SAP-C02 Practice Question: Design Solutions for Organizational Complexity
A company has multiple AWS accounts managed via AWS Organizations. The security team wants to restrict the use of specific instance types across all accounts. Which TWO methods can be used to enforce this restriction?
⚠ Common exam trap
Test-takers frequently confuse detective controls (AWS Config, CloudTrail) with preventive controls (SCPs), or they assume IAM policies can be centrally managed across accounts, when in fact SCPs are the only native mechanism for organization-wide preventive restrictions.
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
✓
Create an SCP that denies the ec2:RunInstances action for specific instance types.
Service Control Policies (SCPs) in AWS Organizations allow you to centrally restrict permissions across all accounts in the organization. By creating an SCP that denies the ec2:RunInstances action with a condition key like ec2:InstanceType matching specific prohibited instance types, you can enforce this restriction at the organization, OU, or account level, preventing any user or role from launching those instance types regardless of their IAM permissions.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
Create an SCP that denies the ec2:RunInstances action for specific instance types.
Why this is correct
SCPs can deny actions based on condition keys like ec2:InstanceType.
- ✓
Use AWS Config rules to detect non-compliant instance types and automatically terminate them using AWS Systems Manager Automation.
Why this is correct
AWS Config can detect and auto-remediate.
- ✗
Use AWS CloudTrail to monitor launches of prohibited instance types and automatically terminate them.
Why it's wrong here
CloudTrail logs but does not enforce.
- ✗
Use Service Quotas to restrict the number of instances of specific types.
Why it's wrong here
Service Quotas limit the count, not the type.
- ✗
Create an IAM policy in each account that denies the specified instance types.
Why it's wrong here
IAM policies are not automatically inherited; would require per-account setup.
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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.