AWS IAM groups are logical collections of IAM users, allowing centralized permission management for multiple users at once. Permissions assigned to a group are automatically inherited by all members of that group, streamlining the process of assigning and maintaining consistent access levels across users. For example, when a new user requires administrative privileges, they can be granted the necessary permissions by adding them to the appropriate group.

To mitigate the risk of unauthorized access, it is recommended to actively monitor the usage of IAM groups. This includes tracking both active and inactive groups to prevent accidental modifications that could inadvertently expose resources to unauthorized users or escalate privileges unexpectedly.