SAP-C02 Practice Question: Design Solutions for Organizational Complexity
A company has multiple AWS accounts managed via AWS Organizations. The security team wants to centrally enforce that all S3 buckets across all accounts have server-side encryption enabled. Which solution should be used?
⚠ Common exam trap
Candidates often choose AWS Config with auto-remediation (Option B) because it can fix noncompliant buckets, but they overlook that SCPs provide a preventive, centrally managed control that cannot be overridden by account-level administrators, which is the key requirement for central enforcement across multiple accounts.
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
✓
Attach a service control policy (SCP) to the root organizational unit that denies s3:PutBucket without encryption
A service control policy (SCP) attached to the root organizational unit can centrally deny the s3:PutBucket action unless the request includes a condition that requires server-side encryption (e.g., s3:x-amz-server-side-encryption). SCPs apply to all accounts in the organization, ensuring that even administrators in member accounts cannot create unencrypted buckets, and they cannot be overridden by IAM policies within those accounts.
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 CloudTrail to monitor and alert on bucket creation without encryption
Why it's wrong here
CloudTrail logs but does not enforce.
- ✗
Use AWS Config rules with auto-remediation in each account
Why it's wrong here
Config rules detect but do not enforce; remediation is reactive.
- ✓
Attach a service control policy (SCP) to the root organizational unit that denies s3:PutBucket without encryption
Why this is correct
SCPs centrally deny actions across all accounts.
- ✗
Define an IAM policy in each account to deny S3:PutBucket without encryption
Why it's wrong here
IAM policies must be applied per account, not centrally.
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
Related to this question
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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.