Prerequisites
- AWS Associate certification (SAA or SOA recommended)
- Basic understanding of security concepts and networking
- 1–2 hours of study time per day
Study Schedule
Weeks 1–2Security Foundations & IAM
- AWS shared responsibility model, security services overview
- IAM deep dive: policies, roles, evaluation, conditions
- Cross-account access, resource policies, STS
- Hands-on: create cross-account access patterns
Weeks 3–4Organizations & Identity
- Organizations, SCPs, OUs, governance patterns
- IAM Identity Center, federation, Cognito
- Permission boundaries, Access Analyzer
- Practice: 50+ Domain 4 questions
Weeks 5–6Encryption & Key Management
- KMS in depth: key types, policies, grants, context
- Envelope encryption, rotation, custom key stores
- CloudHSM, ACM, certificate management
- Hands-on: implement KMS cross-account encryption
Weeks 7–8Data Protection & Secrets
- S3 security: encryption, Object Lock, access control
- Secrets Manager, Parameter Store, rotation
- Macie for sensitive data discovery
- Practice: 50+ Domain 5 questions
Weeks 9–10Detection & Logging
- GuardDuty, Security Hub, Inspector, Detective
- CloudTrail, CloudWatch, centralized logging
- Automated detection and alerting patterns
- Hands-on: configure multi-account GuardDuty
Weeks 11–12Infrastructure Security & IR
- Network Firewall, WAF, Shield, GWLB
- VPC security, PrivateLink, DNS Firewall
- Incident response procedures and automation
- Practice: 50+ Domains 1–3 questions
Week 13Governance & Final Review
- Config, Control Tower, Firewall Manager, Audit Manager
- Take 2–3 full mock exams
- Review all cheat sheets and flashcards
- Focus on IAM evaluation and KMS patterns
Study Tips
Security is the broadest AWS specialty — build a strong foundation before going deep
Create a lab account and implement security controls hands-on
IAM policy evaluation logic appears in ~20% of questions — master it
Practice writing and debugging IAM policies from scratch
Ready to Practice?
Put your study plan into action with SCS-C02 practice questions.