SAP-C02 Practice Question: Design Solutions for Organizational Complexity
A company is designing a multi-account architecture using AWS Organizations. The company wants to enforce that all Amazon S3 buckets across all accounts must have server-side encryption (SSE) enabled. Which TWO actions should be taken to enforce this requirement?
⚠ Common exam trap
Many candidates confuse detective controls (like AWS Config rules with auto-remediation) with preventive controls (like SCPs), but the question specifically asks to 'enforce' the requirement, which demands a preventive approach that blocks non-compliant actions before they occur.
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 a service control policy (SCP) that denies s3:PutBucket* actions unless encryption is specified.
A service control policy (SCP) can be applied at the AWS Organizations root, OU, or account level to deny S3 bucket operations that do not include encryption. By using a condition key like `s3:x-amz-server-side-encryption` in the SCP, you can enforce that any `s3:PutBucket*` action must specify encryption, preventing the creation or modification of buckets without SSE. This provides a preventive, centralized control that cannot be overridden by account administrators.
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 a service control policy (SCP) that denies s3:PutBucket* actions unless encryption is specified.
Why this is correct
SCPs can deny actions that do not meet conditions, such as requiring encryption.
- ✗
Set the default encryption on each bucket to disable encryption.
Why it's wrong here
Disabling encryption does not enforce encryption; it removes encryption.
- ✗
Enable AWS CloudTrail to log all S3 API calls and trigger a Lambda function to remediate.
Why it's wrong here
CloudTrail logs but does not prevent non-compliant actions.
- ✗
Create an IAM policy with a global condition for SSE and attach it to all users and roles.
Why it's wrong here
IAM policies apply to users/roles, not to all resources across accounts; also, they can be overridden.
- ✓
Use AWS Config rules to detect S3 buckets without encryption and automatically remediate.
Why this is correct
AWS Config can detect non-compliant buckets and trigger remediation via Systems Manager Automation or Lambda.
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.