Amazon Web Services certification practice
Practise AWS Certified Security Specialty SCS-C02 across all 6 official exam domains — Threat Detection and Incident Response, Security Logging and Monitoring, Identity and Access Management, Management and Security Governance, and more — with original exam-style questions, full explanations, and wrong-answer analysis. AWS certification exams usually test architecture trade-offs: service selection, resilience, cost, security, networking and operations. Courseiva helps you practise those decisions through original scenario-based questions.
Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
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Recommended: 25-question diagnostic
Covers all 6 domains · takes ~5 min · no account needed · shows your weak areas immediately
Key facts for the AWS Certified Security Specialty SCS-C02 exam.
Exam cost
$300 USD / ~£240
Duration
170 minutes
Question count
65 questions
Passing score
750 / 1000
Validity
3 years
Delivered by
Pearson VUE
Online proctored
Yes — available
Retake policy
100% free — no account required
Everything on Courseiva for SCS-C02 is free — no subscription, no trial, no email wall.
Courseiva provides free AWS Certified Security Specialty SCS-C02 (SCS-C02) practice questions with original exam-style questions, detailed explanations, topic-based practice, mock exams, readiness tracking, and study analytics. Courseiva is an independent platform and is not affiliated with Amazon Web Services.
14 days between attempts; third attempt requires 90-day wait
Question formats
The AWS Certified Security – Specialty (SCS-C02) validates expert-level knowledge of AWS security services and best practices. The exam covers threat detection and incident response using GuardDuty, Security Hub, and Detective; logging and monitoring with CloudTrail, CloudWatch, and Macie; infrastructure protection with WAF, Shield, Network Firewall, and Security Groups; identity and access management including IAM policies, SCP, and Cognito; and data protection through KMS, CloudHSM, ACM, and Secrets Manager. It is targeted at security engineers and architects who design and implement security controls on AWS.
Official prerequisite
None formal; AWS recommends 5+ years of IT security experience and 2+ years of hands-on AWS security experience.
Recommended experience
Strong understanding of IAM, KMS, GuardDuty, CloudTrail, and AWS networking security; familiarity with encryption, PKI, and zero-trust principles.
2+ years securing AWS environments in production; ideally 5+ years in IT security overall.
Should you skip this exam?
Those without an AWS security background — start with the AWS Solutions Architect Associate and Security+ fundamentals.
Courseiva study tip
Deep-dive into KMS key policies vs IAM policies, GuardDuty findings and remediation, SCP inheritance in AWS Organizations, and Macie data classification. Scenario questions often test the most restrictive/least-privilege correct answer.
UK salary range
£70,000–£110,000
US salary range
$140,000–$185,000
Job roles that cite SCS-C02
What certification to take next
The SCS-C02 exam costs $300 USD (approximately £240 GBP).
You need a scaled score of 750 out of 1000 to pass.
There are 65 questions (multiple choice and multiple response) with 170 minutes to complete the exam.
It is rated moderate-hard. Scenarios are complex and require nuanced understanding of IAM policy evaluation, encryption key management, threat detection services, and incident response workflows.
It covers threat detection and incident response (GuardDuty, Security Hub, Detective), logging and monitoring (CloudTrail, Macie), infrastructure protection (WAF, Shield, Network Firewall), IAM and identity (SCP, Cognito, cross-account roles), and data protection (KMS, CloudHSM, Secrets Manager, ACM).
The certification is valid for 3 years. It can be renewed through AWS recertification before the expiry date.
It is best suited for security engineers and architects who design and operate security controls on AWS, and for those preparing for security-focused cloud roles or aiming to complement a CISSP or CISM with AWS-specific credentials.
See how SCS-C02 stacks up against related certifications.
Courseiva Exam Intelligence
Data confidence: BuildingDerived from Courseiva's continuously updated practice dataset: 1,674 exam-style questions. Updated 2 July 2026.
Question difficulty mix
Average time per question: 92s
6
Exam domains
official blueprint domains covered by the bank
1,674
Questions
exam-style questions in the SCS-C02 bank
Practice modes
Choose a mode that matches your current study phase. Use topic practice early on and mock exams closer to your exam date.
All SCS-C02 Questions
Browse the full question bank organised by domain and difficulty.
Practice Test
Start a 20-question session with a full explanation after each answer.
Mock Exam
Simulate the real exam with a timed, full-length question set.
Quick 25
A 25-question warm-up — ideal for a short daily study session.
Flashcards
Reinforce key terms, commands, and protocol facts with flashcards.
Domain Practice
Focus exclusively on one exam domain to target your weakest area.
50-Question Set
Mid-length practice set covering all domains.
Exam guide
Start with a short practice session, review each missed answer, then return to the topics that caused mistakes.
AWS Certified Security Specialty SCS-C02 spans 6 official exam domains (Threat Detection and Incident Response, Security Logging and Monitoring, Identity and Access Management, and more). Questions test whether you can apply each objective in a realistic scenario, not just recall a definition.
Related practice questions
Use these internal links to move from the exam guide into focused topic practice pages.
Practise SCS-C02 questions linked to Threat Detection and Incident Response.
Practise SCS-C02 questions linked to Security Logging and Monitoring.
Practise SCS-C02 questions linked to Identity and Access Management.
Practise SCS-C02 questions linked to Management and Security Governance.
Practise SCS-C02 questions linked to Infrastructure Security.
Practise SCS-C02 questions linked to Data Protection.
Practise SCS-C02 questions linked to SCS-C02 fundamentals.
Practise SCS-C02 questions linked to SCS-C02 scenario.
Practise SCS-C02 questions linked to SCS-C02 troubleshooting.
Practice directory
Every practice set is a unique selection of questions — numbered tests, domain-focused sessions, and topic-specific quizzes.
Showing 8 of 92 tests. See all 92 SCS-C02 practice tests →
Official blueprint
Target weak areas by practising questions from a single domain. Each domain page shows all questions, difficulty breakdown, and a focused practice session.
Practise SCS-C02 questions in this domain →
Practise SCS-C02 questions in this domain →
Practise SCS-C02 questions in this domain →
Practise SCS-C02 questions in this domain →
Practise SCS-C02 questions in this domain →
Practise SCS-C02 questions in this domain →
Deep-dive questions
The most-searched SCS-C02 questions — each with a detailed explanation, worked example, and full answer breakdown.
Learn the concepts
19 book-style chapters cover every SCS-C02 objective in plain English. Read the theory here, then test it with practice questions.
Chapter 1
IAM Fundamentals and Policy Basics
12 min read
Chapter 2
IAM Permissions Boundaries, Roles, and Advanced Concepts
12 min read
Chapter 3
IAM Identity Federation and Temporary Credentials
12 min read
Chapter 4
Data Encryption at Rest with KMS and CloudHSM
12 min read
Chapter 5
Data Encryption in Transit and TLS Termination
12 min read
Chapter 6
Key Management, Secrets Manager, and Parameter Store
12 min read
Chapter 7
Data Protection Tools and Services (Macie, S3 Object Lock, Glacier Vault Lock)
12 min read
Chapter 8
CloudTrail Logging and Management Events
12 min read
Free study guide
The Courseiva SCS-C02 study guide covers exam format, the official domain blueprint with weights, a structured study plan, and domain-specific tips for each section. Use it alongside practice questions to build both conceptual depth and exam confidence.
Sample questions
Original exam-style questions — not copied from any exam or dump site. Open a question for the full answer breakdown.
A company wants to audit all API calls made to Amazon S3 within a specific AWS account. Which combination of services should be used to meet this requirement?
The exhibit shows an SCP attached to an organizational unit. What is the effect of this policy?
A company is designing a multi-tier web application on AWS. The web tier must be accessible from the internet, but the application and database tiers must be isolated. The security…
A company uses AWS Lambda functions that process sensitive data. The security team wants to ensure that any unauthorized invocation of the functions is detected and alerted. The te…
A security team is designing an automated incident response system. The system must meet the following requirements: (1) automatically respond to GuardDuty findings, (2) ensure tha…
A security engineer finds this IAM policy attached to a user. The user is able to create CloudTrail trails but cannot start logging. What is the MOST likely reason?
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Official booking and top-rated study resources for the SCS-C02.
Ways to study SCS-C02