easyMultiple Choice
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
Scoping Resource to "*" grants start and stop across every SageMaker notebook in the account, not the specified instance; the stem demands that single instance's ARN. Wildcard actions are tempting because they avoid naming each API call, and would suit a broad administrative policy rather than least-privilege access.
- ✓
{"Effect":"Allow","Action":["sagemaker:StartNotebookInstance","sagemaker:StopNotebookInstance"],"Resource":"arn:aws:sagemaker:us-east-1:123456789012:notebook-instance/MyNotebook"}
Why this is correct
The policy grants only the sagemaker:StartNotebookInstance and sagemaker:StopNotebookInstance actions, scoped to the exact notebook-instance ARN. Because IAM denies any action absent from an Allow statement, DeleteNotebookInstance is implicitly denied, satisfying the requirement that the user start and stop the instance without deleting it.
- ✗
{"Effect":"Allow","Action":"sagemaker:*","Resource":"*"}
Why it's wrong here
sagemaker:* on Resource "*" grants every SageMaker action across all resources, including DeleteNotebookInstance and unrelated notebooks. It is tempting because it is the quickest way to guarantee access works, but the requirement demands start and stop only, scoped to the single notebook instance ARN.
- ✗
{"Effect":"Allow","Action":"sagemaker:*","Resource":"arn:aws:sagemaker:us-east-1:123456789012:notebook-instance/MyNotebook"}
Why it's wrong here
The wildcard sagemaker:* on the notebook resource also permits DeleteNotebookInstance, violating the requirement that the user cannot delete it. It is tempting because scoping to the specific notebook ARN is correct least-privilege practise, but the action list must name only StartNotebookInstance and StopNotebookInstance.
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Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
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