- A
Use Amazon Macie to discover public buckets and alert the security team.
Why wrong: Macie is for sensitive data discovery, not preventive control.
- B
Create an SCP that denies s3:PutBucketPolicy only for policies that specify 'Principal': '*' or 'Principal': {'AWS': '*'}
Why wrong: This does not cover ACL-based public access.
- C
Create an SCP that denies s3:PutBucketPolicy and s3:PutBucketAcl when the condition includes making the bucket public, and use CloudTrail and CloudWatch Events to send notifications on denied API calls.
SCPs are preventive and centrally managed; CloudTrail logs denied events, and CloudWatch Events can trigger SNS for notifications.
- D
Deploy an AWS Config rule in each account that triggers a Lambda function to make non-compliant buckets private.
Why wrong: This is reactive, not preventive, and requires per-account setup.
SCS-C02 Management and Security Governance Practice Question
This SCS-C02 practice question tests your understanding of management and security governance. This is a configuration task: choose the command set that satisfies every stated requirement. Small differences — like 'secret' vs 'password' or 'transport input ssh' vs 'all' — change whether the answer is correct. 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 global e-commerce company operates in three AWS Regions: us-east-1, eu-west-1, and ap-southeast-1. The company uses AWS Organizations with 50 member accounts grouped by business unit. The security team recently discovered that several S3 buckets containing customer data were accidentally made public due to misconfigured bucket policies. The team wants to implement a preventive control that blocks any S3 bucket from becoming public across all accounts, while still allowing authorized cross-account access. The solution must be centrally managed and not require changes to existing IAM policies. Additionally, the team needs to be notified immediately when a public bucket is attempted. Which solution meets all requirements?
Clue words in this question
Noticing these words before you look at the options changes how you read each choice.
Clue:
"immediately / without restart"Why it matters: Time or reboot constraint — the correct answer must take effect right away without requiring a reboot or reload.
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
Create an SCP that denies s3:PutBucketPolicy and s3:PutBucketAcl when the condition includes making the bucket public, and use CloudTrail and CloudWatch Events to send notifications on denied API calls.
Option C is correct because it uses an SCP to centrally deny the s3:PutBucketPolicy and s3:PutBucketAcl actions when the request would make a bucket public, which is a preventive control that blocks the operation before it happens. The requirement for immediate notification is met by using CloudTrail to log the denied API calls and CloudWatch Events to trigger alerts, all without modifying existing IAM policies or requiring per-account changes.
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.
- ✗
Use Amazon Macie to discover public buckets and alert the security team.
Why it's wrong here
Macie is for sensitive data discovery, not preventive control.
- ✗
Create an SCP that denies s3:PutBucketPolicy only for policies that specify 'Principal': '*' or 'Principal': {'AWS': '*'}
Why it's wrong here
This does not cover ACL-based public access.
- ✓
Create an SCP that denies s3:PutBucketPolicy and s3:PutBucketAcl when the condition includes making the bucket public, and use CloudTrail and CloudWatch Events to send notifications on denied API calls.
Why this is correct
SCPs are preventive and centrally managed; CloudTrail logs denied events, and CloudWatch Events can trigger SNS for notifications.
Clue confirmation
The clue word "immediately / without restart" in the question point toward this answer.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
- ✗
Deploy an AWS Config rule in each account that triggers a Lambda function to make non-compliant buckets private.
Why it's wrong here
This is reactive, not preventive, and requires per-account setup.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
The trap here is that candidates often confuse detective controls (like Macie or Config rules that remediate) with preventive controls (like SCPs that block the action), and they may overlook that SCPs can deny specific API actions with conditions to precisely target public bucket creation without affecting authorized cross-account access.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
The SCP in option C uses the s3:PutBucketPublicAccessBlock condition key or a combination of conditions (like s3:x-amz-acl for ACLs) to deny requests that would make a bucket public, effectively blocking the API call at the AWS Organizations level before it reaches the bucket. CloudTrail logs the denied API calls as 'AccessDenied' events, which can be matched by CloudWatch Events using a pattern like { "errorCode": "AccessDenied", "eventSource": "s3.amazonaws.com" } to trigger an SNS notification or Lambda function for immediate alerting.
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 — study guide chapter
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FAQ
Questions learners often ask
What does this SCS-C02 question test?
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 that denies s3:PutBucketPolicy and s3:PutBucketAcl when the condition includes making the bucket public, and use CloudTrail and CloudWatch Events to send notifications on denied API calls. — Option C is correct because it uses an SCP to centrally deny the s3:PutBucketPolicy and s3:PutBucketAcl actions when the request would make a bucket public, which is a preventive control that blocks the operation before it happens. The requirement for immediate notification is met by using CloudTrail to log the denied API calls and CloudWatch Events to trigger alerts, all without modifying existing IAM policies or requiring per-account changes.
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: "immediately / without restart". Time or reboot constraint — the correct answer must take effect right away without requiring a reboot or reload.
What is the key concept behind this question?
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
About these practice questions
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Last reviewed: Jun 11, 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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