Quick Answer
The answer is AWS IAM Identity Center (formerly AWS SSO). This service is the correct choice because it provides a centralized identity source that allows you to manage IAM users across multiple AWS accounts using a single set of credentials, eliminating the need to create and maintain separate IAM users in each account. It integrates directly with AWS Organizations to automatically propagate permissions and enable single sign-on access to all member accounts and business applications. On the AWS Certified Security Specialty SCS-C02 exam, this question tests your understanding of centralized identity management versus traditional IAM users—a common trap is confusing IAM cross-account roles with Identity Center, but remember that cross-account roles still require separate credentials per account, while Identity Center provides true single sign-on. For the exam, a key memory tip is to think of Identity Center as the "one ring to rule them all" for multi-account access: one login, one set of credentials, access to many accounts.
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 wants to centrally manage IAM users and allow them to access multiple AWS accounts using a single set of credentials. Which AWS service should be used?
AWS IAM Identity Center (AWS SSO)
Provides single sign-on with temporary credentials for multiple accounts.
IAM roles with cross-account trust
Why wrong: Requires users to switch roles, not a single set of credentials.
AWS Organizations consolidated billing
Why wrong: Consolidated billing does not manage credentials.
Amazon Cognito user pools
Why wrong: Cognito is for external identity federation, not AWS accounts.
Answer choices
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
AWS IAM Identity Center (AWS SSO)
AWS IAM Identity Center (formerly AWS SSO) is the correct service because it provides a centralized identity source that allows users to sign in once with a single set of credentials and then access multiple AWS accounts and business applications. It integrates with AWS Organizations to automatically manage permissions across accounts, eliminating the need for separate IAM users in each account.
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.
AWS IAM Identity Center (AWS SSO)
Why this is correct
Provides single sign-on with temporary credentials for multiple accounts.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
IAM roles with cross-account trust
Why it's wrong here
Requires users to switch roles, not a single set of credentials.
AWS Organizations consolidated billing
Why it's wrong here
Consolidated billing does not manage credentials.
Amazon Cognito user pools
Why it's wrong here
Cognito is for external identity federation, not AWS accounts.
Common exam traps
The trap here is that candidates often confuse IAM roles with cross-account trust as a centralized solution, but they require manual role setup and do not provide a single sign-on portal or unified credential management across accounts.
Detailed technical explanation
IAM Identity Center uses the SAML 2.0 protocol to federate identities from an external identity provider (IdP) or its built-in identity store, and it automatically creates and manages IAM roles in each member account via AWS Organizations. Under the hood, it generates temporary security credentials (AWS STS) for each user session, ensuring that permissions are scoped to the assigned permission sets and accounts. A real-world scenario is a company with 50 AWS accounts where a developer logs in once to the Identity Center portal and gets role-based access to development accounts without needing 50 separate IAM users.
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
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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: AWS IAM Identity Center (AWS SSO) — AWS IAM Identity Center (formerly AWS SSO) is the correct service because it provides a centralized identity source that allows users to sign in once with a single set of credentials and then access multiple AWS accounts and business applications. It integrates with AWS Organizations to automatically manage permissions across accounts, eliminating the need for separate IAM users in each account.
Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
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Last reviewed: Jun 24, 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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