AWS Certified Security - Specialty (SCS-C03)

AWS Security Specialty Practice Exam: SCS-C03 Questions from Your Own Notes

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The AWS Certified Security Specialty exam (current version SCS-C03) is a specialty-level exam with 65 questions in 170 minutes, a passing score of 750 on a 100 to 1,000 scale, a US$300 fee, and 3-year validity. It tests securing AWS workloads across six domains: identity and access management, infrastructure security, data protection, detection, incident response, and security foundations and governance. SCS-C02 retired on December 1, 2025, so study the SCS-C03 outline. There is no required prerequisite, though many candidates hold a Solutions Architect certification first.

Last updated July 2026

Study SCS-C03, not SCS-C02

AWS moved the exam from SCS-C02 to SCS-C03, with SCS-C02 in use until December 1, 2025 and SCS-C03 the only version you can sit from December 2, 2025 onward. A lot of course material, question banks, and blog guides still describe SCS-C02, so check the version before you trust any resource. The quick staleness test: if the domains are listed as security logging and monitoring plus threat detection and incident response, that is the old C02 structure.

SCS-C03 restructured the domains and refreshed the content. Identity and access management rose to 20 percent, detection and incident response became two separate domains, and governance was renamed. New topics include the Open Cybersecurity Schema Framework, protections for generative AI drawing on the OWASP Top 10 for large language model applications, data masking in CloudWatch Logs and SNS, and multi-Region key and certificate management. The exam also added ordering and matching question types alongside multiple choice and multiple response. Confirm the current outline on the AWS certification page before you build your study plan.

The six SCS-C03 exam domains and weights

The current exam splits into six domains with published weights. Identity and access management is now the single heaviest domain at a fifth of the exam, followed closely by infrastructure security and data protection. Weight your study accordingly.

Domain Weight What is actually in it
Identity and Access Management20%IAM policies, roles, permission boundaries, resource policies, federation, and least-privilege design across accounts. The heaviest domain, so master policy evaluation logic.
Infrastructure Security18%VPC security, network segmentation, security groups and NACLs, edge protection with WAF and Shield, and in-transit encryption between services.
Data Protection18%KMS keys and key material, encryption at rest and in transit, certificate management, data masking, and secrets management with Secrets Manager.
Detection16%Logging and monitoring with CloudTrail, CloudWatch, GuardDuty, Security Hub, and Config, plus schema-based ingestion with the Open Cybersecurity Schema Framework.
Incident Response14%Preparing for, triaging, and containing security incidents, automating response, and recovering compromised resources and credentials.
Security Foundations and Governance14%Multi-account governance with Organizations and control policies, security controls at scale, compliance frameworks, and generative AI security considerations.

Because the questions are scenario-based, the fastest way to prepare is to drill judgment across all six domains. Generate practice questions from your own AWS security notes and weight the sets toward identity and access management, infrastructure security, and data protection.

Questions
65
Time
170 min
Passing score
750 / 1000
Exam fee
$300

Why practice questions beat rereading for this exam

The Security Specialty exam does not reward memorization. Its questions describe an AWS environment, a security requirement or an incident, and several plausible responses where only one is best for the context. That is a judgment you build by working through many scenarios, not by rereading service documentation. Practice questions expose the gaps between services that look similar, such as when to use a service control policy versus a permission boundary, or GuardDuty versus Security Hub versus Detective, so you stop second-guessing on exam day.

Where candidates lose points

IAM policy evaluation logic trips up even experienced engineers: explicit deny, permission boundaries, resource policies, and cross-account access interacting in one scenario. KMS key policies, grants, and multi-Region keys are another common gap, along with knowing which detection service surfaces which finding. Drilling these closes the difference between knowing AWS security and passing a scenario exam about it.

Match the SCS-C03 format

Generate questions that describe an account setup, a requirement, and several configurations or responses where only one is correct for that situation. That trains the judgment the exam tests. Include the newer topics like OCSF ingestion, generative AI protections, and multi-Region key management so your practice mirrors the current outline, not the retired SCS-C02.

A specialty attempt is US$300 plus real study time, and most candidates are working cloud and security engineers. Uploading your notes and generating scenario questions across all six domains is efficient insurance that you walk in ready to reason, not just recall.

Where the Security Specialty fits in the AWS path

Security Specialty is a deep, focused credential rather than a broad one. There is no hard prerequisite, but most people arrive with associate-level AWS knowledge and hands-on security work. Here is how it relates to the certifications people commonly pair it with.

Certification Level Focus
Solutions Architect AssociateAssociateDesigning AWS architectures; common foundation before a specialty
Security Specialty (SCS-C03)SpecialtySecuring AWS workloads in depth: IAM, data protection, detection, response
Solutions Architect ProfessionalProfessionalAdvanced, broad architecture across large AWS environments

Building toward the Security Specialty from the foundations? The AWS Solutions Architect Associate practice exam and the AWS Cloud Practitioner practice exam cover the groundwork, and the Solutions Architect Professional practice exam is a natural next step for architects.

How to build Security Specialty practice questions that mirror the exam

Six scenario-heavy domains on the current SCS-C03 outline. Your questions should train judgment, not recall.

1
Upload current material
Feed in your AWS security notes, the SCS-C03 exam guide, and relevant whitepapers. Confirm you are working from the C03 outline so your questions reflect the current domains, not the retired SCS-C02.
2
Practice as scenarios
Generate questions that describe an account, a requirement or an incident, and several responses. That trains the best-answer judgment the exam rewards across all six domains.
3
Weight IAM and data
Put extra reps on identity and access management, infrastructure security, and data protection, the three heaviest domains. Drill policy evaluation, KMS, and encryption until the answers are automatic.
4
Cover the new topics
Include OCSF ingestion, generative AI protections, data masking, and multi-Region key management so your practice matches the SCS-C03 refresh rather than an older question bank.

AWS Security Specialty questions, answered

Is the AWS Security Specialty worth it?
For engineers who secure AWS workloads, yes. It is one of AWS's most respected specialty credentials and signals that you can design and operate security across a real AWS environment: identity and access management, data protection, detection, incident response, and governance. Security and cloud roles value it because it proves depth beyond the associate certifications, and it maps directly to the day-to-day work of a cloud security engineer. If security on AWS is part of your job, it is a strong, marketable credential.
How hard is the AWS Security Specialty exam?
It is one of the harder AWS exams. As a specialty-level test it goes deep on security services and expects scenario judgment, not recall. You get 65 questions in 170 minutes across six domains, and the current SCS-C03 version added ordering and matching question types alongside multiple choice and multiple response. Most people who pass have hands-on AWS security experience plus focused study of IAM policies, KMS, detection services, and incident response patterns. Passing is 750 on a 100 to 1,000 scale.
What changed from SCS-C02 to SCS-C03?
SCS-C02 was in use until December 1, 2025, and SCS-C03 has been the only version you can sit since December 2, 2025, so target SCS-C03. The domains were restructured: identity and access management rose to 20 percent, detection and incident response were split into separate domains, and governance was renamed. New content includes the Open Cybersecurity Schema Framework, generative AI protections drawing on the OWASP Top 10 for LLM applications, data masking, and multi-Region key and certificate management. New ordering and matching question types were added. If your study material still says SCS-C02, it is out of date.
What is the passing score for the AWS Security Specialty exam?
The passing score is 750 on a scaled range of 100 to 1,000. AWS uses compensatory scoring, so you do not need to pass each domain individually; you need enough correct answers across the whole exam to reach 750. Of the 65 questions, 50 are scored and 15 are unscored pretest items that do not affect your result, though you cannot tell which is which. Aim to clear practice sets comfortably above the equivalent bar before you book.
How much does the exam cost and how long is it valid?
The exam costs US$300 and the certification is valid for 3 years. There is no required prerequisite, though many candidates hold the Solutions Architect Associate or Professional first. To stay certified you recertify before the three-year mark by passing the then-current version of the exam. Because the content is refreshed periodically, as it was for the SCS-C03 update, confirm the current exam guide on the AWS certification page before you book.
What does the exam cover?
The current SCS-C03 exam covers six domains: identity and access management (20 percent), infrastructure security (18 percent), data protection (18 percent), detection (16 percent), incident response (14 percent), and security foundations and governance (14 percent). In practice that means IAM policies and permission boundaries, KMS and encryption, VPC and network security, logging and detection with services like GuardDuty and Security Hub, responding to incidents, and governing security at scale with organizations, control policies, and multi-account patterns.

PDFQuiz is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Amazon Web Services. AWS and related marks are trademarks of Amazon.com, Inc. or its affiliates. This generator builds practice questions from material you upload and is a study aid, not official AWS exam content. Exam details change, so always confirm current details on the AWS certification page before you book.

Related study tools

Building the AWS path? Start with the AWS Cloud Practitioner practice exam and the Solutions Architect Associate practice exam for the foundations, then the Solutions Architect Professional practice exam. If your work spans security governance and risk, the CISM practice questions and CISSP practice questions pair well. Any notes work with the certification exam generator, or start from any PDF with the PDF to practice test generator.

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