DEA-C01 Data Security and Governance Practice Question
A data engineer needs to encrypt data in transit between an Amazon RDS for MySQL instance and an application. Which solution should be used?
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 SSL/TLS to connect to the RDS instance
SSL/TLS is used to encrypt data in transit between clients and RDS. Option A is wrong because KMS encrypts data at rest, not in transit. Option C is wrong because S3 is not involved in this scenario. Option D is wrong because CloudHSM provides hardware security modules for key storage, not encryption in transit.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Enable encryption at rest using AWS KMS
Why it's wrong here
KMS encrypts data at rest, not in transit.
- ✓
Use SSL/TLS to connect to the RDS instance
Why this is correct
SSL/TLS encrypts data in transit between client and database.
- ✗
Store the data in Amazon S3 with server-side encryption
Why it's wrong here
S3 is not the database in this scenario.
- ✗
Use AWS CloudHSM to generate and store encryption keys
Why it's wrong here
CloudHSM manages keys but does not encrypt data in transit.
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.