ANS-C01 IPsec VPN over Direct Connect Practice Question
A company is using AWS Direct Connect to connect to its VPC. The network team wants to encrypt all traffic between the on-premises data center and the VPC. Which solution provides encryption?
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 an IPsec VPN over the Direct Connect virtual interface.
IPsec VPN over Direct Connect provides encryption for all traffic between on-premises and VPC. Direct Connect itself does not encrypt traffic. MACsec is supported on dedicated Direct Connect connections and provides Layer 2 encryption, but it only encrypts the link between the customer device and AWS, not end-to-end traffic. AWS Client VPN is for individual clients, not site-to-site. Direct Connect virtual interfaces do not support native encryption. Therefore, the correct solution is to use an IPsec VPN over the Direct Connect virtual interface.
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 MACsec on the Direct Connect connection.
Why it's wrong here
MACsec is supported on dedicated Direct Connect connections but only provides Layer 2 encryption between the customer device and AWS, not end-to-end. Therefore, it does not encrypt all traffic between on-premises and the VPC.
- ✓
Use an IPsec VPN over the Direct Connect virtual interface.
Why this is correct
IPsec VPN over Direct Connect provides an encrypted tunnel for all traffic, ensuring end-to-end encryption between on-premises and VPC.
- ✗
Use AWS Client VPN to connect on-premises to VPC.
Why it's wrong here
AWS Client VPN is for individual clients to connect to AWS, not for site-to-site connectivity between data center and VPC.
- ✗
Enable encryption on the Direct Connect virtual interface.
Why it's wrong here
Direct Connect virtual interfaces do not support native encryption. Encryption must be applied at a higher layer, such as IPsec.
Quick reference
VPN Protocol Comparison
| Protocol | Port | Encryption | Authentication | Use Case |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| IKEv2 / IPsec | UDP 500 / 4500 | AES-256 | Certificates / PSK | Site-to-site & remote access |
| SSL / TLS VPN | TCP 443 | TLS 1.3 | Certificates / MFA | Clientless remote access |
| L2TP / IPsec | UDP 1701 | AES (IPsec) | PSK / Certificates | Legacy remote access |
| WireGuard | UDP 51820 | ChaCha20 | Public keys | Modern high-performance VPN |
| PPTP | TCP 1723 | MPPE (weak) | MS-CHAPv2 | Legacy — avoid in production |
PPTP is considered insecure. IKEv2/IPsec and SSL VPN are the current recommended options.
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JA
Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
This ANS-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 ANS-C01 exam.