Which statement about resource principals is true?

Detailed Answer in Step-by-Step Solution:

Define Resource Principals: They allow OCI resources (e.g., notebook sessions) to authenticate to other OCI services without user credentials.

Evaluate Options:

A: False—Resource principals eliminate manual credential management.

B: False—They’re secure, leveraging IAM policies, not less secure than API keys.

C: False—Data Science supports resource principals for accessing resources (e.g., Object Storage).

D: True—Resource principals are an IAM feature authorizing resources as actors.

Reasoning: D captures the essence of resource principals as an IAM mechanism.

Conclusion: D is correct.

OCI documentation states: “A resource principal is an IAM feature that enables OCI resources, such as compute instances or notebook sessions, to act as principal actors and authenticate to other OCI services using policies.” This refutes A (no credentials needed), B (secure method), and C (supported in Data Science), making D the accurate statement.

Oracle Cloud Infrastructure IAM Documentation, "Resource Principals".