DOP-C02 Security and Compliance Practice Question
A company wants to automate the rotation of IAM user access keys every 90 days. Which AWS service should be used to implement this rotation?
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
✓
AWS Lambda with custom rotation logic
AWS Lambda with custom rotation logic is the correct service to automate IAM user access key rotation because AWS does not provide a native service that automatically rotates IAM access keys. AWS Secrets Manager can rotate secrets for databases and other services, but it does not support rotating IAM user access keys. Therefore, the recommended approach is to implement a custom Lambda function that generates new keys, updates the user, and manages the rotation lifecycle. Option B (AWS Config) only monitors compliance, not credentials. Option D (Systems Manager Parameter Store) stores secrets but lacks rotation capabilities for IAM keys.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
AWS Lambda with custom rotation logic
Why this is correct
Correct. AWS Lambda with custom rotation logic is the required approach since no other AWS service natively rotates IAM user access keys. You can write a Lambda function to generate new keys, update the IAM user, and handle the rotation schedule.
- ✗
AWS Config
Why it's wrong here
AWS Config is a governance and compliance service that records resource state and evaluates it against rules such as checking for expired or unused access keys. While a Config rule can detect noncompliant credentials and even trigger remediation actions via Systems Manager Automation or Lambda, Config itself has no API to generate or replace IAM access keys, so it cannot perform the rotation.
- ✗
AWS Secrets Manager
Why it's wrong here
Incorrect. AWS Secrets Manager can rotate secrets for supported services like RDS, but it does not natively support rotating IAM user access keys. You would need to use Lambda with Secrets Manager or directly implement Lambda rotation.
- ✗
AWS Systems Manager Parameter Store
Why it's wrong here
AWS Systems Manager Parameter Store is a secure, hierarchical key-value store for configuration data and secrets, but it only stores the access key material once it exists. It has no built-in scheduling engine or rotation logic, and storing a static secret does not create, deactivate, or replace IAM credentials. You would have to pair it with a separate automation tool that fetches and updates the parameter each time, so it is not itself a rotation mechanism.
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 DOP-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 DOP-C02 exam.