IAM policies.

IAM Policy

An IAM Policy is attached to a resource. An IAM policy is a collection of role bindings. When an authenticated member attempts to access a resource, IAM checks the resource's policy to determine whether the action is permitted.