Creating a Secure NDA-Bound AWS S3 Read-Only Role

The bucket waits, locked behind permissions you do not control. You have the ARN. You have the policy. What you need is a clean, safe path: an NDA-bound AWS S3 read-only role that exposes what you need without giving away what you shouldn’t.

AWS Identity and Access Management (IAM) makes this possible with precision. The goal is simple: allow read-only access to agreed-upon S3 data, no writes, no deletes, no accidental leaks. When legal constraints like a non-disclosure agreement shape your architecture, the IAM role must reflect that constraint in code.

First, define a role in AWS IAM tied to a trust policy that limits who can assume it. This trust policy should only include the account or specific principals agreed under your NDA. Avoid wildcard principals. Every entry should map to explicit identifiers to keep surface area small.

Next, attach an S3 read-only policy. You can start from the AWS managed policy AmazonS3ReadOnlyAccess, but it is better to scope down to exact buckets and even prefixes. For example:

{
 "Version": "2012-10-17",
 "Statement": [
 {
 "Effect": "Allow",
 "Action": [
 "s3:GetObject",
 "s3:ListBucket"
 ],
 "Resource": [
 "arn:aws:s3:::example-nda-bucket",
 "arn:aws:s3:::example-nda-bucket/*"
 ]
 }
 ]
}

This ensures no public bucket access accidentally piggybacks on your role. With an NDA AWS S3 read-only role, limit grants to GetObject and ListBucket. Leave out multipart uploads, deletes, or ACL changes. Every allowed action should be justified by the NDA terms.

Logging is critical. Enable S3 server access logs or CloudTrail data events for the covered buckets. This proves compliance and gives an audit trail if there’s a dispute. Encryption should be enforced via the s3:GetObject condition that requires aws:SecureTransport equal to true.

Test assumptions with a different AWS account. Attempt to write. Attempt to list other buckets. Failures here confirm the role’s safety. Then integrate the role in a controlled environment before production.

NDA AWS S3 read-only roles are about precision: clear trust boundaries, minimal permissions, bucket-level control, and verifiable logging. Done right, they allow fast sharing without risk.

See how secure, NDA-ready S3 access roles work live in minutes at hoop.dev.