Whenever I watch an old-school hacking movie from the 90s, whenever it comes to security, I hear random numbers being thrown around to indicate some encryption bits. The larger the number, the higher the supposed security around the target.
While in some cases, that may be true (after all, if all else is equal, why not use a higher cipher?), it isn't always the case.
For starters, encryption may be only as good as the security of the key. If the key is not safe, encryption is useless.
This may be the case on some of your AWS resources. It has become increasingly easy to enable basic encryption on AWS. For example, on Amazon S3, it simply involves clicking a button. However, while this will stop Amazon and others from accessing your files, if your Root account gets compromised, the attacker will still have access to your files since Amazon will not know the attacker's intent.

Your organization's security posture may be how effectively you can implement least privilege. Broad-stroked security measures can prevent the right people from doing their work due to security-related inefficiencies, leading to people trying to find workarounds.

"Forget fancy firewalls and intrusion detection systems for a moment. The real superhero of your AWS cloud security arsenal? It's AWS IAM – Identity and Access Management. Think of it as the ultimate bouncer for your cloud resources.

A developer needs access to upload code to an S3 bucket but not to delete files. No problem! IAM lets you grant that precise level of access, preventing accidental (or malicious) data deletion.
Your marketing team needs read-only access to analyze data in your database. IAM ensures they can get the insights they need without the risk of modifying critical information.

You want to allow temporary access to a specific server for maintenance. IAM lets you create temporary credentials that expire automatically, minimizing the window of vulnerability.
This is the beauty of IAM – it's like a surgeon's scalpel, allowing you to grant access with laser precision.

You give the right users the right access to the right resources at the right time, and nothing more. This principle is the cornerstone of a strong security posture.

Sadly, I've seen many people shy away from IAM. They find it either too complex ("Ugh, all those policies!") or too basic ("Can it really protect against sophisticated attacks?"). The truth is that IAM is incredibly powerful when used correctly.