SAP-C02 Practice Question: Design Solutions for Organizational Complexity
A startup is using a single AWS account for development, testing, and production. They want to isolate environments and improve security. What is the most aligned AWS best practice?
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 separate AWS accounts for each environment using AWS Organizations.
Creating separate AWS accounts via AWS Organizations (Option C) is the recommended best practice for isolating environments and enhancing security. This approach provides strong logical and billing separation, aligns with the AWS Well-Architected Framework's security pillar, and minimizes blast radius. Option A (separate VPCs) does not fully isolate because all resources still reside in the same account, sharing service quotas and increasing risk. Option B (IAM policies) alone cannot prevent cross-environment access at the network or resource level. Option D (resource tagging) only aids in organization, not isolation.
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 separate VPCs within the same account.
Why it's wrong here
VPCs can still be accessed if IAM permissions allow.
- ✗
Use IAM policies to restrict access per environment.
Why it's wrong here
IAM alone cannot prevent resource access within same account.
- ✓
Create separate AWS accounts for each environment using AWS Organizations.
Why this is correct
Accounts provide strong isolation boundaries.
- ✗
Use resource tagging to separate environments.
Why it's wrong here
Tags do not enforce isolation.
Quick reference
AAA Protocol Comparison
| Protocol | Port(s) | Encryption | Transport | Primary Use |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| RADIUS | 1812 / 1813 | Password only | UDP | Network access control |
| TACACS+ | 49 | Full packet | TCP | Device administration |
| Diameter | 3868 | Full session | TCP / SCTP | Carrier / mobile networks |
| 802.1X | — | EAP-based | Layer 2 | Port-based access control |
TACACS+ encrypts the entire packet; RADIUS only encrypts the password field — a key exam distinction.
Go deeper
Related to this question
About these practice questions
One of 1,660 original SAP-C02 practice questions on Courseiva, each with a full explanation and wrong-answer analysis — not exam dumps or protected exam content. Learn why practice questions differ from exam dumps →
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.