This SOA-C02 practice question tests your understanding of security and compliance. 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's security policy requires that all IAM users must authenticate using multi-factor authentication (MFA) before accessing the Amazon S3 bucket containing confidential finance data. The SysOps administrator needs to create an IAM policy that denies access to the S3 bucket if the user has not authenticated using MFA. Which IAM condition key should the administrator include in the policy?
aws:MultiFactorAuthPresent
This Boolean condition key checks if MFA was used during authentication. Denying access when it evaluates to false enforces MFA.
aws:UserAgent
Why wrong: This key checks the user agent string of the request, not MFA status.
aws:SourceIp
Why wrong: This key checks the source IP address of the request, not MFA status.
aws:RequestedRegion
Why wrong: This key checks the AWS Region in the request, not MFA status.
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:MultiFactorAuthPresent
The `aws:MultiFactorAuthPresent` condition key evaluates to `true` when the requesting IAM user has authenticated using a valid MFA device. By including this key in a `Deny` statement with a condition that it is `false`, the policy effectively blocks any S3 access unless MFA was used. This directly enforces the security policy requirement.
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:MultiFactorAuthPresent
Why this is correct
This Boolean condition key checks if MFA was used during authentication. Denying access when it evaluates to false enforces MFA.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
aws:UserAgent
Why it's wrong here
This key checks the user agent string of the request, not MFA status.
aws:SourceIp
Why it's wrong here
This key checks the source IP address of the request, not MFA status.
aws:RequestedRegion
Why it's wrong here
This key checks the AWS Region in the request, not MFA status.
Common exam traps
The trap here is that candidates may confuse `aws:MultiFactorAuthPresent` with `aws:MultiFactorAuthAge` or assume that simply having MFA enabled on the user account automatically sets the key, when in fact the key is only present if MFA was used during the current session authentication.
Detailed technical explanation
The `aws:MultiFactorAuthPresent` key is a boolean that is `true` only if the session was obtained via an MFA-authenticated STS token (e.g., using `GetSessionToken` with MFA). A common subtlety is that long-term credentials (access keys) do not set this key, so the policy must explicitly deny when the key is `false` or does not exist. In real-world scenarios, this condition is often combined with `aws:MultiFactorAuthAge` to enforce MFA re-authentication for sensitive operations.
Key takeaway
Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Real-world example
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.
What to study next
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FAQ
Security and Compliance — This question tests Security and Compliance — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
The correct answer is: aws:MultiFactorAuthPresent — The `aws:MultiFactorAuthPresent` condition key evaluates to `true` when the requesting IAM user has authenticated using a valid MFA device. By including this key in a `Deny` statement with a condition that it is `false`, the policy effectively blocks any S3 access unless MFA was used. This directly enforces the security policy requirement.
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 11, 2026
This SOA-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 SOA-C02 exam.
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