DEA-C01 Customer Managed Key Practice Question
A company uses AWS KMS to encrypt data in Amazon S3. The security team requires that all encryption keys be rotated automatically every year. Which key type should the company use?
⚠ Common exam trap
Candidates may incorrectly think that only AWS managed keys support automatic rotation, overlooking that customer managed keys also offer automatic rotation. They might also confuse manual rotation as acceptable despite the explicit 'automatic' requirement.
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 KMS allows customer managed keys to have automatic rotation enabled, which rotates the key material annually. This satisfies the security team's requirement for automatic yearly rotation while keeping customer control over the key. Option D (manual rotation) does not meet the automatic rotation requirement. AWS managed keys (C) also rotate automatically but are not customer managed, and SSE-S3 (B) is not a KMS key type.
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 automatically every year, meeting the requirement while maintaining customer control.
- ✗
Use the default S3 managed encryption key (SSE-S3)
Why it's wrong here
Incorrect: SSE-S3 uses S3-managed keys that rotate automatically, but this option does not use AWS KMS, which is specified in the question.
- ✗
Use an AWS managed key (aws/s3)
Why it's wrong here
Incorrect: AWS managed keys (aws/s3) rotate automatically every year, but they are managed by AWS and may not provide the customer control required by the security team.
- ✗
Use a customer managed key with manual rotation
Why it's wrong here
Incorrect: Manual rotation does not satisfy the requirement for automatic rotation. The security team explicitly needs automatic rotation, so this option fails.
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
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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.