- A
Apply service control policies (SCPs) to deny the creation of IAM roles with overly broad permissions, such as 'Action: *' and 'Resource: *'.
SCPs enforce preventive controls at the organization level.
- B
Use AWS CloudTrail to monitor IAM role creation and alert when roles with broad permissions are created.
Why wrong: This is detective, not preventive.
- C
Enable IAM Access Analyzer to review and identify IAM roles that grant permissions to external principals or have unused permissions.
Access Analyzer helps identify overly permissive roles.
- D
Use AWS IAM Roles Anywhere to manage temporary credentials for workloads outside AWS.
Why wrong: This is for external workloads, not least privilege.
- E
Enable AWS Resource Access Manager to share resources only with trusted accounts.
Why wrong: RAM is for resource sharing, not IAM roles.
Quick Answer
The correct actions are to enable IAM Access Analyzer to review and identify IAM roles with external or unused permissions, and to apply a Service Control Policy (SCP) that denies the creation of roles with Action: * and Resource: *. IAM Access Analyzer helps enforce least privilege by continuously monitoring for roles that grant permissions to external principals or contain unused access, allowing the security team to remediate overly permissive configurations. SCPs, on the other hand, act as a guardrail at the AWS Organizations level, preventing any account in a Control Tower multi-account environment from creating roles with wildcard permissions, regardless of the account’s own IAM policies. On the SAP-C02 exam, this pairing tests your understanding of how to combine preventive controls (SCPs) with detective controls (Access Analyzer) to enforce least privilege across accounts. A common trap is choosing only one of these two actions, but the question explicitly requires both a preventive and a detective measure. Memory tip: SCPs block the “bad” from being created, Access Analyzer finds the “bad” that already exists.
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 is implementing AWS Control Tower to manage a multi-account environment. The security team needs to ensure that all accounts in the organization follow the principle of least privilege for IAM roles. Which TWO actions should the team take?
Clue words in this question
Noticing these words before you look at the options changes how you read each choice.
Clue:
"least"Why it matters: You want the option with minimum overhead, fewest steps, or lowest impact — not the most feature-rich or comprehensive answer.
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 service control policies (SCPs) to deny the creation of IAM roles with overly broad permissions, such as 'Action: *' and 'Resource: *'.
Option A is correct because Service Control Policies (SCPs) in AWS Organizations allow you to centrally control the maximum available permissions for all accounts within an organizational unit (OU). By applying an SCP that denies the creation of IAM roles with 'Action: *' and 'Resource: *', the security team enforces the principle of least privilege at the organization level, preventing any account from creating overly permissive roles regardless of the account's own IAM policies.
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.
- ✓
Apply service control policies (SCPs) to deny the creation of IAM roles with overly broad permissions, such as 'Action: *' and 'Resource: *'.
Why this is correct
SCPs enforce preventive controls at the organization level.
Clue confirmation
The clue word "least" in the question point toward this answer.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
- ✗
Use AWS CloudTrail to monitor IAM role creation and alert when roles with broad permissions are created.
Why it's wrong here
This is detective, not preventive.
- ✓
Enable IAM Access Analyzer to review and identify IAM roles that grant permissions to external principals or have unused permissions.
Why this is correct
Access Analyzer helps identify overly permissive roles.
Clue confirmation
The clue word "least" in the question point toward this answer.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
- ✗
Use AWS IAM Roles Anywhere to manage temporary credentials for workloads outside AWS.
Why it's wrong here
This is for external workloads, not least privilege.
- ✗
Enable AWS Resource Access Manager to share resources only with trusted accounts.
Why it's wrong here
RAM is for resource sharing, not IAM roles.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
The trap here is that candidates often confuse detective controls (like CloudTrail alerts) with preventive controls (like SCPs), assuming monitoring alone is sufficient to enforce least privilege, but the question explicitly asks for actions that 'ensure' compliance, which requires proactive denial, not just detection.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
SCPs are evaluated as a deny-overrides policy language; an explicit deny in an SCP cannot be overridden by any IAM policy within the account, making it a powerful guardrail. When an SCP denies 'iam:CreateRole' with conditions on 'Action: *' and 'Resource: *', it effectively blocks the creation of roles that would grant full administrative access, even if the IAM user has 'iam:PassRole' or 'sts:AssumeRole' permissions. In a multi-account Control Tower setup, SCPs are applied at the OU level and propagate to all member accounts, ensuring consistent enforcement across the entire organization.
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.
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Design Solutions for Organizational Complexity — study guide chapter
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FAQ
Questions learners often ask
What does this SAP-C02 question test?
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 service control policies (SCPs) to deny the creation of IAM roles with overly broad permissions, such as 'Action: *' and 'Resource: *'. — Option A is correct because Service Control Policies (SCPs) in AWS Organizations allow you to centrally control the maximum available permissions for all accounts within an organizational unit (OU). By applying an SCP that denies the creation of IAM roles with 'Action: *' and 'Resource: *', the security team enforces the principle of least privilege at the organization level, preventing any account from creating overly permissive roles regardless of the account's own IAM policies.
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.
Are there clue words in this question I should notice?
Yes — watch for: "least". You want the option with minimum overhead, fewest steps, or lowest impact — not the most feature-rich or comprehensive answer.
What is the key concept behind this question?
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
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Last reviewed: Jun 11, 2026
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.
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