Quick Answer
The correct choice is Service Control Policies (SCPs). SCPs are a feature of AWS Organizations that allow you to centrally manage permissions across multiple accounts by setting guardrails that define the maximum available permissions for all IAM users and roles within each member account. This makes them ideal for enforcing consistent data lake access controls across an entire organization. On the AWS Certified Data Engineer Associate DEA-C01 exam, this concept tests your understanding of how to separate account-level permissions from organization-wide governance, with a common trap being to confuse SCPs with IAM policies, which only apply within a single account. Remember that SCPs do not grant permissions—they act as a permission boundary, so think of them as the "ceiling" that limits what any IAM policy can allow. A useful memory tip: SCPs stand for "Service Control Policies," but you can remember them as "Supreme Control Policies" because they sit above all other policies in the hierarchy.
This DEA-C01 practice question tests your understanding of data security and governance. 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 has multiple AWS accounts and wants to centrally manage permissions and access to data lakes. They have enabled AWS Organizations and want to use a single set of policies that apply to all accounts. Which policy type should be used at the organization level?
IAM policies
Why wrong: IAM policies are per-account, not organization-wide.
KMS key policies
Why wrong: Key policies control access to KMS keys, not across accounts.
S3 bucket policies
Why wrong: Bucket policies are resource-specific, not organization-wide.
Service control policies (SCPs)
SCPs centrally manage permissions across all accounts in an organization.
Answer choices
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
Service control policies (SCPs)
Option D is correct because Service Control Policies (SCPs) are used in AWS Organizations to centrally manage permissions across accounts. Option A (IAM policies) are attached to IAM users/roles within an account, not across accounts. Option B (bucket policies) are specific to S3 buckets. Option C (KMS key policies) control access to KMS keys.
Key principle: Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Answer analysis
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
IAM policies
Why it's wrong here
IAM policies are per-account, not organization-wide.
KMS key policies
Why it's wrong here
Key policies control access to KMS keys, not across accounts.
S3 bucket policies
Why it's wrong here
Bucket policies are resource-specific, not organization-wide.
Service control policies (SCPs)
Why this is correct
SCPs centrally manage permissions across all accounts in an organization.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
Common exam traps
Many certification questions include familiar terms but test a specific constraint. Read the exact wording before choosing an answer that is generally true but wrong for this case.
Detailed technical explanation
This question should be treated as a scenario, not a definition check. Identify the problem, the constraint and the best action. Then compare each option against those facts.
Key takeaway
Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Real-world example
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
Identify which DEA-C01 exam domain this question belongs to, then review the specific concept being tested. Practise related questions in that domain and focus on understanding why each wrong answer is tempting — not just why the correct answer is right.
Data Security and Governance — study guide chapter
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FAQ
Data Security and Governance — This question tests Data Security and Governance — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
The correct answer is: Service control policies (SCPs) — Option D is correct because Service Control Policies (SCPs) are used in AWS Organizations to centrally manage permissions across accounts. Option A (IAM policies) are attached to IAM users/roles within an account, not across accounts. Option B (bucket policies) are specific to S3 buckets. Option C (KMS key policies) control access to KMS keys.
Identify which DEA-C01 exam domain this question belongs to, then review the specific concept being tested. Practise related questions in that domain and focus on understanding why each wrong answer is tempting — not just why the correct answer is right.
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
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Last reviewed: Jun 20, 2026
This DEA-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 DEA-C01 exam.
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