Amazon Web Services Integration with AuthPoint

Deployment Overview

This document describes how to set up multi-factor authentication (MFA) for Amazon Web Services (AWS) with AuthPoint as an identity provider. AWS must already be configured and deployed before you set up MFA with AuthPoint.

AWS can be configured to support MFA in several modes. For this integration, we set up SAML with AuthPoint.

Amazon AWS Authentication Data Flow with AuthPoint

AuthPoint communicates with various cloud-based services and service providers with the SAML protocol. This diagram shows the data flow of an MFA transaction for AWS.

Before You Begin

Before you begin these procedures, make sure that:

  • End-users can log in to the Amazon AWS
  • A token is assigned to a user in AuthPoint
  • You have an AuthPoint identity provider (IdP) certificate (go to Certificate Management)
  • You have an IdP portal resource in AuthPoint

Configure Amazon AWS

To start, you must download the metadata file from the Resources page in the AuthPoint management UI. After you have that, you can configure Amazon AWS.

  1. From the navigation menu, select Configure > AuthPoint. If you have a Service Provider account, you must select an account from Account Manager.
  2. Select Resources.
  3. Click Certificate.

  1. Next to AuthPoint certificate you will associate with your resource, click and select Download Metadata. We recommend that you choose the certificate with the latest expiration date. If you do not have a certificate, or if all of your certificates have expired, click Add Certificate and use the newly created certificate.

    The AuthPoint metadata provides your resource, in this case AWS, with information necessary to identify AuthPoint as a trusted identity provider.

  1. Sign in to AWS as an administrator.
  2. Select Services.
  3. Select Security, Identity & Compliance > IAM.

IAM page

  1. Select Access management > Identity providers.

Identity Providers

  1. Click Create Provider.

create provider

  1. From the Provider Type drop-down list, select SAML.

  1. In the Provider Name text box, type a name (such as authpoint).
  2. Adjacent to Metadata Document, click Choose File and upload the AuthPoint metadata file that you downloaded.

  1. Click Next Step.
  2. Click Create.

  1. Select Access Management > Roles.

Roles

  1. Click Create Role.
  2. Select SAML 2.0 federation.
  3. From the SAML provider drop-down list, select the AuthPoint provider you created.
  4. Select Allow programmatic and AWS Management Console access.

SAML 2.0 federation

  1. Click Next: Permissions.
  2. Select the policies that you want. In our example, we select AdministratorAccess.

create policies

  1. Click Next: Tags.
  2. (Optional) To add tags, in the Key text box, type a key.

add tags

  1. Click Next: Review.
  2. In the Role name text box, type a descriptive name for the role.
  3. Click Create role.

review role

Configure AuthPoint

Before AuthPoint can receive authentication requests from AWS, you must specify AWS as a SAML resource in AuthPoint and you must add an IdP portal resource. You must also create an authentication policy for the AWS resource and the IdP portal resource to determine which users can authenticate and log in to these resources and which authentication methods they can use (Push, QR code, and OTP).

Add a SAML Resource in AuthPoint

From the AuthPoint management UI:

  1. From the navigation menu, select Resources. Click Add Resource.
    The Add Resource page opens.

  1. From the Type drop-down list, select SAML.
    Additional fields appear.

  1. On the SAML page, in the Name text box, type a name for this resource.
  2. In the Application Type drop-down list, select Amazon AWS.
  3. In the Service Provider Entity ID text box, type https://signin.aws.amazon.com/saml.
  4. In the Assertion Consumer Service text box, type https://signin.aws.amazon.com/saml.
  5. From the User ID sent on redirection to service provider drop-down list, select User Name or Email.
  6. In the Logout URL text box, type https://signin.aws.amazon.com/saml.
  7. From the Signature Method drop-down list, select SHA-256.
  8. From the AuthPoint Certificate drop-down list, select the certificate to associate with your resource. This must be the same certificate that you downloaded the metadata for in the previous section.
  9. In the Roles section, click Add Role.
  10. In the Role Value text box, type the value of Trusted entities and the value of Role ARN separated by commas.
    Example: arn:aws:iam::11112222233333:saml-provider/authpoint,arn:aws:iam::111122223333:role/SAML.
    You can get these values from the AWS role that you created. In the Summary section, you can see the Role ARN value. In the Trust relationships section, you can see the Trusted entities value.

    11. role ARN

    Trusted entities

  11. In the Add Groups list, select which groups this role applies to.

    12. Trusted entities

  12. Click Save.
  13. Click Save.

Add an IdP Portal Resource

You must have an IdP portal resource to use MFA for AWS. If you already have an IdP portal resource, you must add the IdP portal resource to any authentication policy that includes the AWS resource.

For detailed steps to add an IdP portal resource, see Add an IdP Portal Resource.

Add a Group in AuthPoint

You must have at least one user group in AuthPoint to configure MFA. If you already have a group, you do not have to add another group.

To add a group to AuthPoint:

  1. From the navigation menu, select Groups.
  2. Click Add Group.
    The New Group page appears.

Screenshot that shows the Groups page.

  1. In the Name text box, type a descriptive name for the group.
  2. (Optional) In the Description text box, type a description of the group.

Screen shot of the New Group page.

  1. Click Save.
    Your group is listed on the Groups page.

Screenshot of the Save button on the New Group page.

Add an Authentication Policy to AuthPoint

Authentication policies specify which resources users can authenticate to and which authentication methods they can use (Push, QR code, and OTP).

You must have at least one authentication policy in AuthPoint that includes both the AWS resource and the IdP portal resource. If you already have authentication policies, you do not have to create a new authentication policy. You can add these resources to your existing authentication policies.

Users that do not have an authentication policy for a specific resource cannot authenticate to log in to that resource.

To configure an authentication policy:

  1. From the navigation menu, select Authentication Policies.
  2. Click Add Policy.

Screenshot of the Add Policy button on the Authentication Policies page.

  1. Type a name for this policy.
  2. From the Select the authentication options drop-down list, select Authentication options and select which authentication options users can choose from when they authenticate.

    For SAML resources, if you select more than one authentication option, users must select one of the available options when they authenticate. For example, if you select OTP and Push, users can choose to type their OTP or approve a push to authenticate. You cannot require that they do both.

  1. Select which groups this policy applies to. You can select more than one group. To configure this policy to apply to all groups, select All Groups.
  2. Select the resource that you created in the previous section. If you want this policy to apply to additional resources, select each resource this policy applies to. To configure this policy to apply to all resources, select All Resources.

Screenshot of the Add Policy page with the groups and resources selected

  1. (Optional) If you have configured policy objects such as a Network Location, select which policy objects apply to this policy. When you add a policy object to a policy, the policy only applies to user authentications that are the same as the conditions of the policy objects. For example, if you add a Network Location to a policy, the policy only applies to user authentications that come from that Network Location. Users who only have a policy that includes a Network Location do not get access to the resource when they authenticate outside of that Network Location (because they do not have a policy that applies, not because authentication is denied).

    If you configure policy objects, we recommend that you create a second policy for the same groups and resources without the policy objects. The policy with the policy objects should have a higher priority.

Screenshot of the Policy Objects drop-down list.

  1. Click Save.
    Your policy is created and added to the end of the policy list.

    When you create a new policy, we recommend that you review the order of your policies. AuthPoint always adds new policies to the end of the policy list.

Screenshot of the Save button on the Add Policy page.

Add Users to AuthPoint

Before you assign users to a group, you must add the users to AuthPoint. There are two ways to add AuthPoint user accounts:

  • Sync users from an external user database
  • Add local AuthPoint users

Each user must be a member of a group. You must add at least one group before you can add users to AuthPoint.

To import users from Active Directory, Microsoft Entra ID, or an LDAP database, you must add an external identity in the AuthPoint management UI. External identities connect to user databases to get user account information and validate passwords.

  • To sync users from Active Directory or an LDAP database, you must add an LDAP external identity
  • To sync users from Microsoft Entra ID, you must add a Microsoft Entra ID external identity

When you sync users from an external user database, you can sync any number of users and they are all added to AuthPoint at one time. Users synced from an external user database use the password defined for their user account as their AuthPoint password.

To learn how to sync users, go to Sync Users from Active Directory or LDAP and Sync Users from Azure Active Directory.

You can create local AuthPoint users on the Users page in the AuthPoint management UI. Because you can create only one user at a time, you most commonly do this when you want to create test users or to add only a small number of users.

Unlike users synced from an external user database, local AuthPoint users define and manage their own AuthPoint password. When you add a local user account, the user receives an email that prompts them to set their password.

To learn how to add local AuthPoint user accounts, go to Add Local AuthPoint Users.

Test the Integration

To test AuthPoint MFA with AWS, you can authenticate with a mobile token on your mobile device. You can choose any method (one-time password, QR code, or push).

In this example, we show the push authentication method (users receive a push notification in the mobile app that they must approve to authenticate).

  1. In a web browser, go to the IdP portal. You can see the URL for the IdP portal when you edit your IdP portal resource in the AuthPoint management UI.
  2. Type your email address or AuthPoint user name. Click Next.
  3. If required, in the Password text box, type your password.
  4. For the authentication method, select Send Push.
  5. Approve the authentication request that is sent to your mobile device.
  6. In the IdP portal, select Amazon AWS.
    You are logged in to Amazon AWS.