Quick Answer
The answer is that service control policies (SCPs) centrally restrict permissions across accounts in an AWS Organization. SCPs act as a guardrail, establishing a permission boundary that applies to all IAM users and roles within member accounts, effectively limiting the maximum available permissions regardless of what those accounts’ own policies allow. This is a foundational concept for the AWS Certified Security Specialty SCS-C02 exam, where you must distinguish SCPs from IAM policies and resource-based policies. A common trap is confusing SCPs with cross-account roles or billing controls—SCPs never grant access or manage costs; they only deny or allow actions at the organizational level. For the exam, remember that SCPs are like a “ceiling” on permissions: they can only restrict, never grant. A helpful mnemonic is “SCP = Security Ceiling Policy,” reinforcing that they cap what accounts can do without enabling any new access.
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 company is implementing AWS Organizations with multiple accounts. Which THREE are benefits of using service control policies (SCPs)? (Choose three.)
Grant cross-account access
Why wrong: SCPs only deny, not grant.
Prevent users from disabling CloudTrail
SCPs can deny actions that disable logging.
Enforce compliance requirements
SCPs can enforce rules like disabling services.
Manage consolidated billing
Why wrong: Billing is managed separately.
Centrally restrict permissions across accounts
SCPs can be applied to OUs to restrict actions.
Answer choices
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
Prevent users from disabling CloudTrail
Options A, B, and C are correct. D is wrong because SCPs are not used for billing. E is wrong because SCPs do not enable cross-account access.
Key principle: Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Answer analysis
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
Grant cross-account access
Why it's wrong here
SCPs only deny, not grant.
Prevent users from disabling CloudTrail
Why this is correct
SCPs can deny actions that disable logging.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
Enforce compliance requirements
Why this is correct
SCPs can enforce rules like disabling services.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
Manage consolidated billing
Why it's wrong here
Billing is managed separately.
Centrally restrict permissions across accounts
Why this is correct
SCPs can be applied to OUs to restrict actions.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
Common exam traps
Many certification questions include familiar terms but test a specific constraint. Read the exact wording before choosing an answer that is generally true but wrong for this case.
Detailed technical explanation
This question should be treated as a scenario, not a definition check. Identify the problem, the constraint and the best action. Then compare each option against those facts.
Key takeaway
Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Real-world example
A startup's cloud architect reviews their monthly bill and notices costs are higher than expected for a long-running batch job. Switching from on-demand instances to Reserved Instances — or using Spot/Preemptible VMs — can reduce compute costs by up to 72 %. Questions like this test whether you understand the tradeoffs between commitment, flexibility, and cost across cloud pricing models.
What to study next
Identify which SCS-C02 exam domain this question belongs to, then review the specific concept being tested. Practise related questions in that domain and focus on understanding why each wrong answer is tempting — not just why the correct answer is right.
Management and Security Governance — study guide chapter
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FAQ
Management and Security Governance — This question tests Management and Security Governance — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
The correct answer is: Prevent users from disabling CloudTrail — Options A, B, and C are correct. D is wrong because SCPs are not used for billing. E is wrong because SCPs do not enable cross-account access.
Identify which SCS-C02 exam domain this question belongs to, then review the specific concept being tested. Practise related questions in that domain and focus on understanding why each wrong answer is tempting — not just why the correct answer is right.
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
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Last reviewed: Jun 20, 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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