- A
IAM permission boundaries
Why wrong: IAM permission boundaries set the maximum permissions for an IAM user or role within a single account. They do not provide central control across multiple accounts and do not block actions by default; they only limit the permissions that can be granted to a specific entity.
- B
AWS Service Control Policies (SCPs)
SCPs are a feature of AWS Organizations that allow you to centrally control the maximum permissions for all accounts in your organization. They can be used to deny specific API actions (such as disabling CloudTrail) across all accounts, including the management account, providing a preventive security guardrail.
- C
AWS Identity and Access Management (IAM) roles with a trust policy
Why wrong: IAM roles with trust policies allow cross-account access by granting permissions to users from other accounts. They do not restrict or deny actions across accounts, and they are not a preventive control for blocking API actions.
- D
AWS Config conformance packs
Why wrong: AWS Config conformance packs are collections of AWS Config rules that evaluate whether your resources comply with specific policies. They are detective and can trigger auto-remediation, but they are not preventive controls that block actions before they occur.
CLF-C02 Security and Compliance Practice Question
This CLF-C02 practice question tests your understanding of security and compliance. Match the stated requirement to the specific cloud service, access model, or configuration option — many options are valid in isolation but not for this scenario. After answering, compare your reasoning against the explanation and wrong-answer breakdown below. Once you have made your selection, read the full explanation to reinforce the concept and understand why each distractor is designed to mislead on exam day.
A company manages multiple AWS accounts under a single AWS Organizations organization. The security team wants to implement a preventive control that blocks any action that would disable AWS CloudTrail or delete CloudTrail log files across all accounts, including the management account. The solution must be centrally managed and must not require changes to individual account permissions. Which AWS feature should the security team use?
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
AWS Service Control Policies (SCPs)
AWS Service Control Policies (SCPs) are the correct choice because they allow the security team to define preventive guardrails at the AWS Organizations root, OU, or account level that apply to all principals, including the management account. An SCP can explicitly deny any action that would disable CloudTrail (e.g., cloudtrail:StopLogging, cloudtrail:DeleteTrail) or delete log files (e.g., s3:DeleteObject on the CloudTrail S3 bucket), and because SCPs are inherited by all accounts in the organization, no individual account permission changes are required.
Key principle: Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
IAM permission boundaries
Why it's wrong here
IAM permission boundaries set the maximum permissions for an IAM user or role within a single account. They do not provide central control across multiple accounts and do not block actions by default; they only limit the permissions that can be granted to a specific entity.
- ✓
AWS Service Control Policies (SCPs)
Why this is correct
SCPs are a feature of AWS Organizations that allow you to centrally control the maximum permissions for all accounts in your organization. They can be used to deny specific API actions (such as disabling CloudTrail) across all accounts, including the management account, providing a preventive security guardrail.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
- ✗
AWS Identity and Access Management (IAM) roles with a trust policy
Why it's wrong here
IAM roles with trust policies allow cross-account access by granting permissions to users from other accounts. They do not restrict or deny actions across accounts, and they are not a preventive control for blocking API actions.
- ✗
AWS Config conformance packs
Why it's wrong here
AWS Config conformance packs are collections of AWS Config rules that evaluate whether your resources comply with specific policies. They are detective and can trigger auto-remediation, but they are not preventive controls that block actions before they occur.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
The trap here is that candidates often confuse SCPs with IAM permission boundaries, thinking both can centrally manage permissions across accounts, but SCPs are the only AWS Organizations feature that applies preventive controls to all accounts, including the management account, without requiring per-account configuration.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
SCPs are evaluated before IAM policies and can use condition keys like aws:SourceOrgID to scope denials to specific organizational units. A common subtle behavior is that SCPs do not affect service-linked roles or the management account's root user unless explicitly applied to the management account via a policy attached to the root of the organization. In a real-world scenario, an SCP denying s3:DeleteObject on the CloudTrail bucket ARN must be combined with a bucket policy that also denies the same action to prevent direct S3 API calls from bypassing the SCP.
KKey Concepts to Remember
- Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
- Find the constraint that changes the correct option.
- Eliminate answers that are true in general but not in this case.
TExam Day Tips
- Watch for words such as best, first, most likely and least administrative effort.
- Review why wrong options are wrong, not only why the correct option is correct.
Key takeaway
Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Real-world example
How this comes up in practice
A media company stores terabytes of video archives that are accessed once a year for audit purposes. Moving these objects to a cold storage tier (Azure Archive, S3 Glacier, or Google Nearline) costs a fraction of hot storage. Questions like this test whether you understand storage tiers, access frequency tradeoffs, and retrieval latency requirements.
What to study next
Got this wrong? Here's your next step.
Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.
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Security and Compliance — study guide chapter
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FAQ
Questions learners often ask
What does this CLF-C02 question test?
Security and Compliance — This question tests Security and Compliance — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
What is the correct answer to this question?
The correct answer is: AWS Service Control Policies (SCPs) — AWS Service Control Policies (SCPs) are the correct choice because they allow the security team to define preventive guardrails at the AWS Organizations root, OU, or account level that apply to all principals, including the management account. An SCP can explicitly deny any action that would disable CloudTrail (e.g., cloudtrail:StopLogging, cloudtrail:DeleteTrail) or delete log files (e.g., s3:DeleteObject on the CloudTrail S3 bucket), and because SCPs are inherited by all accounts in the organization, no individual account permission changes are required.
What should I do if I get this CLF-C02 question wrong?
Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.
What is the key concept behind this question?
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
About these practice questions
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Last reviewed: Jun 11, 2026
This CLF-C02 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 CLF-C02 exam.
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