SCS-C02 Identity and Access Management Practice Question
A security engineer notices that a developer's IAM user has full administrator access. The engineer wants to implement the principle of least privilege for the developer. What is the best way to proceed?
⚠ Common exam trap
SCS-C02 often tests the misconception that using a managed policy like PowerUserAccess is sufficient for least privilege, but it is still too broad; the correct approach is to create a custom policy based on actual usage.
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 IAM Access Advisor to review the developer's historical usage and create a custom policy that only includes the services and actions used.
The best way to implement least privilege is to use IAM Access Advisor to review the developer's historical usage and then create a custom policy that only includes the services and actions actually used. This approach is data-driven and ensures that the developer retains necessary permissions while removing unnecessary ones. It aligns with the principle of least privilege by tailoring permissions to actual needs.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Create a new IAM group with the AdministratorAccess policy and add the developer to the group.
Why it's wrong here
Attaching AdministratorAccess to a group and adding the developer preserves full administrative permissions, so least privilege is not achieved at all. It is tempting because groups are the recommended way to assign permissions to multiple users, and that is correct for managing shared access, but the requirement here is narrowing this developer's existing broad permissions.
- ✓
Use IAM Access Advisor to review the developer's historical usage and create a custom policy that only includes the services and actions used.
Why this is correct
IAM Access Advisor reports the last-accessed timestamp for each service the developer actually used. Building a custom policy from that historical usage removes unused permissions, achieving least privilege without breaking required workflows, unlike blanket administrator access.
- ✗
Replace the AdministratorAccess policy with a managed job function policy such as PowerUserAccess.
Why it's wrong here
PowerUserAccess still grants full access to every AWS service except IAM, so the developer retains far more than the job requires. It is tempting because it is a managed policy narrower than AdministratorAccess, but least privilege demands a policy scoped to the developer's actual tasks, not another broad managed policy.
- ✗
Remove the administrative access and ask the developer to request permissions as needed.
Why it's wrong here
Removing administrative access without granting any replacement permissions leaves the developer unable to perform legitimate duties, and ad-hoc requests create no defined, auditable permission boundary. It is tempting because removing excess privilege sounds like least privilege, but that principle means granting the minimum required permissions, not zero permissions with manual escalation.
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JA
Written and reviewed by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
Last reviewed September 2026 · checked against the official Amazon Web Services exam blueprint
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.