ANS-C01 Network Security, Compliance and Governance Practice Question
A network engineer is designing a VPC with private subnets for workloads that must not have direct internet access. However, the workloads need to download patches from a specific third-party vendor's IP range. Which solution minimizes the attack surface?
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
✓
Create a managed prefix list for the vendor's IPs and add a route in the private subnet route table to a NAT gateway, with the prefix list as destination
Using a managed prefix list for the vendor's IPs and adding a route to a NAT gateway in the private subnet route table allows traffic only to those specific IPs, minimizing attack surface by avoiding direct internet access. Option B (VPC endpoint) is for AWS services only, not third-party. Option C (proxy server) would allow all internet traffic, not just to the vendor, increasing exposure. Option D (VPN) introduces complexity and potential trust issues, and still might allow other traffic if not carefully restricted.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
Create a managed prefix list for the vendor's IPs and add a route in the private subnet route table to a NAT gateway, with the prefix list as destination
Why this is correct
Restricts egress to only vendor IPs.
- ✗
Configure a VPC endpoint for the vendor's service
Why it's wrong here
VPC endpoints are for AWS services only.
- ✗
Deploy a proxy server in a public subnet and configure the workloads to use it for all internet traffic
Why it's wrong here
Allows all internet traffic, not just vendor.
- ✗
Establish a VPN connection to the vendor's network and route all traffic to the vendor through the VPN
Why it's wrong here
Overly complex and may expose internal routes.
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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.