- A
Create a Service Control Policy (SCP) in AWS Organizations that denies permissions to modify S3 bucket public access settings.
SCPs are applied at the organization or OU level and cannot be overridden by account administrators. They can explicitly deny actions that would make buckets public, providing a preventive control across all accounts.
- B
Enable AWS Config rules in each account to detect public S3 buckets and automatically remediate them using AWS Lambda.
Why wrong: AWS Config rules are detective and reactive, not preventive. They can remediate after creation but do not prevent an account admin from making a bucket public in the first place.
- C
Use an IAM policy attached to all IAM users in each account that denies s3:PutBucketPolicy.
Why wrong: IAM policies only affect users and roles, not the root user or resources created by AWS services. An account administrator with full administrative privileges could override this policy.
- D
Apply Amazon S3 Block Public Access at the account level in each individual AWS account.
Why wrong: S3 Block Public Access at the account level is a strong setting, but it can be disabled by an account root user or admin with appropriate permissions. It is not a fully preventive control across an organization as it can be bypassed by account administrators.
SOA-C02 Security and Compliance Practice Question
This SOA-C02 practice question tests your understanding of security and compliance. 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.
An organization wants to ensure that no Amazon S3 bucket in the entire AWS Organization can be made public. The security team requires a preventive control that cannot be overridden by individual account administrators. Which AWS service or feature should be used?
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
Create a Service Control Policy (SCP) in AWS Organizations that denies permissions to modify S3 bucket public access settings.
A Service Control Policy (SCP) in AWS Organizations is a preventive guard that applies to all accounts within the organization. It can explicitly deny actions like s3:PutBucketPublicAccessBlock, s3:PutBucketPolicy, and s3:PutObjectAcl, preventing any principal (including root users) from making S3 buckets public. Unlike detective or account-level controls, SCPs cannot be overridden by individual account administrators, meeting the requirement for a non-overridable preventive control.
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.
- ✓
Create a Service Control Policy (SCP) in AWS Organizations that denies permissions to modify S3 bucket public access settings.
Why this is correct
SCPs are applied at the organization or OU level and cannot be overridden by account administrators. They can explicitly deny actions that would make buckets public, providing a preventive control across all accounts.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
- ✗
Enable AWS Config rules in each account to detect public S3 buckets and automatically remediate them using AWS Lambda.
Why it's wrong here
AWS Config rules are detective and reactive, not preventive. They can remediate after creation but do not prevent an account admin from making a bucket public in the first place.
- ✗
Use an IAM policy attached to all IAM users in each account that denies s3:PutBucketPolicy.
Why it's wrong here
IAM policies only affect users and roles, not the root user or resources created by AWS services. An account administrator with full administrative privileges could override this policy.
- ✗
Apply Amazon S3 Block Public Access at the account level in each individual AWS account.
Why it's wrong here
S3 Block Public Access at the account level is a strong setting, but it can be disabled by an account root user or admin with appropriate permissions. It is not a fully preventive control across an organization as it can be bypassed by account administrators.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
The trap here is that candidates often choose account-level S3 Block Public Access (Option D) because it seems like a direct preventive control, but they overlook that it can be overridden by account administrators, whereas an SCP is a centralized, non-overridable guardrail that applies across the entire AWS Organization.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
SCPs work by setting a maximum permission boundary for all IAM principals in member accounts; they use an allow list or deny list syntax and are evaluated before IAM policies. For S3 public access, an SCP can deny the s3:PutBucketPublicAccessBlock action, which prevents any account from disabling the S3 Block Public Access settings at the bucket or account level. In a real-world scenario, a centralized security team can attach an SCP to the root organizational unit (OU) to enforce that no account can ever make a bucket public, even if the account root user tries to bypass IAM policies.
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.
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 SOA-C02 question test?
Security and Compliance — This question tests Security and Compliance — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
What is the correct answer to this question?
The correct answer is: Create a Service Control Policy (SCP) in AWS Organizations that denies permissions to modify S3 bucket public access settings. — A Service Control Policy (SCP) in AWS Organizations is a preventive guard that applies to all accounts within the organization. It can explicitly deny actions like s3:PutBucketPublicAccessBlock, s3:PutBucketPolicy, and s3:PutObjectAcl, preventing any principal (including root users) from making S3 buckets public. Unlike detective or account-level controls, SCPs cannot be overridden by individual account administrators, meeting the requirement for a non-overridable preventive control.
What should I do if I get this SOA-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.
About these practice questions
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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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