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First 10 Settings to Configure After Getting an AWS Account

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A new AWS account comes with powerful defaults—and a few dangerous gaps. Configuring root account security, billing alerts, IAM users, MFA, and regional settings early on can prevent costly mistakes and security breaches before they happen. This post walks through the 10 most important settings to tackle first. Opening a fresh AWS account feels like getting the keys to a massive building with thousands of rooms. The possibilities are genuinely exciting. But before you spin up your first EC2 instance or experiment with Lambda, there are foundational settings that need your attention. Skipping these configurations is one of the most common mistakes new AWS users make. The consequences range from unexpected bills running into the hundreds of dollars to serious security incidents. According to a 2023 report by Datadog, 63% of AWS customers have at least one publicly exposed S3 bucket—a risk that proper account hygiene can help prevent. The good news? Getting these settings right takes less than an hour. Here’s exactly where to start. 1. Secure Your AWS Root Account Immediately The root account is the most powerful credential in AWS. It has unrestricted access to every service and resource—which is precisely why you should lock it down and stop using it for everyday tasks. Start by adding a strong, unique password to your root account. Then enable Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) for the root user. Navigate to the IAM dashboard, select “Add MFA for root user,” and follow the prompts to link an authenticator app like Google Authenticator or Authy. Once MFA is active, store your root credentials somewhere secure and treat them like a break-glass emergency option. 2. Enable MFA on All IAM Users Speaking of MFA—don’t stop at the root account. Any IAM user with console access should also have MFA enabled. AWS supports virtual MFA devices, hardware tokens, and FIDO2 security keys. To enforce this at scale, attach an IAM policy that denies all actions unless MFA has been authenticated. AWS provides a managed example policy (AWSMFAForce) that you can use as a starting point. 3. Create an IAM Admin User (and Stop Using Root) Once your root account is secured, create a dedicated IAM user with administrative privileges for your day-to-day tasks. Attach the AdministratorAccess managed policy to this user and use it instead of root for all routine operations. This separation is critical. If your IAM credentials are ever compromised, you can revoke and replace them without touching the root account. 4. Set Up AWS Billing Alerts AWS bills can escalate quickly—especially for those new to cloud pricing. Setting up billing alerts ensures you’re notified before costs spiral out of control. Go to the Billing and Cost Management console, then navigate to Budgets. Create a monthly cost budget and configure an alert to notify you when actual or forecasted spending exceeds a threshold you’re comfortable with. A common starting point is $10 or $20 for personal accounts. Also enable Cost Explorer while you’re there. It gives you a visual breakdown of spending by service, region, and time period—invaluable when you’re tracking down unexpected charges. 5. Configure CloudTrail for Account-Wide Logging AWS CloudTrail records every API call made in your account. Without it, you have no audit trail if something goes wrong—whether that’s an accidental deletion, unauthorized access, or a misconfigured resource. Enable CloudTrail in the management console and configure it to log events across all AWS Regions. Store logs in an S3 bucket and, for stronger protection, enable S3 Object Lock to prevent log tampering. This is a non-negotiable step for any account that will handle sensitive data or production workloads. 6. Enable AWS Config CloudTrail tells you who did what. AWS Config tells you what your resources look like right now—and how they’ve changed over time. AWS Config continuously monitors resource configurations and can alert you when something drifts from a desired state. For example, it can flag an S3 bucket that becomes public or a security group that opens port 22 to the world. Enable AWS Config in your primary region from day one. Add AWS managed rules like s3-bucket-public-read-prohibited and restricted-ssh to catch common misconfigurations automatically. 7. Set Your Default Region AWS defaults to US East (N. Virginia) for many services, but your preferred region may be different based on your user base, compliance requirements, or latency needs. Set a default region in the AWS Management Console by selecting it from the region dropdown in the top-right corner. For CLI users, run aws configure and specify your preferred region during setup. Getting this right early prevents the frustration of accidentally deploying resources in the wrong region—and the headache of tracking down orphaned infrastructure later. 8. Harden Your Default VPC Security Groups Every AWS account comes with a default VPC in each region, and that VPC includes a default security group. By default, this security group allows all outbound traffic and permits inbound traffic from other instances in the same group. At minimum, restrict inbound rules on the default security group so it denies all traffic unless explicitly allowed. Better yet, avoid using the default VPC for production workloads entirely—create a custom VPC with properly segmented subnets and tightly scoped security groups instead. 9. Enable Amazon GuardDuty Amazon GuardDuty is a managed threat detection service that analyzes CloudTrail logs, VPC Flow Logs, and DNS logs to identify suspicious activity. It uses machine learning and threat intelligence feeds to surface things like unusual API calls, cryptocurrency mining, or compromised credentials. GuardDuty offers a 30-day free trial and costs as little as a few dollars per month for small accounts after that. Enable it in every region you plan to use—threats don’t limit themselves to your primary region. 10. Review and Configure IAM Password Policies If you plan to create multiple IAM users, a strong password policy is essential. Navigate to the IAM console and set a custom account password policy that enforces minimum length (14+ characters is recommended), requires uppercase and lowercase letters, numbers, and symbols, and enforces password expiration. This

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How to secure an AWS account after ownership transfer

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After an AWS account ownership transfer, immediately update root account credentials, enable MFA, audit IAM users and permissions, review billing settings, and rotate all access keys. Failing to complete these steps can leave your account exposed to the previous owner or unknown third parties. Taking over an AWS account sounds straightforward—until you realize how many access points the previous owner may still control. A forgotten IAM user, an old API key, or a stale root password can leave your infrastructure wide open. Whether you’ve acquired a business, inherited an account from a departing employee, or taken over a client’s AWS environment, the security steps you take in the first 24 hours matter enormously. This guide walks you through every action required to lock down an AWS account after an ownership transfer, so you can operate with confidence from day one. Why AWS account security matters after a transfer AWS accounts are high-value targets. They grant access to compute resources, stored data, databases, and often third-party integrations. When ownership changes hands, the previous owner—or anyone they granted access to—may still hold valid credentials. The risks are real. A former owner could access or delete data, spin up expensive resources on your bill, or exfiltrate sensitive information. None of these scenarios require malicious intent; even an old access key left in a CI/CD pipeline can cause unintended damage. A structured handover process eliminates these risks before they become problems. Step 1: Take control of the root account The root account is the most powerful identity in AWS. Before anything else, verify that you have sole control of it. How to update root account credentials after an AWS transfer Change the root password immediately. Go to the AWS Management Console, click your account name, select Security credentials, and update the password to one that only you know. Update the root email address to one you own and control. This step is critical—anyone with access to the original email address can trigger a password reset and regain full account access. Remove any existing MFA device linked to the previous owner’s phone or authenticator app, then enroll a new MFA device that you control. Skipping any of these three steps undermines everything else you do. Step 2: Enable multi-factor authentication across the account MFA adds a second layer of verification, meaning a stolen password alone is not enough to access the account. Enable MFA on the root account first, using a hardware token or authenticator app. Audit all IAM users and enable MFA for any account with console access, especially those with administrator-level permissions. AWS Organizations users should also enforce an MFA requirement as a Service Control Policy (SCP) if you manage multiple accounts. AWS recommends using virtual MFA devices like Google Authenticator or Authy, or hardware keys like YubiKey, for the root account specifically. Step 3: Audit and clean up IAM users, roles, and permissions IAM (Identity and Access Management) is where most of the hidden risk lies after an ownership transfer. Previous owners, contractors, and third-party services may all have active credentials. How to audit IAM users in an inherited AWS account Navigate to the IAM console and download the Credential Report (under Access reports). This report shows every IAM user, when they last signed in, and whether their credentials are active. Delete or disable any IAM users you don’t recognize or no longer need. Review IAM roles, particularly those with trust relationships that allow external accounts or services to assume them. Remove any that reference the previous owner’s AWS accounts. Check attached IAM policies for overly permissive access. Any policy granting * (wildcard) permissions to resources should be reviewed and scoped down. The principle of least privilege should guide every decision here—each user and service should only have access to what they genuinely need. Step 4: Rotate or revoke all access keys Access keys are long-lived credentials that allow programmatic access to AWS. They’re easy to forget and easy to abuse. From the IAM console, identify every active access key across all users. Revoke access keys belonging to the previous owner or any unknown users immediately. For keys still in use by applications, rotate them: generate a new key, update the application, confirm it works, then delete the old key. Check CloudTrail logs to understand what each key has been used for. Unusual API calls could indicate the key has already been misused. AWS also recommends using IAM roles instead of long-term access keys wherever possible, particularly for EC2 instances and Lambda functions. Step 5: Review billing, payment methods, and cost alerts Financial exposure is a less obvious but equally important risk after an AWS transfer. Navigate to Billing and Cost Management and confirm that only your payment method is attached. Remove any saved payment methods belonging to the previous owner. Check for active Reserved Instances, Savings Plans, or Marketplace subscriptions that may carry ongoing costs. Set up AWS Budgets and billing alerts to notify you of unexpected spending. If someone is running resources in the account without your knowledge, an unexpected bill is often how you find out. Step 6: Review CloudTrail and enable logging AWS CloudTrail records API activity across your account. If it wasn’t enabled before the transfer, turn it on now—but also check what activity occurred prior to you taking ownership. Confirm that CloudTrail is active in all regions, not just your primary one. Review recent logs for any unusual activity: large data exports, EC2 instance launches, or S3 bucket policy changes. Enable AWS Config to track configuration changes going forward. These tools won’t prevent past actions, but they give you a clear picture of your starting point and catch any suspicious activity going forward. Step 7: Inspect S3 buckets, security groups, and publicly exposed resources After locking down credentials, check what’s actually exposed to the public internet. Use AWS Trusted Advisor or AWS Security Hub to surface publicly accessible S3 buckets, open security groups, and unencrypted resources. Remove public access from any S3 bucket that doesn’t

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