Question 1mediummultiple choice
Full question →mediummultiple choiceObjective-mapped
A company stores sensitive customer data in Amazon S3. The security policy requires that all objects be encrypted at rest using an encryption key that is automatically rotated every 12 months. The company must retain full control over the key, including the ability to immediately revoke access to the key if a security incident occurs. The security team also needs to audit every use of the key through AWS CloudTrail. Which key management solution should the company choose to meet these requirements?
Answer choices
Why each option matters
Good practice is not just finding the correct option. The wrong answers often show the exact trap the exam wants you to fall into.
A
Best answer
Use an AWS KMS customer managed key (CMK) with automatic key rotation enabled.
Correct. A customer managed CMK provides full control over the key, allows automatic yearly rotation, and integrates with CloudTrail for auditing all key usage.
B
Distractor review
Use an AWS KMS AWS managed key with automatic key rotation.
Incorrect. AWS managed keys are managed by AWS; the customer cannot revoke or disable the key, and rotation is handled automatically but not configurable by the customer.
C
Distractor review
Use Amazon S3 server-side encryption with SSE-S3.
Incorrect. SSE-S3 uses S3-managed encryption keys. The customer has no control over the key, cannot revoke access, and key usage is not auditable via CloudTrail.
D
Distractor review
Use AWS CloudHSM to generate and manage the key.
Incorrect. AWS CloudHSM provides dedicated hardware security modules but does not offer automatic key rotation natively, and key usage auditing is not integrated with CloudTrail in the same way as KMS.
Common exam trap
Common exam trap: NAT rules depend on direction and matching traffic
NAT is not only about the public address. The inside/outside interface roles and the ACL or rule that matches traffic are just as important.
Technical deep dive
How to think about this question
NAT questions usually test address translation, overload/PAT behaviour, static mappings and whether the right traffic is being translated. Read the interface direction and address terms carefully.
KKey Concepts to Remember
- Static NAT maps one inside address to one outside address.
- PAT allows many inside hosts to share one public address using ports.
- Inside local and inside global describe the private and translated addresses.
- NAT ACLs identify traffic for translation, not always security filtering.
TExam Day Tips
- Identify inside and outside interfaces first.
- Check whether the scenario needs static NAT, dynamic NAT or PAT.
- Do not confuse NAT matching ACLs with normal packet-filtering intent.
Related practice questions
Related CLF-C02 practice-question pages
Use these pages to review the topic behind this question. This is how one missed question becomes focused revision.
AWS shared responsibility model practice questions
Practise CLF-C02 questions linked to AWS shared responsibility model.
AWS Cloud Practitioner cloud concepts practice questions
Practise CLF-C02 questions linked to AWS Cloud Practitioner cloud concepts.
AWS IAM practice questions
Practise CLF-C02 questions linked to AWS IAM.
AWS pricing practice questions
Practise CLF-C02 questions linked to AWS pricing.
AWS support plans practice questions
Practise CLF-C02 questions linked to AWS support plans.
AWS S3 practice questions
Practise CLF-C02 questions linked to AWS S3.
AWS EC2 practice questions
Practise CLF-C02 questions linked to AWS EC2.
More questions from this exam
Keep practising from the same exam bank, or move into a focused topic page if this question exposed a weak area.
Question 1
A developer needs to launch a test server for a new application prototype. The developer logs into the AWS Management Console, selects an Amazon EC2 instance type, configures the security group, and starts the instance. The instance is running within two minutes, and the developer did not need to submit a formal request to the company's IT procurement team or wait for approval from a cloud administrator. Which essential characteristic of cloud computing does this scenario best demonstrate?
Question 2
A solutions architect is planning a new web application on AWS. The workload will include 3 Amazon EC2 instances (t3.medium) running 24/7, an Application Load Balancer, and an Amazon RDS for MySQL db.t3.small database. The architect needs to estimate the monthly cost for the first year, considering different purchasing options (On-Demand, 1-year All Upfront Reserved Instance, and Compute Savings Plan). Which AWS tool should the architect use to create this estimate?
Question 3
A company's development team frequently needs temporary test environments. A developer can log into the AWS Management Console, select an Amazon EC2 instance type, configure storage, and launch the instance within minutes without any interaction with the IT infrastructure team. This capability is an example of which essential characteristic of cloud computing?
Question 4
A company's finance team needs to analyze AWS spending in detail. They require a report that includes hourly cost data for each AWS service, each individual resource (e.g., a specific EC2 instance), and any cost allocation tags applied. The team plans to export this data to an Amazon S3 bucket and then import it into a custom business intelligence (BI) analytics dashboard. Which AWS tool should the finance team use to generate this level of detailed cost data?
Question 5
A company uses AWS for its development environment. The finance team wants to set a monthly budget of $10,000. They want to receive an email notification when the actual costs reach 80% of the budget ($8,000) and again when costs exceed the budget. The team needs a managed AWS service that can automatically send these alerts without requiring custom code or third-party tools. Which AWS service should the team use?
Question 6
A company uses AWS Organizations to manage multiple accounts. The security team needs to enforce a policy that restricts SSH access (port 22) from the internet (0.0.0.0/0) in all VPCs across all accounts. The team wants to centrally define the allowed rules and automatically apply them to newly created VPCs and security groups, while also automatically remediating any existing non-compliant security groups. Which AWS service should the team use?
FAQ
Questions learners often ask
What does this CLF-C02 question test?
Static NAT maps one inside address to one outside address.
What is the correct answer to this question?
The correct answer is: Use an AWS KMS customer managed key (CMK) with automatic key rotation enabled. — The correct solution is AWS KMS with a customer managed key (CMK) and automatic key rotation enabled. A customer managed CMK gives the customer full control over the key lifecycle, including the ability to disable or schedule key deletion. Automatic key rotation can be enabled (once per year by default in KMS). All KMS key usage is logged in AWS CloudTrail, providing the required audit trail. AWS managed keys (option B) are managed by AWS; the customer cannot disable or control them, and rotation is automatic but not customer-configurable. SSE-S3 (option C) uses S3-managed keys with no customer control, no rotation, and no key usage auditing. AWS CloudHSM (option D) provides dedicated hardware security modules but does not natively support automatic key rotation or integrated CloudTrail auditing; it also requires more administrative overhead and does not simplify key management for this use case.
What should I do if I get this CLF-C02 question wrong?
Then try more questions from the same exam bank and focus on understanding why the wrong options are tempting.
Discussion
Loading comments…
Sign in to join the discussion.