DVA-C02 Security Practice Question
A developer is deploying an application on Amazon EC2 instances that need to securely retrieve secrets from AWS Secrets Manager. What is the MOST secure way to provide the necessary permissions without hardcoding credentials?
⚠ Common exam trap
Watch out — candidates often think environment variables or S3 configuration files are secure enough, but the exam emphasizes that any form of static credential storage (including environment variables) is insecure compared to IAM roles, which provide automatic, temporary, and rotated credentials.
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
✓
Attach an IAM role to the EC2 instance with permission to access Secrets Manager.
Attaching an IAM role to the EC2 instance is the most secure method because it leverages temporary security credentials obtained via the EC2 instance metadata service (IMDS). This eliminates the need to hardcode, embed, or store any long-term credentials on the instance, adhering to the AWS Well-Architected Framework's security pillar. The IAM role's policy grants the instance precise permissions to call Secrets Manager APIs like GetSecretValue, ensuring least privilege.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Store the secret in an environment variable.
Why it's wrong here
Environment variables can be exposed and are not secure for secrets.
- ✓
Attach an IAM role to the EC2 instance with permission to access Secrets Manager.
Why this is correct
IAM roles provide temporary credentials securely; the application can use the AWS SDK to fetch secrets without hardcoding.
- ✗
Embed the secret in the application code.
Why it's wrong here
Hardcoding secrets is insecure and violates best practices.
- ✗
Use a configuration file stored in S3 with bucket policy.
Why it's wrong here
Storing secrets in S3 is less secure than using Secrets Manager, and bucket policies are not designed for this purpose.
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JA
Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
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.