Ravi Sir's Cards › AWS
User vs role — what is the difference?
What is a VPC: your own private network inside one AWS Region, example ThreeTierVpc 10.0.0.0/16.
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What this card says
What it is
An IAM user is a named long-lived identity (password and/or access keys until you delete them). An IAM role has no long-lived password/key; you assume it for temporary STS credentials.
Why it matters
Long-lived keys on disks and in Git history are a common breach path. Roles rotate automatically via STS and shrink blast radius when leaked.
temporary
How / example
EC2 and Lambda use roles (instance profile / execution role). Humans increasingly use Identity Center, which also assumes roles under the hood.