SCS-C02 Management and Security Governance Practice Question
This SCS-C02 practice question tests your understanding of management and security governance. Match the stated requirement to the specific cloud service, access model, or configuration option — many options are valid in isolation but not for this scenario. 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 security engineer needs to grant cross-account read access to an S3 bucket in Account A to a user in Account B. What is the correct combination of actions?
Attach an IAM policy to the user in Account B allowing the action; no bucket policy needed
Why wrong: The bucket policy in Account A must explicitly grant access.
B
Apply a bucket policy in Account A granting access to the user in Account B; no user policy needed
Why wrong: The user in Account B must also have an IAM policy that allows the action.
C
Use S3 bucket ACLs to grant READ access to the Account B user
Why wrong: ACLs are legacy and not recommended for cross-account access; also requires IAM policies.
D
Apply a bucket policy in Account A granting access to the principal in Account B, and attach an IAM policy to the user in Account B allowing the action
Both policies are required for cross-account access.
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
Apply a bucket policy in Account A granting access to the principal in Account B, and attach an IAM policy to the user in Account B allowing the action
Cross-account S3 access requires both a bucket policy in the resource account (Account A) that explicitly grants the cross-account principal (the user in Account B) the s3:GetObject action, and an IAM policy attached to the user in Account B that allows the same action. This two-way authorization is necessary because the bucket policy controls access to the S3 resource, while the IAM policy controls the user's permissions to initiate the request. Without both, the request will be denied by either the resource-based policy or the identity-based policy.
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.
✗
Attach an IAM policy to the user in Account B allowing the action; no bucket policy needed
Why it's wrong here
The bucket policy in Account A must explicitly grant access.
✗
Apply a bucket policy in Account A granting access to the user in Account B; no user policy needed
Why it's wrong here
The user in Account B must also have an IAM policy that allows the action.
✗
Use S3 bucket ACLs to grant READ access to the Account B user
Why it's wrong here
ACLs are legacy and not recommended for cross-account access; also requires IAM policies.
✓
Apply a bucket policy in Account A granting access to the principal in Account B, and attach an IAM policy to the user in Account B allowing the action
Why this is correct
Both policies are required for cross-account access.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
The trap here is that candidates often assume either a bucket policy alone or an IAM policy alone is sufficient for cross-account access, failing to recognize that AWS requires both the resource-based policy to grant access to the external principal and the identity-based policy to authorize the user to make the request.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
Under the hood, S3 evaluates both identity-based policies (IAM) and resource-based policies (bucket policy) in a union model, but for cross-account requests, the bucket policy must explicitly allow the cross-account principal ARN, and the IAM policy must allow the action. A common subtlety is that the bucket policy must use the full ARN of the IAM user (e.g., arn:aws:iam::AccountB:user/username) rather than just the account ID, and the IAM policy must specify the bucket ARN as the resource. In real-world scenarios, this dual-policy requirement prevents accidental exposure of data when a bucket policy is overly permissive.
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 — 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: Apply a bucket policy in Account A granting access to the principal in Account B, and attach an IAM policy to the user in Account B allowing the action — Cross-account S3 access requires both a bucket policy in the resource account (Account A) that explicitly grants the cross-account principal (the user in Account B) the s3:GetObject action, and an IAM policy attached to the user in Account B that allows the same action. This two-way authorization is necessary because the bucket policy controls access to the S3 resource, while the IAM policy controls the user's permissions to initiate the request. Without both, the request will be denied by either the resource-based policy or the identity-based policy.
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.
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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