- A
AWS CloudTrail with a metric filter
Why wrong: CloudTrail only logs, does not prevent.
- B
S3 Block Public Access settings on each account
Why wrong: Block Public Access can be changed by account administrators.
- C
A service control policy (SCP) denying s3:PutBucketPolicy
SCPs can deny actions across all accounts in an organization.
- D
IAM permissions boundary
Why wrong: Permissions boundaries are per-entity, not per-account.
Question 12 of 1,748
SCS-C02 Management and Security Governance Practice Question
This SCS-C02 practice question tests your understanding of management and security governance. The scenario asks you to isolate a root cause — eliminate options that address a different problem before choosing. 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 developer has created an S3 bucket policy that grants public read access. The security team wants to prevent any S3 bucket from becoming public. Which AWS service can enforce this restriction across all accounts?
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
✓
A service control policy (SCP) denying s3:PutBucketPolicy
A service control policy (SCP) is the correct choice because it operates at the AWS Organizations level to centrally restrict permissions across all accounts. By creating an SCP that denies the s3:PutBucketPolicy action, you prevent any account in the organization from modifying bucket policies to grant public access, regardless of individual account settings. This enforces a guardrail that cannot be overridden by account administrators.
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.
- ✗
AWS CloudTrail with a metric filter
Why it's wrong here
CloudTrail only logs, does not prevent.
- ✗
S3 Block Public Access settings on each account
Why it's wrong here
Block Public Access can be changed by account administrators.
- ✓
A service control policy (SCP) denying s3:PutBucketPolicy
Why this is correct
SCPs can deny actions across all accounts in an organization.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
- ✗
IAM permissions boundary
Why it's wrong here
Permissions boundaries are per-entity, not per-account.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
The trap here is that candidates often confuse preventive controls (like SCPs) with detective controls (like CloudTrail) or assume that S3 Block Public Access settings applied per account are sufficient for centralized enforcement, but SCPs are the only service that can enforce restrictions across all accounts in an organization from a single point.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
Service control policies (SCPs) are evaluated as part of the AWS Organizations policy evaluation logic, acting as a filter that denies actions even if an IAM policy grants them. The SCP denying s3:PutBucketPolicy uses the 'Deny' effect with a condition key like 'aws:SourceAccount' or a wildcard to block any public bucket policy statement, and it applies to all principals in the member accounts, including the root user. A real-world scenario is a multi-account organization where a developer in a dev account accidentally makes a bucket public; the SCP prevents this without requiring per-account configuration.
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.
Quick reference
AWS S3 Storage Class Comparison
| Storage Class | Min Duration | Retrieval | Use Case |
|---|---|---|---|
| S3 Standard | None | Immediate | Frequently accessed data |
| S3 Standard-IA | 30 days | Immediate | Infrequent access, rapid retrieval |
| S3 One Zone-IA | 30 days | Immediate | Non-critical infrequent data |
| S3 Intelligent-Tiering | None | Immediate–hours | Unknown or changing access patterns |
| S3 Glacier Instant | 90 days | Milliseconds | Archive with instant retrieval |
| S3 Glacier Flexible | 90 days | Minutes–hours | Archive, flexible retrieval |
| S3 Glacier Deep Archive | 180 days | Hours | Long-term compliance archive |
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.
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FAQ
Questions learners often ask
What does this SCS-C02 question test?
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: A service control policy (SCP) denying s3:PutBucketPolicy — A service control policy (SCP) is the correct choice because it operates at the AWS Organizations level to centrally restrict permissions across all accounts. By creating an SCP that denies the s3:PutBucketPolicy action, you prevent any account in the organization from modifying bucket policies to grant public access, regardless of individual account settings. This enforces a guardrail that cannot be overridden by account administrators.
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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Last reviewed: Jul 4, 2026
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