AWS MFA QR Code tool

As someone with administrator responsibilities on several AWS accounts, I have MFA (multi-factor authentication) enabled for lots of AWS identities – SSO logins, IAM users and root users. I use a virtual MFA device – i.e., a mobile phone running Google Authenticator. The QR codes that AWS displays when activating MFA have some irritating properties…

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A better, safer admin user for AWS

If you use AWS, you probably have a root user and one or more administrator users. If you are following best practice you have secured all logins with MFA, and you rarely if ever use the root user. Instead, you log in as one of the administrator users. The problem with that is that as long as you are logged in, you can do anything – including make disastrous mistakes. Wouldn’t it be nice to have all the power of an administrator at your fingertips, but only when you actually need it?

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Two-factor authentication – do it now.

The online world has become too dangerous for us to keep protecting ourselves with no more than a username and a password. Especially when most of us choose stupidly simple passwords. Even if you choose a good one – upper and lower case, special characters, letters and numbers – you now need such a long one that no human can remember it. Tools like LastPass are great, but only if you also use ridiculously long passwords. Pretty much the best protection you can give yourself is a simple thing called two factor authentication. It’s simple, it’s free, and it’s very effective.

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