The correct answer is to attach a Service Control Policy (SCP) to the Production OU that denies cloudtrail:StopLogging, cloudtrail:DeleteTrail, and s3:DeleteObject, and to add an S3 bucket policy on the CloudTrail log bucket that denies s3:DeleteObject for all principals in that OU. This two-step approach works because SCPs act as a centralized permission guardrail at the organization level, preventing any account within the OU from performing the specified actions regardless of IAM policies inside the account, while the S3 bucket policy provides a second layer of defense by directly protecting the log files at the resource level. On the AWS Certified Solutions Architect Professional SAP-C02 exam, this scenario tests your understanding of defense-in-depth for audit integrity, often appearing as a multi-select question where a common trap is choosing only an SCP or only a bucket policy—both are required to fully prevent disabling CloudTrail and deleting logs in an OU. Remember the mnemonic "SCP stops the service, bucket policy blocks the objects" to recall that SCPs control the CloudTrail API calls, while the bucket policy protects the log data itself.
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 multiple OUs. The security team wants to ensure that no account in the 'Production' OU can disable AWS CloudTrail or delete CloudTrail log files. Which two steps should be taken? (Choose TWO.)
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 attached to the 'Production' OU that denies CloudTrail and S3 actions related to stopping or deleting trails and logs.
Option B is correct because Service Control Policies (SCPs) attached to an OU can deny specific AWS actions for all accounts within that OU, including actions like cloudtrail:StopLogging, cloudtrail:DeleteTrail, and s3:DeleteObject on the CloudTrail log bucket. This ensures that no account in the 'Production' OU can disable CloudTrail or delete its log files, regardless of IAM permissions within the account. Option D is correct because an S3 bucket policy on the CloudTrail log bucket that explicitly denies s3:DeleteObject for all principals in the 'Production' OU adds a second layer of defense, preventing deletion of log files even if an account gains elevated privileges.
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.
✗
Enable AWS CloudTrail Insights to detect unusual activity.
Why it's wrong here
Insights detects but does not prevent deletion.
✓
Create an SCP attached to the 'Production' OU that denies CloudTrail and S3 actions related to stopping or deleting trails and logs.
Why this is correct
SCP prevents the actions at the account level.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
✗
Use IAM roles with a permissions boundary that restricts CloudTrail actions.
Why it's wrong here
Permissions boundaries only affect IAM roles, not all principals.
✓
Add an S3 bucket policy on the CloudTrail log bucket that denies s3:DeleteObject for all principals in the 'Production' OU.
Why this is correct
Bucket policy adds an additional layer of protection.
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 think IAM permissions boundaries or CloudTrail Insights can enforce preventive controls, but only SCPs and resource-based policies (like S3 bucket policies) can deny actions across all users and roles in an account at the organizational level.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
SCPs are evaluated before IAM policies and can explicitly deny actions even to the root user of an account, making them the only mechanism to enforce preventive controls across all accounts in an OU. The S3 bucket policy must use a condition like 'aws:PrincipalOrgID' to restrict the deny to principals from the 'Production' OU, ensuring it does not block legitimate access from other OUs. Combining SCPs and resource-based policies creates a defense-in-depth strategy that protects against both accidental and malicious actions.
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 media company stores terabytes of video archives that are accessed once a year for audit purposes. Moving these objects to a cold storage tier (Azure Archive, S3 Glacier, or Google Nearline) costs a fraction of hot storage. Questions like this test whether you understand storage tiers, access frequency tradeoffs, and retrieval latency requirements.
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: Create an SCP attached to the 'Production' OU that denies CloudTrail and S3 actions related to stopping or deleting trails and logs. — Option B is correct because Service Control Policies (SCPs) attached to an OU can deny specific AWS actions for all accounts within that OU, including actions like cloudtrail:StopLogging, cloudtrail:DeleteTrail, and s3:DeleteObject on the CloudTrail log bucket. This ensures that no account in the 'Production' OU can disable CloudTrail or delete its log files, regardless of IAM permissions within the account. Option D is correct because an S3 bucket policy on the CloudTrail log bucket that explicitly denies s3:DeleteObject for all principals in the 'Production' OU adds a second layer of defense, preventing deletion of log files even if an account gains elevated privileges.
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.
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Question Discussion
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