SCS-C02 Identity and Access Management Practice Question
Which TWO actions are valid ways to grant an IAM user access to an S3 bucket owned by another AWS account? (Choose TWO.)
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
✓
Have the user assume an IAM role in the bucket-owning account with appropriate permissions.
Correct answers are A and B. Option A: Assuming a role in the bucket-owning account is a standard cross-account access method. Option B: A bucket policy granting access to the user's AWS account, combined with the user having appropriate IAM permissions (e.g., s3:GetObject), allows access. Option C is incorrect because the user's own IAM policy cannot grant access to resources in another account; the resource owner must grant access. Option D is incorrect because ACLs do not support granting access to an IAM user ARN; they only support AWS accounts or predefined groups. Option E is incorrect because S3 access points are used within the same account or with bucket policies, but cannot be used to grant access to an IAM user in another account directly.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
Have the user assume an IAM role in the bucket-owning account with appropriate permissions.
Why this is correct
Cross-account role assumption grants temporary access.
- ✓
Create a bucket policy that grants access to the user's AWS account.
Why this is correct
Bucket policies can grant access to other accounts.
- ✗
Attach an IAM policy to the user in their own account allowing access to the bucket.
Why it's wrong here
The user's own account cannot grant access to resources in another account without a resource-based policy.
- ✗
Add the user's ARN to the bucket's ACL.
Why it's wrong here
ACLs support only canonical IDs and AWS accounts, not IAM user ARNs.
- ✗
Use an S3 access point with a policy that allows the user.
Why it's wrong here
Access points are per-account and cannot be used cross-account without additional configuration.
Visual reference
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 |
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JA
Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
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.