AWS Certified Security – Specialty (SCS-C02) — Question 21

A company's security engineer has been tasked with restricting a contractor's IAM account access to the company’s Amazon EC2 console without providing access to any other AWS services. The contractor's IAM account must not be able to gain access to any other AWS service, even if the IAM account is assigned additional permissions based on IAM group membership.
What should the security engineer do to meet these requirements?

Answer options

• A. Create an inline IAM user policy that allows for Amazon EC2 access for the contractor's IAM user.
• B. Create an IAM permissions boundary policy that allows Amazon EC2 access. Associate the contractor's IAM account with the IAM permissions boundary policy.
• C. Create an IAM group with an attached policy that allows for Amazon EC2 access. Associate the contractor's IAM account with the IAM group.
• D. Create a IAM role that allows for EC2 and explicitly denies all other services. Instruct the contractor to always assume this role.

Correct answer: B

Explanation

The correct answer is B because an IAM permissions boundary allows you to define the maximum permissions an IAM user can have, ensuring that the contractor can only access Amazon EC2. Options A and C do not prevent access to other AWS services as they could be overridden by additional permissions. Option D, while it restricts access, requires the contractor to assume a role, which may not enforce the same level of restriction as a permissions boundary.