This SCS-C02 practice question tests your understanding of identity and access management. 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.
Which IAM entity can be used to grant temporary access to AWS resources for users from a different AWS account?
IAM group
Why wrong: Groups are containers for users, not assumable.
IAM role
Roles provide temporary credentials via sts:AssumeRole.
IAM policy
Why wrong: Policies define permissions but are not entities that can be assumed.
IAM user
Why wrong: IAM users have long-term credentials, not temporary.
Answer choices
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
IAM role
An IAM role is the correct entity because it is specifically designed to grant temporary, cross-account access to AWS resources. When a user from a different AWS account assumes a role, AWS STS (Security Token Service) issues temporary security credentials (access key, secret key, and session token) that are valid for a configurable duration (default 1 hour, max 12 hours). This avoids the need to create permanent IAM users or share long-term credentials across accounts.
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.
IAM group
Why it's wrong here
Groups are containers for users, not assumable.
IAM role
Why this is correct
Roles provide temporary credentials via sts:AssumeRole.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
IAM policy
Why it's wrong here
Policies define permissions but are not entities that can be assumed.
IAM user
Why it's wrong here
IAM users have long-term credentials, not temporary.
Common exam traps
The trap here is that candidates often confuse an IAM policy with an IAM role, thinking that attaching a policy directly to an external user grants access, but policies alone cannot be assumed and do not generate temporary credentials.
Detailed technical explanation
Under the hood, cross-account role access relies on the AWS Security Token Service (STS) API action AssumeRole, which returns temporary credentials with a session token. The trust policy on the role explicitly defines which external AWS account (or specific IAM users/roles within that account) is allowed to assume the role, and the permissions policy attached to the role controls what actions can be performed. A real-world scenario is an organization using AWS Organizations to centralize logging: a member account assumes a role in the central logging account to write logs to a shared S3 bucket, ensuring no permanent keys are exchanged.
Key takeaway
Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Real-world example
A company's IT admin needs to give a contractor read-only access to production logs without sharing account credentials. Using role-based access control (RBAC) and temporary scoped permissions — not a permanent shared password — is the correct pattern. Questions like this test whether you can apply least-privilege access across cloud identity services.
What to study next
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FAQ
Identity and Access Management — This question tests Identity and Access Management — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
The correct answer is: IAM role — An IAM role is the correct entity because it is specifically designed to grant temporary, cross-account access to AWS resources. When a user from a different AWS account assumes a role, AWS STS (Security Token Service) issues temporary security credentials (access key, secret key, and session token) that are valid for a configurable duration (default 1 hour, max 12 hours). This avoids the need to create permanent IAM users or share long-term credentials across accounts.
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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