The correct answer is to apply a service control policy (SCP) that denies creation of S3 buckets without encryption. This is the most efficient way to enforce S3 bucket encryption across an organization because SCPs act as a centralized guardrail at the AWS Organizations root or OU level, preventing any non-compliant bucket creation before it happens, regardless of individual account permissions or configurations. On the AWS Certified Solutions Architect Professional SAP-C02 exam, this scenario tests your understanding of preventive versus detective controls—SCPs are a preventive, organization-wide mechanism, whereas bucket policies or AWS Config rules are reactive or account-specific. A common trap is choosing a solution like enabling default encryption per account, which is less efficient and scalable. Remember the mnemonic: "SCP stops the shop"—it blocks the action at the source, making it the most efficient enforcement for multi-account environments.
SAP-C02 Practice Question: Design Solutions for Organizational Complexity
This SAP-C02 practice question tests your understanding of design solutions for organizational complexity. This is a configuration task: choose the command set that satisfies every stated requirement. Small differences — like 'secret' vs 'password' or 'transport input ssh' vs 'all' — change whether the answer is correct. 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 accounts. The security team requires that all S3 buckets across the organization have server-side encryption enabled. Which is the MOST efficient way to enforce this policy?
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 creation of S3 buckets without encryption
Option C is correct because a service control policy (SCP) can centrally deny the creation of S3 buckets that do not have server-side encryption enabled across all accounts in an AWS Organization. This approach enforces the security team's requirement at the organizational level, preventing non-compliant buckets from being created regardless of individual account configurations, which is the most efficient and scalable method.
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 CloudTrail to monitor and alert on unencrypted buckets
Why it's wrong here
Monitoring does not enforce; it only alerts.
✗
Enable S3 default encryption in each account
Why it's wrong here
Requires per-account manual setup, not efficient for many accounts.
✓
Apply a service control policy (SCP) that denies creation of S3 buckets without encryption
Why this is correct
SCP can be applied to the entire organization or OU to enforce encryption at account creation.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
✗
Use S3 bucket policies to require encryption
Why it's wrong here
Bucket policies are per-bucket, not organization-wide.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
The trap here is that candidates often confuse S3 bucket policies (which control access to objects) with SCPs (which control API actions at the account level), leading them to choose option D, which cannot enforce encryption on the bucket itself.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
Service control policies (SCPs) in AWS Organizations use a deny-by-default model where explicit denies override any allow. The SCP can use a condition like `s3:x-amz-server-side-encryption` or `s3:PutBucketEncryption` to deny bucket creation if encryption is not specified, effectively blocking the `CreateBucket` API call when the required encryption parameters are absent. This works across all accounts in the organization without needing per-account IAM changes, making it ideal for centralized compliance.
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: Apply a service control policy (SCP) that denies creation of S3 buckets without encryption — Option C is correct because a service control policy (SCP) can centrally deny the creation of S3 buckets that do not have server-side encryption enabled across all accounts in an AWS Organization. This approach enforces the security team's requirement at the organizational level, preventing non-compliant buckets from being created regardless of individual account configurations, which is the most efficient and scalable method.
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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