This ANS-C01 practice question tests your understanding of network design. Match the stated requirement to the specific cloud service, access model, or configuration option — many options are valid in isolation but not for this scenario. After answering, compare your reasoning against the explanation and wrong-answer breakdown below. Once you have made your selection, read the full explanation to reinforce the concept and understand why each distractor is designed to mislead on exam day.
Which TWO actions can be taken to reduce the attack surface of a VPC's public subnets? (Choose 2.)
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
Place web servers in private subnets and use a load balancer in a public subnet
Option B is correct because placing web servers in private subnets and using a load balancer in a public subnet reduces the attack surface by ensuring that the web servers have no direct internet-facing IP addresses. The load balancer acts as a single point of ingress, allowing security groups to tightly control traffic from the load balancer to the web servers, while the public subnet only exposes the load balancer's endpoints. This architecture follows AWS best practices for a multi-tier application, minimizing the number of resources directly accessible from the internet.
Key principle: Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
✗
Allow all inbound traffic from the internet to the public subnets
Why it's wrong here
Increases attack surface.
✓
Place web servers in private subnets and use a load balancer in a public subnet
Why this is correct
Reduces direct exposure of web servers.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
✗
Use a single subnet for all application tiers
Why it's wrong here
Increases risk of lateral movement.
✓
Use security groups to restrict inbound traffic to only necessary ports and IPs
Why this is correct
Least-privilege reduces attack surface.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
✗
Disable ICMP traffic on the network ACL
Why it's wrong here
Minor impact.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
AWS often tests the misconception that disabling ICMP or using network ACLs alone is sufficient to reduce attack surface, when in fact the primary reduction comes from architectural changes like moving instances to private subnets and using a load balancer, combined with security group restrictions.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
In a VPC, public subnets have a route to an internet gateway, while private subnets route traffic through a NAT device or virtual private gateway. By using an Application Load Balancer (ALB) in a public subnet, you can offload TLS termination and use security groups to allow inbound HTTP/HTTPS only from the ALB's security group, effectively creating a 'security group chaining' pattern. This design also supports auto-scaling and health checks without exposing instance IPs, and it leverages the fact that security groups are stateful, so return traffic is automatically allowed.
KKey Concepts to Remember
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
Find the constraint that changes the correct option.
Eliminate answers that are true in general but not in this case.
TExam Day Tips
→Watch for words such as best, first, most likely and least administrative effort.
→Review why wrong options are wrong, not only why the correct option is correct.
Key takeaway
Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Real-world example
How this comes up in practice
A media company stores terabytes of video archives that are accessed once a year for audit purposes. Moving these objects to a cold storage tier (Azure Archive, S3 Glacier, or Google Nearline) costs a fraction of hot storage. Questions like this test whether you understand storage tiers, access frequency tradeoffs, and retrieval latency requirements.
What to study next
Got this wrong? Here's your next step.
Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.
Network Design — This question tests Network Design — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
What is the correct answer to this question?
The correct answer is: Place web servers in private subnets and use a load balancer in a public subnet — Option B is correct because placing web servers in private subnets and using a load balancer in a public subnet reduces the attack surface by ensuring that the web servers have no direct internet-facing IP addresses. The load balancer acts as a single point of ingress, allowing security groups to tightly control traffic from the load balancer to the web servers, while the public subnet only exposes the load balancer's endpoints. This architecture follows AWS best practices for a multi-tier application, minimizing the number of resources directly accessible from the internet.
What should I do if I get this ANS-C01 question wrong?
Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.
What is the key concept behind this question?
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
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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.
Question Discussion
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