The Benefits of Using AWS SES Policies for Email Security and Compliance

5 min read

If you use Amazon Simple Email Service (SES) to send and receive emails, you need to know how to use AWS SES Policies to control user access to your email capabilities. AWS SES Policies are rules that allow you to grant or deny permissions to specific users, groups, or roles within your AWS account or across multiple accounts. You can also use AWS SES Policies to restrict access based on certain conditions, such as the date and time, the source IP address, or the user agent of the request.

In this blog post, I will show you what AWS SES Policies are and why they are important for email security and compliance. I will also provide examples of different types of AWS SES Policies and how to create and apply them using the AWS Management Console or the AWS CLI. Finally, I will share some best practices and tips for managing your policies effectively.

What are AWS SES Policies and Why are They Important?

AWS SES Policies are JSON documents that specify the actions that users can perform on your email resources, such as sending or receiving emails, verifying email addresses or domains, or accessing email statistics. Each policy has a set of statements that define who is allowed or denied to perform which actions under what conditions.

AWS SES Policies are important because they help you protect your email sending reputation, prevent unauthorized use of your account, and comply with AWS terms of service. For example, you can use AWS SES Policies to:

  • Allow only certain users or roles to send emails from your verified domains or email addresses.
  • Deny users from sending emails to recipients that are not in your approved list.
  • Restrict users from sending emails outside a specific time window or from a specific IP address range.
  • Grant users access to view or download your email sending statistics or bounce and complaint notifications.

By using AWS SES Policies, you can ensure that only authorized and trusted users can access your email capabilities and that they follow the rules and best practices for email sending.

Types of AWS SES Policies and How to Create and Apply Them

There are two types of AWS SES Policies: identity policies and resource policies. Identity policies are attached to IAM users, groups, or roles and specify what actions they can perform on any email resource in your account. Resource policies are attached to specific email resources, such as verified domains or email addresses, and specify who can perform what actions on them.

You can create and apply AWS SES Policies using either the AWS Management Console or the AWS CLI. Here are some examples of how to do that:

  • To create an identity policy that allows a user to send emails from any verified domain in your account, you can use the following JSON document:
{
  "Version": "2012-10-17",
  "Statement": [
    {
      "Effect": "Allow",
      "Action": "ses:SendEmail",
      "Resource": "*"
    }
  ]
}

You can attach this policy to the user using the IAM console or the aws iam put-user-policy command.

  • To create a resource policy that allows anyone in your account to send emails from a verified domain, you can use the following JSON document:
{
  "Version": "2012-10-17",
  "Statement": [
    {
      "Effect": "Allow",
      "Principal": {
        "AWS": "*"
      },
      "Action": [
        "ses:SendEmail",
        "ses:SendRawEmail"
      ],
      "Resource": "arn:aws:ses:us-east-1:123456789012:identity/example.com"
    }
  ]
}

You can attach this policy to the domain using the SES console or the aws ses put-identity-policy command.

  • To create a resource policy that denies anyone from sending emails from a verified domain outside a specific time window, you can use the following JSON document:
{
  "Version": "2012-10-17",
  "Statement": [
    {
      "Effect": "Deny",
      "Principal": {
        "AWS": "*"
      },
      "Action": [
        "ses:SendEmail",
        "ses:SendRawEmail"
      ],
      "Resource": "arn:aws:ses:us-east-1:123456789012:identity/example.com",
      "Condition": {
        "DateGreaterThan": {
          "aws:CurrentTime": "2023-01-01T00:00:00Z"
        },
        "DateLessThan": {
          "aws:CurrentTime": "2023-01-31T23:59:59Z"
        }
      }
    }
  ] 
}

You can attach this policy to the domain using the SES console or the aws ses put-identity-policy command.

Best Practices and Tips for Managing AWS SES Policies

Here are some best practices and tips for managing your AWS SES Policies effectively:

  • Use the principle of least privilege. Grant only the minimum permissions that users need to perform their tasks and avoid granting blanket permissions to everyone.
  • Use IAM groups or roles instead of individual users. This makes it easier to manage and update permissions for multiple users at once and reduces the risk of human error or malicious activity.
  • Use conditions to add extra layers of security and compliance. You can use conditions to limit access based on factors such as time, IP address, user agent, or encryption status.
  • Review and audit your policies regularly. You can use the SES console or the aws ses list-identity-policies and aws ses get-identity-policy commands to view and verify your policies. You can also use AWS CloudTrail to monitor and log all API calls related to SES, including policy changes.
{
    "Version": "2012-10-17",
    "Statement": [
        {
            "Sid": "VisualEditor0",
            "Effect": "Allow",
            "Action": "ses:SendEmail",
            "Resource": "*",
            "Condition": {
                "StringEquals": {
                    "ses:FromAddress": "[email protected]"
                },
                "IpAddress": {
                    "aws:SourceIp":[
                        "zz.zz.zzz.zzz",
                        "xx.xxx.xx.xxx"
                    ]
                }
            }
        },
        {
            "Sid": "VisualEditor1",
            "Effect": "Allow",
            "Action": "ses:SendRawEmail",
            "Resource": "*",
            "Condition": {
                "StringEquals": {
                    "ses:FromAddress": "[email protected]"
                },
                "IpAddress": {
                    "aws:SourceIp":[
                        "zz.zz.zzz.zzz",
                        "xx.xxx.xx.xxx"
                    ]
                }
            }
        }
    ]
}

Further notes...

AWS SES Policies are a powerful tool to control user access to your email sending and receiving capabilities. By using AWS SES Policies, you can protect your email reputation, prevent unauthorized use of your account, and comply with AWS terms of service. You can create and apply AWS SES Policies using either the AWS Management Console or the AWS CLI, and you can use different types of policies and conditions to suit your needs. You should also follow some best practices and tips to manage your policies effectively.

I hope you found this blog post helpful and informative. If you want to learn more about AWS SES Policies or other features of Amazon Simple Email Service, you can visit the official documentation or the AWS Messaging & Targeting Blog. You can also try out AWS SES Policies for yourself by signing up for a free AWS account and verifying your domain or email address.

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