- A
S3 Block Public Access account-level settings
Why wrong: Account-level S3 Block Public Access settings can be applied per account, but they are not centrally enforceable across all accounts in an organization with a single configuration. Individual account administrators could disable or modify these settings, so this does not meet the requirement for a central, non-overridable control.
- B
AWS Config managed rule s3-bucket-public-read-prohibited
Why wrong: AWS Config rules are detective controls. They can evaluate bucket configurations and report noncompliant resources, but they do not prevent the action from occurring. The team wants a preventive control that prohibits making buckets public in the first place.
- C
Amazon Macie with a sensitive data discovery job
Why wrong: Amazon Macie is a data security service that uses machine learning to discover, classify, and protect sensitive data in S3. It does not provide any mechanism to prevent buckets from being made publicly accessible; it focuses on data content rather than access control.
- D
Service control policy (SCP) in AWS Organizations
Service control policies (SCPs) are a feature of AWS Organizations. They allow centralized, preventive control over the maximum permissions granted to accounts within the organization. An SCP can deny actions that would make an S3 bucket public, such as s3:PutBucketAcl or s3:PutBucketPolicy. SCPs apply to all accounts (including future accounts) and cannot be overridden by account administrators, meeting all requirements.
Quick Answer
The answer is a service control policy (SCP) in AWS Organizations. An SCP acts as a centrally managed permission guardrail that can deny actions like `s3:PutBucketPublicAccessBlock` across every account in the organization, ensuring no S3 bucket can be made publicly accessible. Because SCPs apply to all existing and future accounts and cannot be overridden by individual account administrators, they provide the preventive control required to prevent S3 public access across all AWS accounts. On the AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner CLF-C02 exam, this scenario tests your understanding of the difference between preventive controls (SCPs) and detective controls (like AWS Config or IAM policies). A common trap is choosing a bucket policy or IAM role, but those can be bypassed by account admins; SCPs are the only option that enforces a hard block from the management account. Memory tip: think of an SCP as a “security constitution” that no lower-level policy can violate.
CLF-C02 Security and Compliance Practice Question
This CLF-C02 practice question tests your understanding of security and compliance. The scenario asks you to isolate a root cause — eliminate options that address a different problem before choosing. A key principle to apply: sCPs define the maximum available permissions for accounts in an organization.. 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 uses AWS Organizations to manage multiple AWS accounts. The security team needs to ensure that no Amazon S3 bucket in any account within the organization can be made publicly accessible. The team wants a centrally managed, preventive control that applies to all existing and future accounts and cannot be overridden by individual account administrators. Which AWS feature should the security team use to meet these requirements?
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
Service control policy (SCP) in AWS Organizations
Service control policies (SCPs) in AWS Organizations allow you to centrally define and enforce permission guardrails across all accounts in the organization. An SCP that denies the `s3:PutBucketPublicAccessBlock` action and related public-access actions ensures that no S3 bucket can be made publicly accessible, and this policy applies to all existing and future accounts without being overridden by individual account administrators.
Key principle: SCPs define the maximum available permissions for accounts in an organization.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
S3 Block Public Access account-level settings
Why it's wrong here
Account-level S3 Block Public Access settings can be applied per account, but they are not centrally enforceable across all accounts in an organization with a single configuration. Individual account administrators could disable or modify these settings, so this does not meet the requirement for a central, non-overridable control.
- ✗
AWS Config managed rule s3-bucket-public-read-prohibited
Why it's wrong here
AWS Config rules are detective controls. They can evaluate bucket configurations and report noncompliant resources, but they do not prevent the action from occurring. The team wants a preventive control that prohibits making buckets public in the first place.
- ✗
Amazon Macie with a sensitive data discovery job
Why it's wrong here
Amazon Macie is a data security service that uses machine learning to discover, classify, and protect sensitive data in S3. It does not provide any mechanism to prevent buckets from being made publicly accessible; it focuses on data content rather than access control.
- ✓
Service control policy (SCP) in AWS Organizations
Why this is correct
Service control policies (SCPs) are a feature of AWS Organizations. They allow centralized, preventive control over the maximum permissions granted to accounts within the organization. An SCP can deny actions that would make an S3 bucket public, such as s3:PutBucketAcl or s3:PutBucketPolicy. SCPs apply to all accounts (including future accounts) and cannot be overridden by account administrators, meeting all requirements.
Related concept
SCPs define the maximum available permissions for accounts in an organization.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
The trap here is that candidates often confuse detective controls (like AWS Config rules) with preventive controls (like SCPs), or assume account-level settings (like S3 Block Public Access) can be centrally enforced across an organization without an SCP.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
SCPs are evaluated as part of the AWS IAM policy evaluation logic and act as a boundary that limits permissions for all IAM users, roles, and root users in member accounts. An SCP denying `s3:PutBucketPublicAccessBlock`, `s3:PutBucketAcl`, and `s3:PutObjectAcl` with a condition like `s3:x-amz-acl` set to `public-read` or `public-read-write` effectively prevents any bucket from being made public, even if an administrator explicitly attempts to override it. This control is inherited by all accounts in the organization and cannot be bypassed by account-level administrators because SCPs are evaluated before any IAM policies.
KKey Concepts to Remember
- SCPs define the maximum available permissions for accounts in an organization.
- SCPs are preventive controls, denying actions before they occur.
- SCPs cannot be overridden by individual account administrators or root users.
- SCPs apply to all accounts within their scope, including newly created accounts.
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
SCPs define the maximum available permissions for accounts in an organization.
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.
Review sCPs define the maximum available permissions for accounts in an organization., then practise related CLF-C02 questions on the same topic to reinforce the concept.
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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 — SCPs define the maximum available permissions for accounts in an organization..
What is the correct answer to this question?
The correct answer is: Service control policy (SCP) in AWS Organizations — Service control policies (SCPs) in AWS Organizations allow you to centrally define and enforce permission guardrails across all accounts in the organization. An SCP that denies the `s3:PutBucketPublicAccessBlock` action and related public-access actions ensures that no S3 bucket can be made publicly accessible, and this policy applies to all existing and future accounts without being overridden by individual account administrators.
What should I do if I get this CLF-C02 question wrong?
Review sCPs define the maximum available permissions for accounts in an organization., then practise related CLF-C02 questions on the same topic to reinforce the concept.
What is the key concept behind this question?
SCPs define the maximum available permissions for accounts in an organization.
About these practice questions
Courseiva creates original exam-style practice questions with explanations and wrong-answer analysis. It does not publish real exam questions, exam dumps, or protected exam content. Learn why practice questions differ from exam dumps →
Same concept, more angles
4 more ways this is tested on CLF-C02
These questions test the same concept from different angles. Work through them to make sure you can recognise it however the exam phrases it.
Variation 1. A company manages 15 AWS accounts and wants to centrally deploy and enforce consistent AWS WAF rules, security groups, and Shield Advanced protections across all accounts and regions from a single administrator account. Which AWS service provides this centralised security policy management?
medium- A.AWS WAF
- B.AWS Security Hub
- ✓ C.AWS Firewall Manager
- D.AWS Shield Advanced
Why C: AWS Firewall Manager is the correct service because it provides centralized security policy management across multiple AWS accounts and regions. It allows an administrator to define and enforce AWS WAF rules, security group rules, and Shield Advanced protections from a single administrator account, ensuring consistent compliance across all accounts in an AWS Organization.
Variation 2. A company uses AWS Organizations to centrally manage multiple AWS accounts. The security team requires a mechanism to prevent any IAM user or role in any member account from modifying Amazon S3 bucket policies to grant public access. The solution must be enforced centrally and cannot be overridden by account administrators. Which AWS feature should the company use?
medium- A.IAM permissions boundaries
- ✓ B.Service control policies (SCPs)
- C.AWS Config conformance packs
- D.AWS CloudTrail Insights
Why B: Service control policies (SCPs) are the correct choice because they allow AWS Organizations to centrally define permission guardrails that apply to all IAM users and roles across member accounts. SCPs can explicitly deny actions like s3:PutBucketPolicy to prevent any account administrator from modifying S3 bucket policies to grant public access, and these restrictions cannot be overridden by any IAM entity within the member account.
Variation 3. A company uses AWS Organizations to centrally manage multiple AWS accounts. The security team requires that no IAM users can be created in any member account. All access must use federated identities from the company's existing identity provider. The security team needs a single, centralized mechanism to enforce this restriction across all existing and future member accounts. Which AWS feature should the security team use to meet this requirement?
medium- A.AWS Identity and Access Management (IAM) policies
- ✓ B.AWS Organizations service control policies (SCPs)
- C.AWS Config managed rules with automatic remediation
- D.IAM Access Analyzer
Why B: AWS Organizations service control policies (SCPs) allow a central administrator to define maximum permissions for all accounts within an organization. By creating an SCP that explicitly denies the `iam:CreateUser` action, the security team can enforce that no IAM users can be created in any member account, including future accounts, because SCPs are inherited by all accounts in the organization. This provides a single, centralized mechanism that cannot be overridden by account-level IAM policies.
Variation 4. A company uses AWS Organizations to manage multiple AWS accounts. The security team needs to ensure that Amazon CloudTrail is enabled in all AWS Regions for every member account, and that no user (including account administrators) can disable it. The policy must apply automatically to any new accounts that are added to the organization. Which AWS feature should the security team use to enforce this requirement?
medium- A.IAM policies with a Deny effect for CloudTrail actions
- B.AWS Config rules with an auto-remediation action
- ✓ C.Service Control Policies (SCPs)
- D.AWS CloudTrail trails with multi-region and organization trail enabled
Why C: Service Control Policies (SCPs) are the correct choice because they allow the security team to centrally control the maximum available permissions for all accounts within an AWS Organization. By creating an SCP that denies all CloudTrail disabling actions (e.g., `cloudtrail:StopLogging`, `cloudtrail:DeleteTrail`) and attaching it to the root or specific organizational units, the policy applies automatically to all existing and new member accounts, and even account administrators cannot override it. This ensures CloudTrail remains enabled across all Regions in every account, meeting the enforcement requirement.
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Last reviewed: Jun 11, 2026
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