SAP-C02 Practice Question: Design Solutions for Organizational Complexity
A multinational corporation uses AWS Organizations with hundreds of accounts. The security team requires that all Amazon S3 buckets across the organization be encrypted with a specific AWS KMS key from the security account. Which combination of controls should be implemented to enforce this requirement?
⚠ Common exam trap
SAP-C02 often tests the difference between preventive controls (SCPs) and detective controls (Config), causing candidates to choose reactive options like CloudTrail remediation instead of a combination of both.
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
✓
Apply an SCP to deny s3:PutBucketEncryption with any key other than the required KMS key, and use AWS Config rules to detect and remediate existing non-compliant buckets.
Applying an SCP to deny s3:PutBucketEncryption with any key other than the required KMS key enforces the encryption requirement across all accounts in the organization. Additionally, using AWS Config rules detects and remediates existing non-compliant buckets, ensuring ongoing compliance. This combination provides preventive and detective controls.
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 an AWS Service Catalog portfolio that restricts bucket creation to encrypted buckets only.
Why it's wrong here
AWS Service Catalog is not designed to enforce encryption policies across accounts at the organizational level.
- ✗
Use IAM policies in each account to deny PutBucketEncryption actions that do not specify the required KMS key.
Why it's wrong here
IAM policies alone cannot enforce encryption across multiple accounts; they are scoped to a single account.
- ✗
Enable AWS CloudTrail and create a CloudWatch Events rule to automatically remediate non-compliant buckets.
Why it's wrong here
AWS CloudTrail only logs API activity, it does not enforce or prevent actions.
- ✓
Apply an SCP to deny s3:PutBucketEncryption with any key other than the required KMS key, and use AWS Config rules to detect and remediate existing non-compliant buckets.
Why this is correct
SCPs can deny actions organization-wide, and AWS Config rules can detect and remediate non-compliant buckets.
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 and reviewed by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
Last reviewed September 2026 · checked against the official Amazon Web Services exam blueprint
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.