DBS-C01 Database Security Practice Question
A company is migrating an on-premises Oracle database to Amazon RDS for Oracle. The database contains personally identifiable information (PII). The security team requires that the data be encrypted at rest using a customer-managed key stored in AWS KMS. Additionally, the team wants to ensure that the key can be rotated automatically every year. What should the company do to meet these requirements?
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
✓
Create a customer-managed key in AWS KMS, enable automatic rotation, and enable encryption on the RDS instance using that key.
The correct approach is to create a customer-managed key in AWS KMS with automatic rotation enabled, then enable encryption on the RDS instance using that key. This meets the requirements for encryption at rest with a customer-managed key and automatic annual rotation. Option A is incorrect because AWS Secrets Manager is used for storing secrets, not encryption keys. Option C lacks automatic rotation. Option D uses an AWS managed key, not customer-managed, and requires a manual Lambda function, not automatic rotation.
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 on the RDS instance using the default RDS encryption and use AWS Secrets Manager to store the key.
Why it's wrong here
Default encryption uses an AWS managed key, not customer-managed.
- ✓
Create a customer-managed key in AWS KMS, enable automatic rotation, and enable encryption on the RDS instance using that key.
Why this is correct
Customer-managed KMS keys support automatic annual rotation.
- ✗
Create a customer-managed key in AWS KMS without automatic rotation, and manually rotate the key using the RDS console.
Why it's wrong here
Manual rotation is error-prone and not automated.
- ✗
Use an AWS managed key for RDS and create an AWS Lambda function to rotate the key manually each year.
Why it's wrong here
AWS managed keys cannot be rotated manually; rotation is automatic but not user-controlled.
Quick reference
Cloud Service Model Comparison
| Model | You Manage | Provider Manages | Examples |
|---|---|---|---|
| IaaS | OS, runtime, apps, data | Hardware, hypervisor, networking | EC2, Azure VMs, GCP Compute Engine |
| PaaS | Apps and data | OS, runtime, middleware, hardware | Elastic Beanstalk, Azure App Service |
| SaaS | Data and settings only | Everything else | Microsoft 365, Salesforce, Workday |
| FaaS / Serverless | Function code only | Infra, scaling, runtime | Lambda, Azure Functions, Cloud Run |
| CaaS | Containers and apps | Kubernetes, OS, hardware | EKS, AKS, GKE |
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JA
Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
This DBS-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 DBS-C01 exam.