Explain the role of identity and access management (IAM) in cloud security, including least privilege and MFA concepts.

• A. IAM controls access to cloud resources; least privilege; MFA reduces credential theft risk.
• B. Only manages user groups
• C. Only handles password storage
• D. Manages network routes

Answer: (C)

IAM in cloud security is about establishing who can access resources and what they can do, using authentication to verify identity and authorization to grant permissions. It enables least privilege by assigning only the minimum rights needed, typically through roles, policies, and scoped access. MFA adds a second verification step, so even if a password is compromised, access is much harder to obtain. This combination gives centralized, flexible control across cloud services, supports federated identities and temporary credentials, and reduces the attack surface. The other options miss key aspects: managing groups alone doesn’t cover authentication and fine-grained access; password storage isn’t about access control; network routing is a networking task, not IAM.