The correct answer is to create a Service Control Policy (SCP) at the root OU that denies s3:PutBucketAction unless the request includes encryption with AWS KMS. This works because SCPs act as a centralized permission guardrail across all accounts in an AWS Organization, overriding any account-level IAM policies that might allow unencrypted bucket creation. By targeting the s3:PutBucketAction action—which covers both bucket creation and encryption configuration—the SCP can enforce KMS encryption by checking for the presence of the x-amz-server-side-encryption header set to aws:kms. On the AWS Certified Security Specialty SCS-C02 exam, this scenario tests your understanding of how SCPs differ from IAM policies and resource-based policies, especially for enforcing organization-wide compliance. A common trap is confusing SCPs with bucket policies or thinking you need to deny s3:PutObject; remember, encryption is enforced at the bucket level, not the object level. Memory tip: “SCP at the root, deny the Put, require KMS to shut the door.”
SCS-C02 Management and Security Governance Practice Question
This SCS-C02 practice question tests your understanding of management and security governance. 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 using AWS Organizations with multiple accounts. The security team wants to ensure that all S3 buckets across all accounts are encrypted with AWS KMS. Which policy should be used to enforce this?
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 at the root OU that denies s3:PutBucketAction without encryption
Option B is correct because Service Control Policies (SCPs) at the root OU can deny the s3:PutBucketAction (which includes s3:PutBucketEncryption) unless the request includes encryption settings that use AWS KMS. This enforces encryption at the organizational level, overriding any account-level permissions, and ensures that all S3 buckets across all accounts are encrypted with KMS.
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 a bucket policy on each bucket denying PutObject without encryption
Why it's wrong here
Bucket policies apply to individual buckets, not all buckets.
✓
Create an SCP at the root OU that denies s3:PutBucketAction without encryption
Why this is correct
SCPs can deny actions across all accounts in the organization.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
✗
Enable AWS Config with the s3-bucket-server-side-encryption-enabled rule
Why it's wrong here
Config rules only detect non-compliant resources, they do not enforce.
✗
Attach an IAM policy to each account's admin user requiring encryption
Why it's wrong here
IAM policies are per-account and not inherited across accounts.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
The trap here is that candidates often confuse detective controls (like AWS Config) with preventive controls (like SCPs), or assume that bucket policies or IAM policies can enforce organization-wide encryption when they lack the scope or precedence to do so.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
SCPs at the root OU affect all accounts in the organization by denying actions that do not meet the condition, using the 'Deny' effect with a condition like 'aws:SecureTransport' or 's3:x-amz-server-side-encryption-aws-kms-key-id' to require KMS encryption. Under the hood, SCPs are evaluated before IAM and bucket policies, so they cannot be overridden by account administrators. A real-world scenario is when a developer creates a bucket via CloudFormation without specifying encryption—the SCP will deny the s3:PutBucketEncryption action, preventing the bucket from being created without KMS.
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.
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: Create an SCP at the root OU that denies s3:PutBucketAction without encryption — Option B is correct because Service Control Policies (SCPs) at the root OU can deny the s3:PutBucketAction (which includes s3:PutBucketEncryption) unless the request includes encryption settings that use AWS KMS. This enforces encryption at the organizational level, overriding any account-level permissions, and ensures that all S3 buckets across all accounts are encrypted with KMS.
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 →
These questions test the same concept from different angles. Work through them to make sure you can recognise it however the exam phrases it.
Variation 1. A company uses AWS Organizations with multiple accounts. The security team needs to ensure that all S3 buckets across the organization are encrypted with AWS KMS keys. What is the MOST effective way to enforce this requirement?
medium
A.Use AWS CloudTrail to log all bucket creation events and alert the security team.
B.Create an IAM role in each account that denies s3:PutBucketEncryption if encryption is not set.
C.Use AWS Config rules to detect unencrypted buckets and trigger a Lambda function to encrypt them.
✓ D.Create a service control policy (SCP) that denies any S3 bucket creation or modification without encryption enabled.
Why D: Option A is correct because SCPs can be applied to the root OU to deny any S3 bucket creation or modification that does not have encryption configured. Option B is wrong because IAM roles operate within accounts and cannot enforce across accounts in the organization. Option C is wrong because Config rules can detect noncompliant buckets but do not prevent their creation. Option D is wrong because CloudTrail is for logging and does not enforce encryption.
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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
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