DEA-C01 Data Security and Governance Practice Question
A company uses AWS KMS to encrypt data at rest in Amazon S3. The security team requires that all encryption keys be automatically rotated every year. Which key type should be used to meet this requirement without manual intervention?
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
✓
Use a customer managed key with automatic rotation enabled.
AWS customer managed keys (CMKs) with automatic rotation enabled rotate every year, meeting the requirement of annual rotation. While enabling automatic rotation requires a one-time manual configuration, after that no further manual intervention is needed, and the rotation occurs automatically. AWS managed keys (aws/s3) rotate automatically every three years, not annually, so they do not satisfy the yearly rotation requirement. Imported key material cannot be rotated, and S3 does not generate a KMS key per upload. Therefore, option A is correct.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
Use a customer managed key with automatic rotation enabled.
Why this is correct
Correct. Customer managed keys with automatic rotation enabled rotate annually after the one-time manual enablement, meeting the requirement without ongoing manual intervention.
- ✗
Use an imported key material because it supports automatic rotation.
Why it's wrong here
Imported key material does not support automatic rotation.
- ✗
Use a KMS key generated by S3 on each object upload.
Why it's wrong here
S3 does not generate KMS keys per object; it uses bucket keys with a CMK or AWS managed key.
- ✗
Use an AWS managed key (aws/s3).
Why it's wrong here
Incorrect. AWS managed keys (aws/s3) are automatically rotated every three years, not every year, so they do not meet the specified requirement.
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 |
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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.