SAP-C02 Practice Question: Design Solutions for Organizational Complexity
A company has multiple AWS accounts managed under AWS Organizations. The security team wants to enforce that all new S3 buckets created in any account are automatically tagged with the cost center and environment (e.g., dev, prod). Which solution should the team implement?
⚠ Common exam trap
Candidates often choose a reactive solution like AWS Config (Option D) because it can tag buckets, but they miss that the question requires enforcement at creation time, which only a preventive control like an SCP can achieve.
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) in AWS Organizations that denies s3:CreateBucket if the request does not include the required tags.
A Service Control Policy (SCP) in AWS Organizations can centrally deny the s3:CreateBucket action if the request does not include the required tags (cost center and environment). SCPs apply to all accounts in the organization, enforcing the tagging requirement at the API level before the bucket is created, which is the most effective preventive control.
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 CloudFormation StackSets to deploy a bucket template with tags.
Why it's wrong here
Does not cover buckets created via console or SDK.
- ✗
Use IAM policies in each account to require tags on bucket creation.
Why it's wrong here
IAM policies are per-account and not centrally enforced.
- ✓
Use a Service Control Policy (SCP) in AWS Organizations that denies s3:CreateBucket if the request does not include the required tags.
Why this is correct
SCPs prevent the action at the account level.
- ✗
Use AWS Config rules to automatically tag buckets after creation.
Why it's wrong here
AWS Config is reactive and does not prevent creation.
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.