Question 1mediummultiple choice
Full question →mediummultiple choiceObjective-mapped
A company stores sensitive financial data in Amazon S3. The company's security policy requires that all data be encrypted at rest using a key that the company creates and manages, with the ability to rotate the key annually. The company also needs an audit trail of when the key was used and by which AWS service. Which solution should the company use 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
Distractor review
Use server-side encryption with S3 managed keys (SSE-S3).
SSE-S3 uses AWS-managed keys that cannot be rotated by the customer and do not provide a detailed audit trail of key usage via CloudTrail. While it provides encryption at rest, it does not meet the requirement for customer-managed key rotation and auditing.
B
Best answer
Use server-side encryption with AWS KMS customer managed keys (SSE-KMS).
SSE-KMS with a customer managed key (CMK) allows the company to create, manage, and rotate the key. Key usage is logged in AWS CloudTrail, providing the required audit trail. This is the correct solution.
C
Distractor review
Use server-side encryption with customer-provided keys (SSE-C).
SSE-C requires the customer to supply the encryption key with each request, but Amazon S3 does not store the key. The customer must manage the key separately (e.g., rotation, storage), which does not align with the requirement to have S3 manage the key under the customer's control. Additionally, SSE-C does not provide built-in key rotation or integrated CloudTrail auditing for the key itself.
D
Distractor review
Use client-side encryption with an AWS KMS managed key.
Client-side encryption encrypts data before it is sent to Amazon S3. The encryption key is managed by the client application, not by S3. While AWS KMS can be used as a key source, the encryption happens outside of S3, and the company is responsible for implementing encryption logic. This adds complexity and does not leverage S3's native server-side encryption capabilities.
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.
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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 server-side encryption with AWS KMS customer managed keys (SSE-KMS). — To meet encryption at rest requirements while maintaining control over the encryption key and enabling key rotation and auditing, the company should use server-side encryption with AWS KMS (SSE-KMS) and a customer managed key (CMK). SSE-KMS allows the company to create and manage the key, define a rotation schedule, and use AWS CloudTrail to log every call to the KMS API, providing a complete audit trail of key usage. SSE-S3 uses AWS-managed keys that cannot be rotated or audited. SSE-C requires the customer to manage the key outside AWS, which does not meet the 'create and manage' requirement in a fully managed way. Client-side encryption encrypts data before it is sent to S3, placing the key management burden entirely on the customer and not leveraging S3's native server-side encryption controls.
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.
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