This DOP-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 uses AWS Organizations with SCPs to restrict access to services. The security team needs to ensure that no IAM user or role in any account can create or modify VPCs. Which SCP should be applied to the root OU?
Option C is correct because it denies both the ec2:CreateVpc and ec2:ModifyVpc actions, which covers all operations that could create or modify VPCs. A service control policy (SCP) with a Deny effect overrides any Allow permissions, ensuring that no IAM user or role in any account under the root OU can perform these actions, even if attached IAM policies grant them.
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.
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
The trap here is that candidates often focus on only one action (Create or Modify) and forget that both are needed to fully prevent VPC creation and modification, or they mistakenly think an Allow SCP can restrict access when SCPs are primarily used for Deny boundaries.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
SCPs are evaluated as a deny-by-default boundary; any action not explicitly allowed by an SCP is implicitly denied, but a Deny statement explicitly blocks the action regardless of other Allow policies. The ec2:CreateVpc and ec2:ModifyVpc actions are distinct API calls—CreateVpc provisions a new VPC, while ModifyVpc changes attributes like DNS settings or tags—so both must be denied to fully prevent VPC creation or modification. In a real-world scenario, an attacker could use ec2:CreateVpc to deploy a rogue VPC for data exfiltration, or ec2:ModifyVpc to alter routing tables, so both must be blocked.
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 company's IT admin needs to give a contractor read-only access to production logs without sharing account credentials. Using role-based access control (RBAC) and temporary scoped permissions — not a permanent shared password — is the correct pattern. Questions like this test whether you can apply least-privilege access across cloud identity services.
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.
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: {"Version":"2012-10-17","Statement":[{"Effect":"Deny","Action":["ec2:CreateVpc","ec2:ModifyVpc"],"Resource":"*"}]} — Option C is correct because it denies both the ec2:CreateVpc and ec2:ModifyVpc actions, which covers all operations that could create or modify VPCs. A service control policy (SCP) with a Deny effect overrides any Allow permissions, ensuring that no IAM user or role in any account under the root OU can perform these actions, even if attached IAM policies grant them.
What should I do if I get this DOP-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.
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Question Discussion
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