easyMultiple ChoiceObjective-mapped
AIF-C01 Practice Question: A data scientist needs to grant an IAM user…
A data scientist needs to grant an IAM user access to a specific Amazon SageMaker notebook instance. The user should only be able to start and stop the notebook instance, but not delete it. Which IAM policy statement should be used?
⚠ Common exam trap
Many candidates choose a wildcard action like `sagemaker:Start*` or `sagemaker:*` thinking it covers the needed actions, but they overlook that these patterns grant unintended permissions (e.g., delete or other start/stop actions on different resources), violating the principle of least privilege.
Answer choices
Why each option matters
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
{"Effect":"Allow","Action":["sagemaker:StartNotebookInstance","sagemaker:StopNotebookInstance"],"Resource":"arn:aws:sagemaker:us-east-1:123456789012:notebook-instance/MyNotebook"}
It uses the specific actions `sagemaker:StartNotebookInstance` and `sagemaker:StopNotebookInstance` with a resource ARN that targets only the intended notebook instance. This grants the least privilege required to start and stop the instance while explicitly preventing deletion, as no delete action is included. The resource ARN restricts the policy to a single notebook instance, ensuring the user cannot affect other resources.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
{"Effect":"Allow","Action":["sagemaker:Start*","sagemaker:Stop*"],"Resource":"*"}
Why it's wrong here
Too permissive; affects all notebook instances.
- ✓
{"Effect":"Allow","Action":["sagemaker:StartNotebookInstance","sagemaker:StopNotebookInstance"],"Resource":"arn:aws:sagemaker:us-east-1:123456789012:notebook-instance/MyNotebook"}
Why this is correct
Grants only start and stop on the specific resource.
- ✗
{"Effect":"Allow","Action":"sagemaker:*","Resource":"*"}
Why it's wrong here
Allows all actions on all resources.
- ✗
{"Effect":"Allow","Action":"sagemaker:*","Resource":"arn:aws:sagemaker:us-east-1:123456789012:notebook-instance/MyNotebook"}
Why it's wrong here
Allows all actions, including deletion.
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JA
Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
This AIF-C01 practice question is part of Courseiva's free Amazon Web Services certification practice question bank. Courseiva provides original exam-style practice questions with explanations, topic-based practice, mock exams, readiness tracking, and study analytics to help learners prepare for the AIF-C01 exam.