Quick Answer
The answer is AWS Organizations, AWS Config, and AWS Security Hub. These three services work together to provide centralized multi-account security management by enabling a single management account to govern security policies, aggregate configuration compliance data, and consolidate security findings across all member accounts. AWS Organizations establishes the hierarchical account structure and policy guardrails, while AWS Config aggregates resource configurations and compliance statuses from every account into a central administrator account using aggregation authorizations. AWS Security Hub then collects and normalizes security alerts from services like GuardDuty and Inspector, giving you a unified dashboard. On the SCS-C02 exam, this triad tests your understanding of the “centralized security governance” domain, and a common trap is confusing AWS CloudTrail (which logs API calls but does not centrally manage security policies) with Security Hub. Remember the mnemonic “O-C-H” for Organizations, Config, and Hub—the three pillars of multi-account security visibility.
This SCS-C02 practice question tests your understanding of management and security governance. This is a configuration task: choose the command set that satisfies every stated requirement. Small differences — like 'secret' vs 'password' or 'transport input ssh' vs 'all' — change whether the answer is correct. 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.
Which THREE AWS services can be used to centrally manage security across multiple accounts? (Select THREE.)
AWS Config
Config can aggregate rules and compliance across accounts.
AWS Shield
Why wrong: Shield is per-account for DDoS protection.
AWS CloudTrail
CloudTrail can log to a central bucket.
Amazon GuardDuty
Why wrong: GuardDuty is per-account but can be centralized via master.
AWS Organizations
Organizations centrally manage accounts and SCPs.
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 Config
AWS Config is correct because it provides a centralized view of resource configurations and compliance across multiple accounts when integrated with AWS Organizations. By enabling Config in the management account and using aggregation authorizations, you can aggregate configuration and compliance data from all member accounts into a single administrator account, enabling centralized security governance.
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 Config
Why this is correct
Config can aggregate rules and compliance across accounts.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
AWS Shield
Why it's wrong here
Shield is per-account for DDoS protection.
AWS CloudTrail
Why this is correct
CloudTrail can log to a central bucket.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
Amazon GuardDuty
Why it's wrong here
GuardDuty is per-account but can be centralized via master.
AWS Organizations
Why this is correct
Organizations centrally manage accounts and SCPs.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
Common exam traps
The trap here is that candidates confuse services that aggregate findings (like GuardDuty with Organizations) with services that centrally manage security policies and configurations, leading them to select GuardDuty instead of recognizing that only AWS Config, AWS CloudTrail (for centralized logging), and AWS Organizations (for policy-based governance) provide true centralized management.
Detailed technical explanation
AWS Config's multi-account aggregation works by using an aggregator in the management account that collects configuration items and compliance snapshots from source accounts via IAM roles and cross-account access. The aggregator queries the AWS Config API across accounts, enabling centralized dashboards and rule-based compliance checks without requiring manual per-account setup. In a real-world scenario, a security team can enforce a single AWS Config rule (e.g., 's3-bucket-public-read-prohibited') across hundreds of accounts and view non-compliant resources in one place, which is impossible with per-account services like GuardDuty or Shield.
Key takeaway
Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Real-world example
A cloud solutions architect for a retail company is evaluating services for a new workload. The correct answer here reflects best practice for the specific scenario described — not a general cloud recommendation. Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option. Cloud exam questions reward reading the constraint carefully: the same technology can be right or wrong depending on the use case.
What to study next
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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: AWS Config — AWS Config is correct because it provides a centralized view of resource configurations and compliance across multiple accounts when integrated with AWS Organizations. By enabling Config in the management account and using aggregation authorizations, you can aggregate configuration and compliance data from all member accounts into a single administrator account, enabling centralized security governance.
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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