SAP-C02 Continuous Improvement for Existing Solutions Practice Question
A company uses AWS CloudFormation to deploy infrastructure. The team wants to ensure that all resources are tagged with a CostCenter tag. They want to automatically remediate any stack that creates resources without the required tag. Which approach is MOST effective?
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 an AWS Config rule with auto-remediation via SSM Automation.
Using an AWS Config rule with auto-remediation via SSM Automation can detect untagged resources in near real-time and automatically apply the required CostCenter tag, ensuring compliance without manual intervention. Option A is incorrect because tagging after creation is reactive and does not prevent untagged resources from existing temporarily. Option B is incorrect because IAM policies cannot enforce tagging across all services consistently, and many services allow resource creation without tags even with IAM restrictions. Option C is incorrect because CloudFormation stack policies only control updates and deletions, not creation; they cannot prevent the creation of untagged resources.
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 Lambda function that tags resources after creation.
Why it's wrong here
Incorrect: This approach is reactive—it tags resources after creation, but untagged resources may exist temporarily, violating compliance requirements.
- ✗
Use IAM policies to require tagging on all resource creation.
Why it's wrong here
Incorrect: IAM policies cannot reliably enforce tagging on all resource types across all services; many services do not support condition keys for tags at creation time.
- ✗
Use a CloudFormation stack policy with a deny effect for resource creation without tags.
Why it's wrong here
Incorrect: CloudFormation stack policies do not prevent resource creation based on tags; they only control updates and deletions. They cannot enforce tagging at creation.
- ✓
Use an AWS Config rule with auto-remediation via SSM Automation.
Why this is correct
Correct: An AWS Config rule can evaluate resources as they are created and trigger an SSM Automation document to automatically apply the required CostCenter tag, providing near real-time remediation.
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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.