This SCS-C02 practice question tests your understanding of data protection. 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 KMS to encrypt EBS volumes. They want to ensure that the key used for EBS encryption is not shared across different AWS accounts. Which feature should they use?
Use a CloudHSM custom key store.
Why wrong: Custom key store does not prevent cross-account sharing if key policy allows.
Use the key's alias to restrict access.
Why wrong: Aliases are not used for access control.
Enable automatic key rotation.
Why wrong: Rotation does not affect access control.
Configure the key policy to deny access to any principal from another AWS account.
Key policy can explicitly deny cross-account access.
Answer choices
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
Configure the key policy to deny access to any principal from another AWS account.
Option D is correct because AWS KMS key policies can explicitly deny access to principals from other AWS accounts by using the `aws:SourceAccount` or `aws:SourceArn` condition keys, or by specifying a `Deny` statement with a condition that checks the account ID. This ensures that the KMS key used for EBS encryption cannot be used by any IAM principal or role from a different AWS account, preventing cross-account key sharing.
Key principle: Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Answer analysis
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
Use a CloudHSM custom key store.
Why it's wrong here
Custom key store does not prevent cross-account sharing if key policy allows.
Use the key's alias to restrict access.
Why it's wrong here
Aliases are not used for access control.
Enable automatic key rotation.
Why it's wrong here
Rotation does not affect access control.
Configure the key policy to deny access to any principal from another AWS account.
Why this is correct
Key policy can explicitly deny cross-account access.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
Common exam traps
The trap here is that candidates often confuse key rotation (Option C) or aliases (Option B) with access control, or assume that CloudHSM (Option A) inherently isolates keys across accounts, when in fact only the key policy can enforce account-level restrictions.
Detailed technical explanation
Under the hood, AWS KMS key policies are resource-based policies that define who can use the key and under what conditions. To block cross-account access, you can use a `Deny` statement with the `aws:SourceAccount` condition key set to the current account ID, or use `aws:SourceArn` to restrict usage to specific resources. This is critical in multi-account environments where a compromised role in another account could otherwise use the key if the key policy grants broad access.
Key takeaway
Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Real-world example
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
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FAQ
Data Protection — This question tests Data Protection — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
The correct answer is: Configure the key policy to deny access to any principal from another AWS account. — Option D is correct because AWS KMS key policies can explicitly deny access to principals from other AWS accounts by using the `aws:SourceAccount` or `aws:SourceArn` condition keys, or by specifying a `Deny` statement with a condition that checks the account ID. This ensures that the KMS key used for EBS encryption cannot be used by any IAM principal or role from a different AWS account, preventing cross-account key sharing.
Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
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Last reviewed: Jun 24, 2026
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.
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