SCS-C02 Identity and Access Management Practice Question
An organization is using IAM roles for EC2 instances. The security team needs to ensure that each EC2 instance can only assume a specific role based on tags. Which feature should be used?
⚠ Common exam trap
Watch out — candidates often confuse IAM permissions boundaries (which limit permissions) with trust policies (which control who can assume a role), leading them to select Option C instead of the correct trust policy condition.
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
✓
Role trust policy with 'aws:ResourceTag' condition
The role trust policy can use the 'aws:ResourceTag' condition key to restrict which EC2 instances can assume the role based on the instance's tags. This ensures that only instances with specific tags (e.g., 'Environment=Production') are allowed to assume the IAM role, meeting the security team's requirement for tag-based role assumption.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Service Control Policy (SCP)
Why it's wrong here
Applies to all accounts, not to individual instances.
- ✗
IAM policy with 'aws:SourceIp' condition
Why it's wrong here
Source IP is not relevant for EC2 instances.
- ✗
IAM permissions boundary
Why it's wrong here
Sets maximum permissions for a role, not for assuming a role.
- ✓
Role trust policy with 'aws:ResourceTag' condition
Why this is correct
The trust policy can use tags to restrict which EC2 instances can assume the role.
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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.