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 uses AWS Config to evaluate resource compliance. The security team notices that the AWS::IAM::Group resource type is not supported by AWS Config managed rules. What is the best way to detect IAM groups that have an inline policy allowing 'iam:CreateUser'?
Clue words in this question
Noticing these words before you look at the options changes how you read each choice.
Clue: "best"
Why it matters: Signals that multiple options may be partially correct. Choose the option that most directly solves the exact problem described, not the one that sounds most complete.
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
Create a custom AWS Config rule using a Lambda function that evaluates IAM groups
AWS Config managed rules do not support the AWS::IAM::Group resource type, so you cannot use a managed rule to evaluate inline policies on IAM groups. The best approach is to create a custom AWS Config rule backed by a Lambda function that can evaluate the IAM group's inline policies and trigger a compliance check when the group configuration changes. This allows you to detect any inline policy that contains the 'iam:CreateUser' action.
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.
✓
Create a custom AWS Config rule using a Lambda function that evaluates IAM groups
Why this is correct
Lambda-backed Config rules can evaluate unsupported resource types via API calls.
Clue confirmation
The clue word "best" in the question point toward this answer.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
✗
Use IAM Access Analyzer to identify policies that grant broad access
Why it's wrong here
Access Analyzer analyzes resource-based policies, not inline group policies.
✗
Use AWS CloudTrail Insights to detect CreateUser events
Why it's wrong here
CloudTrail logs events, does not evaluate static configurations.
✗
Enable AWS Config advanced query and run a query on IAM groups
Why it's wrong here
Advanced query only supports resources that Config records; IAM groups are not recorded.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
The trap here is that candidates assume AWS Config advanced queries can evaluate any resource type, but AWS Config only supports querying resource types that it records, and IAM groups are not recorded, making Option D ineffective.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
AWS Config records configuration items for supported resource types, and IAM groups are not among them, meaning no configuration history or compliance evaluation is available natively. A custom Lambda-backed rule can use the AWS SDK (e.g., boto3 for Python) to call 'iam.get_group_policy' or 'iam.list_group_policies' to retrieve inline policies and then parse them using a policy simulator or string matching to check for the 'iam:CreateUser' action. This approach also allows you to trigger evaluations on a schedule or via configuration changes using Amazon EventBridge.
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: Create a custom AWS Config rule using a Lambda function that evaluates IAM groups — AWS Config managed rules do not support the AWS::IAM::Group resource type, so you cannot use a managed rule to evaluate inline policies on IAM groups. The best approach is to create a custom AWS Config rule backed by a Lambda function that can evaluate the IAM group's inline policies and trigger a compliance check when the group configuration changes. This allows you to detect any inline policy that contains the 'iam:CreateUser' action.
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.
Are there clue words in this question I should notice?
Yes — watch for: "best". Signals that multiple options may be partially correct. Choose the option that most directly solves the exact problem described, not the one that sounds most complete.
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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