The answer is to use a service control policy (SCP) that denies ec2:RunInstances unless the AMI ID is in an approved list. This is correct because an SCP acts as an account permission boundary at the AWS Organizations level, preventing any principal—even an admin—from launching an EC2 instance with an unapproved AMI, making it a preventive control that blocks non-compliant actions before they occur. On the AWS Certified Security Specialty SCS-C02 exam, this scenario tests your understanding of governance controls that operate across multiple accounts, with a common trap being to confuse SCPs with IAM policies or resource-based policies; remember that SCPs cannot be overridden by IAM within the account. A key memory tip is “SCP sets the ceiling, IAM sets the room”—the SCP defines the absolute maximum allowed actions, so if the AMI isn’t approved, the launch is denied regardless of local permissions.
SCS-C02 Management and Security Governance Practice Question
This SCS-C02 practice question tests your understanding of management and security governance. The scenario asks you to isolate a root cause — eliminate options that address a different problem before choosing. 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 multiple AWS accounts managed through AWS Organizations. The security team needs to ensure that no EC2 instances are launched without an approved Amazon Machine Image (AMI). Which governance control should be implemented?
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
Use a service control policy (SCP) that denies ec2:RunInstances unless the AMI ID is in an approved list.
A service control policy (SCP) is the correct governance control because it operates at the AWS Organizations level, allowing the security team to enforce a deny on ec2:RunInstances across all member accounts unless the AMI ID matches an approved list. SCPs are account permission boundaries that cannot be overridden by IAM policies within the account, ensuring that no user or role can launch an EC2 instance with an unapproved AMI, even if they have full administrative privileges. This provides a preventive control that blocks non-compliant actions before they occur, which is more robust than detective or reactive measures.
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 a service control policy (SCP) that denies ec2:RunInstances unless the AMI ID is in an approved list.
Why this is correct
SCPs can enforce restrictions across all accounts in the organization.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
✗
Deploy an AWS Config rule that triggers a Lambda function to terminate non-compliant instances.
Why it's wrong here
This is reactive, not preventive.
✗
Use AWS CloudTrail to monitor instance launches and alert the security team.
Why it's wrong here
Monitoring is not a preventive control.
✗
Use an IAM policy that restricts ec2:RunInstances to approved AMIs.
Why it's wrong here
IAM policies apply per account and may not cover all users.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
The trap here is that candidates often confuse IAM policies with SCPs, assuming that an IAM policy can enforce organization-wide controls, but SCPs are the only mechanism that applies as a permission boundary across all accounts in an AWS Organization and cannot be overridden by account administrators.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
SCPs use the AWS Organizations policy language with conditions like "ec2:Owner" or "ec2:ImageId" to filter AMI IDs, but note that the condition key "ec2:ImageId" only supports string matching, not wildcards, so you must explicitly list each approved AMI ID. Under the hood, SCPs are evaluated before IAM policies, and if an SCP denies an action, the request is immediately rejected with an AccessDenied error, regardless of any Allow in IAM. In a real-world scenario, if a developer tries to launch an instance with an AMI from the AWS Marketplace that is not in the approved list, the SCP will block the call at the organization level, preventing the instance from being created entirely.
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.
Management and Security Governance — This question tests Management and Security Governance — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
What is the correct answer to this question?
The correct answer is: Use a service control policy (SCP) that denies ec2:RunInstances unless the AMI ID is in an approved list. — A service control policy (SCP) is the correct governance control because it operates at the AWS Organizations level, allowing the security team to enforce a deny on ec2:RunInstances across all member accounts unless the AMI ID matches an approved list. SCPs are account permission boundaries that cannot be overridden by IAM policies within the account, ensuring that no user or role can launch an EC2 instance with an unapproved AMI, even if they have full administrative privileges. This provides a preventive control that blocks non-compliant actions before they occur, which is more robust than detective or reactive measures.
What should I do if I get this SCS-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.
About these practice questions
Courseiva creates original exam-style practice questions with explanations and wrong-answer analysis. It does not publish real exam questions, exam dumps, or protected exam content. Learn why practice questions differ from exam dumps →
Share a tip, memory trick, or ask about the reasoning behind this question. Do not post real exam questions, leaked content, braindumps, or copyrighted exam material. Comments are moderated and may be removed without notice.
This SCS-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 SCS-C02 exam.
Question Discussion
Share a tip, memory trick, or ask about the reasoning behind this question. Do not post real exam questions, leaked content, braindumps, or copyrighted exam material. Comments are moderated and may be removed without notice.
Sign in to join the discussion.