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Cloud Computing · Foundational

Root User

The AWS account's original identity, created with the sign-up email, that has unrestricted access to all resources and billing.

Definition

The root user can perform a few tasks no other identity can, such as changing account settings, closing the account, restoring IAM permissions and changing the support plan. Best practice is to enable MFA, delete root access keys and use it only for those tasks; AWS Organizations can centrally manage and remove root credentials for member accounts.

Example

An administrator signs in as root only to change the account's support plan, protected by a hardware MFA device.

Exam tip

Questions asking for the first action on a new account expect enabling MFA on the root user and creating administrative identities for daily use.

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