PAS-C01 Operations and Maintenance Practice Question
A company uses AWS Organizations with multiple accounts. The security team wants to ensure that all newly created S3 buckets in any account are automatically tagged with a 'CostCenter' tag. Which solution requires the least operational overhead?
⚠ Common exam trap
Many candidates choose AWS Config or Lambda solutions because they are familiar with remediation workflows, but they overlook that SCPs provide preventive enforcement with zero operational overhead, which is the key requirement in the question.
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 an SCP that denies s3:CreateBucket unless the request includes the CostCenter tag.
A Service Control Policy (SCP) that denies s3:CreateBucket unless the request includes the CostCenter tag enforces tagging at the organization level, preventing any bucket creation without the required tag. This approach requires no ongoing maintenance, no additional services, and no per-account configuration, making it the least operational overhead solution.
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 SCP that denies s3:CreateBucket unless the request includes the CostCenter tag.
Why this is correct
Prevents creation of untagged buckets, enforcing compliance proactively.
- ✗
Use AWS Config rules to detect untagged buckets and trigger a Lambda function to add tags.
Why it's wrong here
Reactive approach; buckets exist untagged for a period.
- ✗
Configure each account's S3 bucket creation process to include tagging.
Why it's wrong here
Requires manual effort in each account and may be missed.
- ✗
Use AWS CloudTrail to monitor bucket creation and send alerts to the security team.
Why it's wrong here
Only alerts; does not enforce tagging.
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
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JA
Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
This PAS-C01 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 PAS-C01 exam.