SCS-C02 Identity and Access Management Practice Question
A company uses AWS Organizations with multiple accounts. The security team wants to enforce that all IAM users in member accounts must have a password policy that requires a minimum length of 14 characters. How can this be achieved centrally?
Answer choices
Why each option matters
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
Use an SCP that denies the UpdateAccountPasswordPolicy action unless the policy has MinimumPasswordLength >= 14.
A service control policy (SCP) can deny the UpdateAccountPasswordPolicy action if the password policy does not have MinimumPasswordLength >= 14. Option A is incorrect because SCPs cannot set password policies; they only allow or deny actions. Option B is incorrect because IAM permission boundaries do not apply to password policy changes, and IAM is a global service. Option C is incorrect because AWS Config rules can detect non-compliance but cannot enforce the policy; remediation requires additional steps and is not a centralized enforcement method.
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) to enforce the password policy across all accounts.
Why it's wrong here
SCPs cannot set password policies; they can only deny actions that would create non-compliant policies.
- ✗
Use IAM permission boundaries to restrict password policy changes to specific Regions.
Why it's wrong here
Permission boundaries apply to users/roles, not to account-level password policies.
- ✗
Use AWS Config rules to automatically remediate non-compliant password policies.
Why it's wrong here
AWS Config can detect but cannot enforce; remediation may not be automatic.
- ✓
Use an SCP that denies the UpdateAccountPasswordPolicy action unless the policy has MinimumPasswordLength >= 14.
Why this is correct
SCPs can deny API calls that don't meet conditions.
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JA
Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
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.