- A
AWS Certificate Manager (ACM)
Why wrong: ACM is used to provision, manage, and deploy public and private SSL/TLS certificates for use with AWS services. It does not provide encryption keys for data at rest or support key rotation for S3 objects.
- B
AWS Key Management Service (KMS) with a customer managed key
KMS with a customer managed key enables you to create and control the lifecycle of encryption keys. Automatic key rotation every 365 days is supported for customer managed keys, and all key usage is recorded in CloudTrail for auditing.
- C
AWS CloudHSM
Why wrong: CloudHSM provides dedicated hardware security modules (HSMs) for key generation and storage. However, automatic key rotation is not a built-in feature of CloudHSM; you would need to implement custom automation to rotate keys, which adds complexity.
- D
Amazon S3 server-side encryption with S3-managed keys (SSE-S3)
Why wrong: SSE-S3 encrypts data at rest using keys managed by AWS. The customer does not have control over key rotation or visibility into key usage logs, and the keys are rotated automatically by AWS without customer intervention or customization.
Quick Answer
The answer is AWS Key Management Service (KMS) with a customer managed key. This service is the correct choice because a customer managed key gives you full control over the encryption key used for Amazon S3 server-side encryption, satisfying HIPAA’s requirement that the company manages the key. AWS KMS also supports automatic key rotation every 365 days, meeting the compliance team’s rotation policy, and integrates natively with AWS CloudTrail to log every key usage event—such as Encrypt and Decrypt API calls—for complete auditability. On the AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner CLF-C02 exam, this question tests your understanding of the difference between AWS managed keys and customer managed keys, with a common trap being that AWS managed keys cannot be rotated on a custom schedule. A helpful memory tip: think of “CMK” as “Customer Managed Key” where the “C” also stands for “Control”—you control rotation and auditing.
CLF-C02 Security and Compliance Practice Question
This CLF-C02 practice question tests your understanding of security and compliance. Match the stated requirement to the specific cloud service, access model, or configuration option — many options are valid in isolation but not for this scenario. 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.
A company operates a healthcare application on AWS that must comply with HIPAA regulations. The application stores sensitive patient data in Amazon S3. The compliance team requires that all data at rest in S3 be encrypted with a key that the company manages. The company also needs the ability to automatically rotate the encryption key every 365 days and to audit all key usage through AWS CloudTrail. Which AWS service should the company use to meet these requirements?
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
AWS Key Management Service (KMS) with a customer managed key
AWS KMS with a customer managed key (CMK) allows the company to create and control the encryption key used for S3 server-side encryption, meeting HIPAA's requirement for customer-managed keys. KMS supports automatic key rotation every 365 days (or custom period) and integrates with AWS CloudTrail to log every key usage (e.g., Decrypt, Encrypt API calls) for auditing. This combination satisfies all stated requirements: encryption at rest, customer-managed key, automatic rotation, and auditability.
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.
- ✗
AWS Certificate Manager (ACM)
- ✓
AWS Key Management Service (KMS) with a customer managed key
Why this is correct
KMS with a customer managed key enables you to create and control the lifecycle of encryption keys. Automatic key rotation every 365 days is supported for customer managed keys, and all key usage is recorded in CloudTrail for auditing.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
- ✗
AWS CloudHSM
Why it's wrong here
CloudHSM provides dedicated hardware security modules (HSMs) for key generation and storage. However, automatic key rotation is not a built-in feature of CloudHSM; you would need to implement custom automation to rotate keys, which adds complexity.
- ✗
Amazon S3 server-side encryption with S3-managed keys (SSE-S3)
Why it's wrong here
SSE-S3 encrypts data at rest using keys managed by AWS. The customer does not have control over key rotation or visibility into key usage logs, and the keys are rotated automatically by AWS without customer intervention or customization.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
The trap here is that candidates may confuse AWS CloudHSM (which offers dedicated HSM control) with KMS's simpler managed rotation and auditing, overlooking that CloudHSM requires manual rotation and lacks native CloudTrail integration for key usage logs.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
KMS customer managed keys (CMKs) use envelope encryption: the CMK encrypts a data key, which then encrypts the S3 object. Automatic rotation creates a new backing key for the CMK every 365 days, but the old key remains available to decrypt existing data. CloudTrail logs every KMS API call (e.g., GenerateDataKey, Decrypt) with the key ID and caller identity, enabling compliance audits. For HIPAA, KMS is a validated service under the AWS HIPAA eligible services list.
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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Security and Compliance — study guide chapter
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FAQ
Questions learners often ask
What does this CLF-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: AWS Key Management Service (KMS) with a customer managed key — AWS KMS with a customer managed key (CMK) allows the company to create and control the encryption key used for S3 server-side encryption, meeting HIPAA's requirement for customer-managed keys. KMS supports automatic key rotation every 365 days (or custom period) and integrates with AWS CloudTrail to log every key usage (e.g., Decrypt, Encrypt API calls) for auditing. This combination satisfies all stated requirements: encryption at rest, customer-managed key, automatic rotation, and auditability.
What should I do if I get this CLF-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.
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Last reviewed: Jun 11, 2026
This CLF-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 CLF-C02 exam.
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