- A
An SCP that denies s3:DeleteObject for all member accounts.
Why wrong: SCPs affect permissions of IAM principals, not bucket policies.
- B
An SCP that denies s3:DeleteObject for all accounts except the management account.
Why wrong: SCPs cannot be applied to resources like S3 buckets.
- C
A bucket policy that allows s3:DeleteObject only for the organizational unit containing the management account.
Why wrong: Bucket policies cannot reference organizational units directly.
- D
A bucket policy that denies s3:DeleteObject unless the request is from the management account's root user.
This policy denies s3:DeleteObject unless the request comes from the management account's root user, which is stricter than just allowing the management account. It ensures that even IAM users or roles in the management account cannot delete objects unless they are the root user.
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 has an AWS Organization with a management account and several member accounts. The management account hosts a central S3 bucket that stores CloudTrail logs from all accounts. The company wants to ensure that only the management account can delete objects from this bucket. Which policy should be applied to the bucket?
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
A bucket policy that denies s3:DeleteObject unless the request is from the management account's root user.
Option D is correct because a bucket policy with a Deny effect for s3:DeleteObject that includes a condition key (such as aws:PrincipalArn or aws:username) to allow the action only when the request originates from the management account's root user ensures that only the root user, not any IAM user or role in the management account, can delete objects. This directly enforces the requirement that only the management account's root user can delete objects, as the bucket policy is evaluated for every request to the bucket.
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.
- ✗
An SCP that denies s3:DeleteObject for all member accounts.
Why it's wrong here
SCPs affect permissions of IAM principals, not bucket policies.
- ✗
An SCP that denies s3:DeleteObject for all accounts except the management account.
Why it's wrong here
SCPs cannot be applied to resources like S3 buckets.
- ✗
A bucket policy that allows s3:DeleteObject only for the organizational unit containing the management account.
Why it's wrong here
Bucket policies cannot reference organizational units directly.
- ✓
A bucket policy that denies s3:DeleteObject unless the request is from the management account's root user.
Why this is correct
This policy denies s3:DeleteObject unless the request comes from the management account's root user, which is stricter than just allowing the management account. It ensures that even IAM users or roles in the management account cannot delete objects unless they are the root user.
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 confuse SCPs with bucket policies and incorrectly assume that an SCP can selectively allow or deny actions for specific accounts, when in fact SCPs are organization-wide guardrails that cannot grant permissions and require careful use of condition keys to achieve account-specific effects.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
Bucket policies are resource-based policies that are evaluated in addition to identity-based policies (IAM) and SCPs. The condition key aws:PrincipalArn can be used to match the exact ARN of the management account's root user (e.g., arn:aws:iam::<management-account-id>:root). This ensures that even if a member account assumes a role in the management account, the role's ARN would not match the root user condition, thus preventing deletion. In a real-world scenario, this is critical for audit log integrity, as it prevents accidental or malicious deletion of CloudTrail logs by compromised credentials in member accounts.
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.
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 |
What to study next
Got this wrong? Here's your next step.
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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: A bucket policy that denies s3:DeleteObject unless the request is from the management account's root user. — Option D is correct because a bucket policy with a Deny effect for s3:DeleteObject that includes a condition key (such as aws:PrincipalArn or aws:username) to allow the action only when the request originates from the management account's root user ensures that only the root user, not any IAM user or role in the management account, can delete objects. This directly enforces the requirement that only the management account's root user can delete objects, as the bucket policy is evaluated for every request to the bucket.
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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Last reviewed: Jul 4, 2026
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