The answer is to create a Service Control Policy (SCP) that denies cloudwatch:Put* and cloudwatch:Delete* actions and attach it to the root OU. This is correct because SCPs act as a centralized guardrail within AWS Organizations, setting the maximum available permissions for all accounts in an organizational unit; any IAM policy that grants these actions becomes ineffective when the SCP explicitly denies them, ensuring no user or role can modify CloudWatch Logs configurations. On the AWS Certified DevOps Engineer Professional DOP-C02 exam, this scenario tests your understanding of SCPs as a preventive control that overrides account-level permissions, often appearing as a trap where candidates mistakenly choose IAM policies or resource-based policies, which can be bypassed by account admins. Remember the key distinction: SCPs deny at the organization level, while IAM policies allow at the account level. Memory tip: think of SCPs as the "master off switch" for entire OUs—deny at the root, and no one below can flip it back on.
DOP-C02 Security and Compliance Practice Question
This DOP-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. 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 is using AWS Organizations with multiple accounts. The security team wants to ensure that no IAM user in any account can make changes to Amazon CloudWatch Logs configurations. Which approach should be used?
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
Create an SCP that denies cloudwatch:Put* and cloudwatch:Delete* actions and attach it to the root OU
Option B is correct because Service Control Policies (SCPs) in AWS Organizations allow you to centrally control the maximum available permissions for all accounts within an organizational unit (OU). By attaching an SCP that denies cloudwatch:Put* and cloudwatch:Delete* actions to the root OU, you ensure that no IAM user or role in any account can modify or delete CloudWatch Logs configurations, regardless of any IAM policies attached directly to users or roles. This approach provides a guardrail that cannot be overridden by account administrators.
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.
✗
Use AWS Config rules to automatically revert changes to CloudWatch Logs
Why it's wrong here
Config rules can trigger remediation but are not preventive.
✓
Create an SCP that denies cloudwatch:Put* and cloudwatch:Delete* actions and attach it to the root OU
Why this is correct
SCPs can deny actions across all accounts in an organization.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
✗
Create an IAM policy that denies changes to CloudWatch Logs and apply it to all IAM users
Why it's wrong here
IAM policies apply only to users, not to resources or services.
✗
Use AWS CloudTrail to monitor and alert on changes to CloudWatch Logs
Why it's wrong here
CloudTrail only logs, does not prevent.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
The trap here is that candidates often confuse detective controls (like CloudTrail or Config rules) with preventive controls (like SCPs), or mistakenly believe that an IAM policy applied to all users is sufficient, ignoring that IAM roles and account-level administrators can bypass such policies.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
SCPs are evaluated before IAM policies and resource-based policies; they act as a filter that defines the maximum permissions for every principal in the account. An explicit deny in an SCP overrides any allow, making it a powerful preventive control for multi-account environments. In real-world scenarios, SCPs are commonly used to enforce security baselines across all accounts, such as disabling the ability to disable CloudTrail or modify CloudWatch Logs, ensuring audit integrity.
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: Create an SCP that denies cloudwatch:Put* and cloudwatch:Delete* actions and attach it to the root OU — Option B is correct because Service Control Policies (SCPs) in AWS Organizations allow you to centrally control the maximum available permissions for all accounts within an organizational unit (OU). By attaching an SCP that denies cloudwatch:Put* and cloudwatch:Delete* actions to the root OU, you ensure that no IAM user or role in any account can modify or delete CloudWatch Logs configurations, regardless of any IAM policies attached directly to users or roles. This approach provides a guardrail that cannot be overridden by account administrators.
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.
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 →
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. An organization uses AWS Organizations with multiple accounts. The Security team needs to enforce a policy that prohibits the creation of S3 buckets with public access in any account. Which policy type should be used?
medium
✓ A.Service control policy (SCP)
B.IAM permissions boundary
C.AWS CloudTrail trail
D.AWS Config rule
Why A: Service control policies (SCPs) allow you to centrally control permissions across all accounts in an organization. SCPs can deny actions like creating public buckets. IAM policies are account-specific. AWS Config rules can detect but not prevent.
Variation 2. A company wants to centrally manage and apply policies across multiple AWS accounts in an AWS Organization. Which service should be used to define and enforce compliance rules?
easy
✓ A.AWS Organizations Service Control Policies (SCPs)
B.AWS Config rules
C.AWS CloudTrail
D.IAM policies
Why A: AWS Organizations Service Control Policies (SCPs) are the correct choice because they centrally manage permissions across all accounts in an AWS Organization by defining maximum allowable permissions. SCPs act as a guardrail, restricting what member accounts can do, even if IAM policies within those accounts grant broader access. This makes SCPs the ideal service for enforcing compliance rules at the organization level.
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This DOP-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 DOP-C02 exam.
Question Discussion
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