SAP-C02 Design for New Solutions Practice Question
A company has a multi-account AWS organization. The security team wants to centrally manage and enforce that all S3 buckets are encrypted with a specific KMS key. Which approach should the architect recommend?
⚠ Common exam trap
Many candidates confuse detective controls (AWS Config, Trusted Advisor) with preventive controls (SCP), or they mistakenly think IAM policies attached to users can enforce encryption at the bucket level across all accounts and principals.
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
✓
Use a service control policy (SCP) to deny s3:PutBucketEncryption if the encryption is not the specified KMS key
A service control policy (SCP) can deny the s3:PutBucketEncryption action unless the encryption setting specifies the required KMS key. This centrally enforces the encryption requirement across all accounts in the AWS Organization, preventing any account from creating or modifying a bucket with non-compliant encryption, regardless of IAM permissions within that account.
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 a service control policy (SCP) to deny s3:PutBucketEncryption if the encryption is not the specified KMS key
Why this is correct
SCPs enforce across all accounts in the organization.
- ✗
Use AWS Trusted Advisor to check bucket encryption
Why it's wrong here
Only provides recommendations, not enforcement.
- ✗
Create an IAM policy that denies s3:PutObject unless the request includes the specific KMS key, and attach it to all users
Why it's wrong here
Does not cover bucket creation; not centralized.
- ✗
Use AWS Config rules to detect non-compliant buckets and send alerts
Why it's wrong here
Detection only, not enforcement.
Quick reference
AWS S3 Storage Class Comparison
| Storage Class | Min Duration | Retrieval | Use Case |
|---|---|---|---|
| S3 Standard | None | Immediate | Frequently accessed data |
| S3 Standard-IA | 30 days | Immediate | Infrequent access, rapid retrieval |
| S3 One Zone-IA | 30 days | Immediate | Non-critical infrequent data |
| S3 Intelligent-Tiering | None | Immediate–hours | Unknown or changing access patterns |
| S3 Glacier Instant | 90 days | Milliseconds | Archive with instant retrieval |
| S3 Glacier Flexible | 90 days | Minutes–hours | Archive, flexible retrieval |
| S3 Glacier Deep Archive | 180 days | Hours | Long-term compliance archive |
Go deeper
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JA
Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
This SAP-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 SAP-C02 exam.