ANS-C01 Network Security, Compliance and Governance Practice Question
A company needs to encrypt data at rest in Amazon S3. Which AWS service manages the encryption keys?
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 KMS
AWS KMS (Key Management Service) is the AWS service that manages encryption keys for Amazon S3. AWS KMS allows you to create, rotate, and control access to encryption keys used to encrypt data at rest in S3. Option A (AWS Secrets Manager) is incorrect because it manages secrets like database credentials, not encryption keys for S3. Option B (AWS Certificate Manager) is incorrect because it manages SSL/TLS certificates, not encryption keys. Option C (AWS CloudHSM) is incorrect because while it provides hardware security modules for key storage, it is not the default or primary key manager for S3; AWS KMS is the integrated service for S3 encryption.
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 Secrets Manager
Why it's wrong here
Secrets Manager manages secrets, not encryption keys.
- ✗
AWS Certificate Manager
Why it's wrong here
ACM manages certificates, not encryption keys.
- ✗
AWS CloudHSM
Why it's wrong here
CloudHSM can be used but is not the default key manager.
- ✓
AWS KMS
Why this is correct
KMS provides key management for S3 encryption.
Quick reference
AWS S3 Storage Class Comparison
| Storage Class | Min Duration | Retrieval | Use Case |
|---|---|---|---|
| S3 Standard | None | Immediate | Frequently accessed data |
| S3 Standard-IA | 30 days | Immediate | Infrequent access, rapid retrieval |
| S3 One Zone-IA | 30 days | Immediate | Non-critical infrequent data |
| S3 Intelligent-Tiering | None | Immediate–hours | Unknown or changing access patterns |
| S3 Glacier Instant | 90 days | Milliseconds | Archive with instant retrieval |
| S3 Glacier Flexible | 90 days | Minutes–hours | Archive, flexible retrieval |
| S3 Glacier Deep Archive | 180 days | Hours | Long-term compliance archive |
Go deeper
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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.