Introduction

As organizations accelerate their cloud adoption, managing access to critical AWS resources has become increasingly complex. AWS Identity Center (formerly AWS SSO) has emerged as a cornerstone solution for centralizing identity management across multiple AWS accounts. However, while AWS Identity Center provides excellent authentication capabilities, many organizations struggle with the authorization piece—specifically, how to grant the right access, to the right people, at the right time, without creating permanent security exposure.

This is where Britive’s Cloud Privilege Access Management (CPAM) platform transforms the AWS Identity Center experience, adding a crucial layer of dynamic, just-in-time privilege management that significantly reduces your attack surface while improving operational efficiency.

Understanding AWS Identity Center

AWS Identity Center serves as a centralized hub for managing workforce access to AWS accounts, cloud applications, and custom SAML 2.0 applications. It eliminates the need to manage separate credentials for each AWS account and provides:

• Centralized access management across your entire AWS organization
• Single sign-on (SSO) capabilities for streamlined user experience
• Multi-factor authentication (MFA) for enhanced security
• Integration with existing identity providers like Active Directory, Okta, and Azure AD
• Fine-grained permissions through permission sets

While these capabilities are powerful, AWS Identity Center follows a traditional model where permissions are assigned and remain active until manually revoked. This creates several security and compliance challenges that forward-thinking organizations are now addressing.

The Challenge: Static Privileges in a Dynamic World

Even with AWS Identity Center, organizations face critical security gaps:

1. Standing Privileges Create Excessive Risk

When users have permanent access to privileged AWS roles, every minute that access remains unused is a minute of unnecessary exposure. Compromised credentials can lead to devastating breaches, data exfiltration, and compliance violations.

2. Deprovisioning Gaps

How often have you deprovisioned a user from your identity provider but forgotten about their authorized permissions in AWS Identity Center? This authentication-authorization disconnect leaves dormant accounts with active privileges—a security team’s nightmare.

3. Limited Policy Controls

While AWS Identity Center handles authentication well, it lacks sophisticated authorization controls such as time-based access, geolocation restrictions, contextual step-up authentication, and approval workflows for sensitive operations.

4. Compliance and Audit Complexity

Proving least privilege access and maintaining detailed audit trails for privileged access becomes increasingly difficult as your AWS environment grows. Static permissions make it nearly impossible to demonstrate true just-in-time access for compliance frameworks like SOC 2, PCI-DSS, and GDPR.

5. Visibility Blind Spots

Without integration into your broader security ecosystem (SIEM, SOAR, identity providers), privileged access to AWS Identity Center becomes an island of activity that’s difficult to correlate with other security events.

The Britive Solution: Dynamic Privilege Management for AWS Identity Center

Britive’s integration with AWS Identity Center fundamentally reimagines how organizations approach cloud privilege management. By layering intelligent, just-in-time access controls on top of AWS Identity Center, Britive delivers what we call Cloud Privilege Access Management (CPAM)—a modern approach to securing privileged access in dynamic cloud environments.

1. Separating Authentication from Authorization

This is the cornerstone of Britive’s value proposition. Here’s how it works:

• Authentication remains with your identity provider and AWS Identity Center (verifying who you are)
• Authorization is dynamically managed by Britive (controlling what you can do and when)

This separation creates a critical security advantage: even if you forget to deprovision a user from your identity provider, their authorized privileges in AWS are automatically revoked by Britive’s time-bound access policies. The account may still exist, but it has zero active permissions—transforming a potential security incident into a non-event.

2. Time-Bound, Just-in-Time Access

Britive enables true ephemeral access to AWS Identity Center permissions:

• Check out privileges only when needed for specific tasks
• Automatic expiration after a predefined time window (minutes to hours, not days or weeks)
• Session-based access that disappears after use, shrinking your attack surface by up to 95%

Imagine a DevOps engineer who needs administrative access to troubleshoot a production issue. Instead of having permanent admin rights, they request access through Britive, receive it for exactly 2 hours, complete their work, and the privileges automatically expire. No manual revocation needed, no standing privileges, no excessive risk.

3. Advanced Policy Controls

Britive brings enterprise-grade policy enforcement to AWS Identity Center access:

• IP restrictions: Limit access to corporate networks or approved locations
• Time-of-day controls: Restrict privileged access to business hours only
• Step-up MFA: Require additional authentication for highly sensitive operations
• Approval workflows: Route high-risk access requests through managers or security teams via Slack, Microsoft Teams, or ServiceNow
• Break-glass procedures: Maintain emergency access protocols with full audit trails

These controls transform AWS Identity Center from a static permission system into a dynamic, policy-driven access platform that adapts to your organization’s security requirements.

4. Deep Integration with Security Ecosystem

Britive doesn’t operate in isolation. It integrates seamlessly with your existing security infrastructure:

• SIEM integration: Stream privileged access events to Splunk, QRadar, or other SIEM platforms, enriching security analytics with identity context
• Identity provider synchronization: Automatically sync with Okta, Azure AD, or other IdPs to ensure consistent user lifecycle management
• Slack/Teams notifications: Real-time alerts and approval requests where your teams already work
• API-first architecture: Build custom integrations and automation workflows

This connectivity ensures that privileged access to AWS isn’t a blind spot but a well-monitored, well-integrated component of your overall security posture.

5. Comprehensive Audit and Compliance

Every access request, approval, checkout, and action is logged with complete context:

• Who requested access
• What they requested access to
• When they had active privileges
• Why they needed access (via request justification)
• How they used those privileges

This creates an irrefutable audit trail that dramatically simplifies compliance reporting and security investigations.

Real-World Impact: Use Cases

Scenario 1: DevOps Engineer

Sarah needs to update IAM policies across 15 AWS accounts in your organization. Instead of having permanent AdministratorAccess in AWS Identity Center, she requests time-bound access through Britive for 3 hours. After completing her work, access automatically expires. If her laptop were compromised the next day, those administrative privileges are already gone.

Scenario 2: Security Incident Response

Your security team detects unusual activity at 2 AM. An on-call responder requests emergency access to SecurityAudit permissions across all accounts. The request is automatically approved based on pre-defined break-glass policies, access is granted immediately, and full audit logs capture every action taken during the investigation. Access expires at 4 AM as configured.

Scenario 3: Third-Party Contractor

You’ve hired a consultant to optimize your AWS infrastructure. Instead of creating standing AWS Identity Center permissions for the duration of their contract, you grant time-boxed access for specific accounts during agreed-upon hours. Access is restricted to their office IP range and requires approval from your team lead for each checkout.

Scenario 4: Compliance Audit

Your auditor asks to see evidence of least privilege access and just-in-time provisioning. With Britive, you generate comprehensive reports showing that 95% of privileged access was time-bound, all high-risk actions went through approval workflows, and average privilege duration was under 4 hours.

Implementation: Easy to Deploy, Easy to Use

One of Britive’s key advantages is deployment simplicity:

1. Quick Setup: Connect Britive to AWS Identity Center using standard AWS APIs—typically completed in under an hour
2. Minimal Infrastructure Changes: No agents to deploy, no complex architectural changes required
3. Flexible Onboarding: Start with a single AWS account and permission set, then scale to your entire organization
4. Intuitive Interface: Users request access through Britive’s clean UI, Slack, Teams, or API
5. Administrator Friendly: Security teams define policies once and apply them consistently across all AWS accounts

The platform is designed for cloud-native operations—cloud speed, cloud scale, cloud simplicity.

The Bottom Line: Stronger Security, Better Operations

By integrating Britive with AWS Identity Center, organizations achieve:

• 95% reduction in standing privileges across AWS environments
• Dramatic reduction in blast radius from compromised credentials
• Simplified compliance with automated audit trails and policy enforcement
• Improved user experience through streamlined access request workflows
• Enhanced visibility through SIEM integration and comprehensive logging
• Faster incident response with just-in-time emergency access

This isn’t just about security—it’s about enabling your teams to move faster while reducing risk. It’s about proving compliance without drowning in manual processes. It’s about transforming AWS Identity Center from a good authentication solution into a complete, enterprise-grade privilege management platform.

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Conclusion: See Britive and AWS Identity Center in Action

[This section serves as a script for a 3-5 minute demo video]

[ON SCREEN: Britive logo and title: “Britive + AWS Identity Center: Just-in-Time Access Demo”]

[00:00-00:30] Hello, and welcome to this demonstration of how Britive transforms AWS Identity Center security through just-in-time privilege management. Today, I’ll show you how easy it is to eliminate standing privileges while actually improving the user experience for your teams.

[ON SCREEN: Split screen showing AWS Identity Center console and Britive dashboard]

[00:30-01:15] Let me start by showing you the challenge. Here in AWS Identity Center, we have traditional permission sets assigned to users—AdministratorAccess, DatabaseAdmin, SecurityAudit. These permissions are always on, 24/7, whether they’re being used or not. This creates unnecessary risk. Every minute these privileges sit unused is a minute they could be exploited if credentials are compromised.

Now, let’s see how Britive changes this equation. Here’s the Britive dashboard. Notice that this user, Sarah, currently has zero standing privileges in AWS. Everything is checked out on-demand.

[ON SCREEN: Navigate to Britive’s access request interface]

[01:15-02:00] Let’s walk through Sarah’s workflow. She needs to update some IAM policies across multiple accounts in our production environment. Instead of having permanent access, she goes to Britive—either through the web portal, Slack, or Teams—and requests access.

Watch this: She selects “AdministratorAccess in Production Accounts,” provides a business justification like “Deploy IAM policy updates per JIRA-1234,” and specifies she needs access for 2 hours. In organizations requiring approvals, this request would route to her manager via Slack. For our demo, we’ve configured auto-approval for this permission set.

[ON SCREEN: Show approval workflow in Slack/Teams if available, or show instant approval]

[02:00-02:45] Access granted! Notice several things: First, Sarah receives a temporary credential that she uses with her AWS CLI or console. Second, the access automatically expires in exactly 2 hours—no manual revocation needed. Third, every action is logged with full context.

Here’s what makes this powerful: If we forgot to deprovision Sarah from our identity provider tomorrow, it doesn’t matter. Her authorized privileges in Britive have already expired. The authentication may still work, but the authorization is gone. This separation of authentication and authorization is our first line of defense against forgotten accounts.

[ON SCREEN: Show policy controls configuration]

[02:45-03:30] Let’s look at the policy controls that make this enterprise-ready. For this AdministratorAccess permission set, we’ve configured several safeguards: access is restricted to our corporate IP ranges, it’s only available during business hours, and for especially sensitive operations, we can require step-up MFA or human approval workflows.

These policies apply consistently across all AWS accounts in your organization. Define them once, enforce them everywhere—no manual configuration in each account.

[ON SCREEN: Show audit logs and SIEM integration]

[03:30-04:15] Now for compliance and security teams, here’s the audit trail. Every checkout is logged: who requested access, when they had it, what justification they provided, and how long they used it. This data flows into your SIEM—here we’re showing Splunk integration—giving your security operations team full visibility into privileged access patterns.

For compliance audits, we can generate reports showing that your organization maintains true least privilege access. Instead of telling auditors “we have policies,” you can show them that 95% of your privileged access is time-bound and automatically expired.

[ON SCREEN: Show break-glass/emergency access scenario]

[04:15-05:00] Finally, let’s talk about emergency access. Security incidents don’t wait for business hours. Britive supports break-glass procedures for after-hours emergencies. Our on-call responder can request emergency access, which is auto-approved based on pre-defined policies, giving immediate access to investigate incidents. Every action during that emergency session is still fully logged, and access still expires automatically.

[ON SCREEN: Summary slide with key benefits]

[05:00-05:30] So let’s recap what we’ve shown you today: First, true just-in-time access that eliminates 95% of standing privileges. Second, separation of authentication and authorization that protects against deprovisioning gaps. Third, enterprise policy controls including IP restrictions, time-based access, and approval workflows. Fourth, deep integration with your security ecosystem—SIEM, identity providers, collaboration tools. And finally, comprehensive audit trails that make compliance straightforward instead of painful.

[ON SCREEN: Call to action with Britive contact information]

[05:30-06:00] Britive and AWS Identity Center together deliver something powerful: cloud security that doesn’t slow you down. Your teams get the access they need, when they need it, with none of the risk of always-on privileges. It’s easy to deploy, easy to use, and dramatically stronger security.

Ready to see how Britive can transform your AWS Identity Center security? Visit britive.com or contact us today to schedule a personalized demo for your environment. Thank you for watching, and here’s to eliminating standing privileges in your cloud.

[END SCREEN: Britive logo, website, and contact information]

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Additional Resources

• Britive Website: www.britive.com
• AWS Identity Center Documentation: AWS Identity Center User Guide
• Schedule a Demo: Contact your AWS account team or Britive directly
• Cloud PAM Best Practices: Download Britive’s comprehensive guide to Cloud Privilege Access Management
• Worker illustrations by Storyset

The future of cloud security isn’t about building higher walls—it’s about eliminating the attack surface altogether. With Britive and AWS Identity Center, you can finally achieve true just-in-time access at cloud scale.