This DVA-C02 practice question tests your understanding of security. Match the stated requirement to the specific cloud service, access model, or configuration option — many options are valid in isolation but not for this scenario. After answering, compare your reasoning against the explanation and wrong-answer breakdown below. Once you have made your selection, read the full explanation to reinforce the concept and understand why each distractor is designed to mislead on exam day.
A company uses AWS KMS to encrypt data at rest in S3. The security team requires that all encryption keys be rotated every 90 days. Which key type should the company use to meet this requirement with minimal operational overhead?
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
Customer managed KMS key with automatic rotation enabled
Customer managed KMS keys support automatic rotation, which can be enabled to rotate the key material every 365 days (or every 90 days if using a custom key store with imported key material). However, the requirement is for 90-day rotation with minimal operational overhead. Automatic rotation for customer managed KMS keys meets this by handling rotation without manual intervention, though note that the default automatic rotation period is 365 days; to achieve exactly 90 days, you would need to use a custom key store and import key material with a 90-day rotation schedule, or manually rotate more frequently. Given the options, B is the best choice because it provides automatic rotation with less overhead than manual rotation.
Key principle: Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
✗
Customer managed KMS key with manual rotation
Why it's wrong here
Manual rotation would require operational overhead, not minimal.
✓
Customer managed KMS key with automatic rotation enabled
Why this is correct
Customer managed keys allow you to set a custom rotation period (e.g., 90 days) and enable automatic rotation.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
✗
AWS managed KMS key
Why it's wrong here
AWS managed keys are automatically rotated every 365 days, not 90 days.
✗
AWS owned KMS key
Why it's wrong here
AWS owned keys are not visible to customers and cannot be configured for rotation.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
The trap here is that candidates assume automatic rotation can be configured to any custom period (like 90 days) for standard customer managed keys, but KMS automatic rotation is fixed at 365 days for AWS KMS keys, and only imported key material in a custom key store allows custom rotation intervals.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
Under the hood, KMS automatic rotation for customer managed keys creates new backing key material every year while retaining the old material for decryption of previously encrypted data. The key ID and key ARN remain the same, so applications do not need to be updated. For a strict 90-day rotation, you would need to use imported key material in a custom key store and manually re-import new material every 90 days, or use automatic rotation with a custom key store that supports a 90-day rotation period (though this is not a standard KMS feature). The exam often tests the distinction between key rotation and key re-import scenarios.
KKey Concepts to Remember
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
Find the constraint that changes the correct option.
Eliminate answers that are true in general but not in this case.
TExam Day Tips
→Watch for words such as best, first, most likely and least administrative effort.
→Review why wrong options are wrong, not only why the correct option is correct.
Key takeaway
Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Real-world example
How this comes up in practice
A media company stores terabytes of video archives that are accessed once a year for audit purposes. Moving these objects to a cold storage tier (Azure Archive, S3 Glacier, or Google Nearline) costs a fraction of hot storage. Questions like this test whether you understand storage tiers, access frequency tradeoffs, and retrieval latency requirements.
What to study next
Got this wrong? Here's your next step.
Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.
Security — This question tests Security — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
What is the correct answer to this question?
The correct answer is: Customer managed KMS key with automatic rotation enabled — Customer managed KMS keys support automatic rotation, which can be enabled to rotate the key material every 365 days (or every 90 days if using a custom key store with imported key material). However, the requirement is for 90-day rotation with minimal operational overhead. Automatic rotation for customer managed KMS keys meets this by handling rotation without manual intervention, though note that the default automatic rotation period is 365 days; to achieve exactly 90 days, you would need to use a custom key store and import key material with a 90-day rotation schedule, or manually rotate more frequently. Given the options, B is the best choice because it provides automatic rotation with less overhead than manual rotation.
What should I do if I get this DVA-C02 question wrong?
Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.
What is the key concept behind this question?
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
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This DVA-C02 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 DVA-C02 exam.
Question Discussion
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