The answer is that the S3 bucket policy does not grant write access to the CloudTrail service for the affected member accounts. When you configure an organization trail in the management account, CloudTrail automatically applies logging to all member accounts, but each member account’s CloudTrail service must still be explicitly allowed by the central S3 bucket policy to deliver logs. If the bucket policy only includes the management account’s account ID or lacks a condition that grants access to the entire organization’s AWS accounts, logs from specific member accounts will silently fail to deliver while others succeed. On the AWS Certified Security Specialty SCS-C02 exam, this scenario tests your understanding of how organization trails interact with resource-based policies—a common trap is assuming the management account’s permissions cascade to member accounts. Remember the mnemonic: “Org trail, bucket fail—check the policy for every account’s mail.”
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 Organizations to manage 50 accounts. The security team has enabled AWS CloudTrail in the management account with an organization trail that delivers logs to a central S3 bucket. The bucket policy grants necessary permissions to CloudTrail. Recently, the security team noticed that logs from two member accounts stopped appearing in the bucket. Other accounts continue to deliver logs correctly. The CloudTrail status in the management account shows that the trail is logging and deliveries are succeeding. The security team checked the CloudTrail configuration in the affected member accounts and found that they do not have any trails configured. The IAM roles used for CloudTrail in the management account have sufficient permissions. What is the most likely cause of the missing logs?
Clue words in this question
Noticing these words before you look at the options changes how you read each choice.
Clue: "most likely"
Why it matters: Probability qualifier — the question wants the most probable cause or outcome, not a guaranteed one. Eliminate low-probability options.
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
The S3 bucket policy does not grant write access to the CloudTrail service for the affected member accounts.
Option A is correct. An organization trail automatically logs all accounts in the organization, but if a member account is not configured to allow CloudTrail to deliver logs to the central bucket, it may fail. However, the most common issue is that the bucket policy does not grant the necessary permissions for the member accounts' CloudTrail service to write logs. The bucket policy must have a statement that allows the CloudTrail service from all accounts in the organization to write. If the policy only allows the management account, member accounts will fail. Option B is wrong because CloudTrail is not a service that can be disabled per account by SCPs unless explicitly denied. Option C is wrong because KMS key policy is not relevant if SSE-S3 is used. Option D is wrong because CloudTrail does not use a service-linked role for organization trails; it uses the CloudTrail service-linked role for the management account.
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.
✗
The KMS key used for encryption does not include permissions for the member accounts.
Why it's wrong here
Incorrect: If encryption is used, but the question doesn't mention KMS.
✓
The S3 bucket policy does not grant write access to the CloudTrail service for the affected member accounts.
Why this is correct
Correct: Bucket policy must allow CloudTrail from all accounts.
Clue confirmation
The clue word "most likely" in the question point toward this answer.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
✗
The CloudTrail service-linked role in the member accounts is missing.
Why it's wrong here
Incorrect: Organization trails do not require service-linked roles in member accounts.
✗
An SCP attached to the affected member accounts denies cloudtrail:PutLogEvents.
Why it's wrong here
Incorrect: CloudTrail uses the management account's permissions; SCPs on member accounts don't affect the trail.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
Many certification questions include familiar terms but test a specific constraint. Read the exact wording before choosing an answer that is generally true but wrong for this case.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
This question should be treated as a scenario, not a definition check. Identify the problem, the constraint and the best action. Then compare each option against those facts.
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.
Use explanations to understand the rule behind the answer.
TExam Day Tips
→Underline the problem statement mentally.
→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 SCS-C02 exam domain this question belongs to, then review the specific concept being tested. Practise related questions in that domain and focus on understanding why each wrong answer is tempting — not just why the correct answer is right.
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: The S3 bucket policy does not grant write access to the CloudTrail service for the affected member accounts. — Option A is correct. An organization trail automatically logs all accounts in the organization, but if a member account is not configured to allow CloudTrail to deliver logs to the central bucket, it may fail. However, the most common issue is that the bucket policy does not grant the necessary permissions for the member accounts' CloudTrail service to write logs. The bucket policy must have a statement that allows the CloudTrail service from all accounts in the organization to write. If the policy only allows the management account, member accounts will fail. Option B is wrong because CloudTrail is not a service that can be disabled per account by SCPs unless explicitly denied. Option C is wrong because KMS key policy is not relevant if SSE-S3 is used. Option D is wrong because CloudTrail does not use a service-linked role for organization trails; it uses the CloudTrail service-linked role for the management account.
What should I do if I get this SCS-C02 question wrong?
Identify which SCS-C02 exam domain this question belongs to, then review the specific concept being tested. Practise related questions in that domain and focus on understanding why each wrong answer is tempting — not just why the correct answer is right.
Are there clue words in this question I should notice?
Yes — watch for: "most likely". Probability qualifier — the question wants the most probable cause or outcome, not a guaranteed one. Eliminate low-probability options.
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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