DEA-C01 Data Store Management Practice Question
A company stores sensitive customer data in an Amazon S3 bucket. The security team requires that all data be encrypted at rest using a key that is automatically rotated every year. Which encryption solution should the data engineer use?
⚠ Common exam trap
Many candidates confuse SSE-S3's automatic rotation (which is managed by AWS and not customer-controlled) with the requirement for a customer-managed key, leading them to incorrectly select SSE-S3 thinking it meets the automatic rotation need.
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
✓
SSE-KMS with a customer managed key
SSE-KMS with a customer managed key is correct because it allows you to use an AWS KMS key that you control, enabling automatic annual key rotation via the KMS key rotation feature. This satisfies the security team's requirement for encryption at rest with a key that is automatically rotated every year, while maintaining control over the key lifecycle.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
SSE-S3
Why it's wrong here
SSE-S3 does not support customer-controlled key rotation.
- ✓
SSE-KMS with a customer managed key
Why this is correct
KMS can automatically rotate customer managed keys annually.
- ✗
SSE-C
Why it's wrong here
SSE-C requires manual key rotation.
- ✗
Client-side encryption
Why it's wrong here
Client-side encryption does not use KMS for automatic rotation.
Quick reference
AWS S3 Storage Class Comparison
| Storage Class | Min Duration | Retrieval | Use Case |
|---|---|---|---|
| S3 Standard | None | Immediate | Frequently accessed data |
| S3 Standard-IA | 30 days | Immediate | Infrequent access, rapid retrieval |
| S3 One Zone-IA | 30 days | Immediate | Non-critical infrequent data |
| S3 Intelligent-Tiering | None | Immediate–hours | Unknown or changing access patterns |
| S3 Glacier Instant | 90 days | Milliseconds | Archive with instant retrieval |
| S3 Glacier Flexible | 90 days | Minutes–hours | Archive, flexible retrieval |
| S3 Glacier Deep Archive | 180 days | Hours | Long-term compliance archive |
Go deeper
Related to this question
About these practice questions
This DEA-C01 question is part of Courseiva's 1,711-question bank — original exam-style content with full explanations and wrong-answer analysis, never real exam questions or exam dumps. Learn why practice questions differ from exam dumps →
JA
Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
This DEA-C01 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 DEA-C01 exam.