The answer is to apply a service control policy (SCP) that denies the iam:CreateUser and iam:CreateAccessKey actions at the organization root or OU level. This is the most scalable enforcement because SCPs centrally govern all accounts in AWS Organizations, applying to every IAM user and role—including the root user—without requiring per-account configuration. On the AWS Certified Solutions Architect Professional SAP-C02 exam, this scenario tests your understanding of SCPs as a preventive guardrail versus reactive tools like IAM password policies or Config rules; a common trap is choosing to modify individual account trust policies, which is unscalable across hundreds of accounts. To prevent IAM user creation across all accounts, remember that SCPs are the only mechanism that can restrict even the root user, making them ideal for organization-wide security baselines. Memory tip: “SCP stops creation at the source—deny CreateUser and CreateAccessKey to lock down identity growth.”
SAP-C02 Practice Question: Design Solutions for Organizational Complexity
This SAP-C02 practice question tests your understanding of design solutions for organizational complexity. Match the stated requirement to the specific cloud service, access model, or configuration option — many options are valid in isolation but not for this scenario. After answering, compare your reasoning against the explanation and wrong-answer breakdown below. Once you have made your selection, read the full explanation to reinforce the concept and understand why each distractor is designed to mislead on exam day.
A company uses AWS Organizations with hundreds of accounts. The security team needs to ensure that no IAM user in any account can create a new IAM user or access key. What is the most scalable way to enforce this?
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
Apply a service control policy (SCP) that denies the iam:CreateUser and iam:CreateAccessKey actions.
Service control policies (SCPs) are the most scalable way to enforce restrictions across all accounts in an AWS Organization because they apply to all IAM users and roles in every member account, including the root user. By denying the iam:CreateUser and iam:CreateAccessKey actions at the organization root or OU level, the security team can prevent any IAM user from creating new users or access keys without needing to manage individual account policies or rely on reactive measures.
Key principle: Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
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 Config rules to detect and automatically delete any new users or keys.
Why it's wrong here
Reactive, not preventive.
✗
Enable AWS CloudTrail and create a metric filter to alert on these actions.
Why it's wrong here
Only alerts, does not prevent.
✗
Attach an IAM policy to the Administrator role in each account that denies these actions.
Why it's wrong here
Does not prevent users with other roles or direct permissions.
✓
Apply a service control policy (SCP) that denies the iam:CreateUser and iam:CreateAccessKey actions.
Why this is correct
SCPs apply to all principals in the account.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
The trap here is that candidates often choose Option C because they think attaching a deny policy to the Administrator role is sufficient, but they overlook that SCPs are the only mechanism that can restrict the root user and scale across hundreds of accounts without per-account management.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
SCPs are evaluated before any IAM policy and can explicitly deny actions even to the root user of a member account, which is a key differentiator from IAM policies that cannot restrict the root user. Under the hood, SCPs are applied at the organization root, OU, or account level and are inherited, meaning a single SCP attached to the root can enforce the deny across all accounts. In a real-world scenario, this prevents a compromised IAM user in a single account from creating backdoor users or keys, as the SCP blocks the API calls regardless of the account-level permissions.
KKey Concepts to Remember
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
Find the constraint that changes the correct option.
Eliminate answers that are true in general but not in this case.
TExam Day Tips
→Watch for words such as best, first, most likely and least administrative effort.
→Review why wrong options are wrong, not only why the correct option is correct.
Key takeaway
Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Real-world example
How this comes up in practice
A company's IT admin needs to give a contractor read-only access to production logs without sharing account credentials. Using role-based access control (RBAC) and temporary scoped permissions — not a permanent shared password — is the correct pattern. Questions like this test whether you can apply least-privilege access across cloud identity services.
What to study next
Got this wrong? Here's your next step.
Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.
Design Solutions for Organizational Complexity — This question tests Design Solutions for Organizational Complexity — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
What is the correct answer to this question?
The correct answer is: Apply a service control policy (SCP) that denies the iam:CreateUser and iam:CreateAccessKey actions. — Service control policies (SCPs) are the most scalable way to enforce restrictions across all accounts in an AWS Organization because they apply to all IAM users and roles in every member account, including the root user. By denying the iam:CreateUser and iam:CreateAccessKey actions at the organization root or OU level, the security team can prevent any IAM user from creating new users or access keys without needing to manage individual account policies or rely on reactive measures.
What should I do if I get this SAP-C02 question wrong?
Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.
What is the key concept behind this question?
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
About these practice questions
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These questions test the same concept from different angles. Work through them to make sure you can recognise it however the exam phrases it.
Variation 1. A company uses AWS Organizations to manage multiple accounts. The security team wants to ensure that no IAM users are created in member accounts. All access must be through federated roles. Which approach should they use?
easy
✓ A.Apply an SCP to the root OU that denies the iam:CreateUser action.
B.Set an IAM password policy in each account that requires strong passwords.
C.Use AWS Config rules to detect IAM users and automatically delete them.
D.Use AWS CloudTrail to monitor for CreateUser and alert the security team.
Why A: Option C is correct because an SCP can deny the iam:CreateUser action across all member accounts. Option A is wrong because IAM password policies do not prevent user creation. Option B is wrong because AWS Config can detect but not prevent. Option D is wrong because CloudTrail only logs.
Last reviewed: Jun 24, 2026
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