Question 875 of 1,040
SAA-C03 Design Secure Architectures Practice Question
This SAA-C03 practice question tests your understanding of design secure architectures. This is a configuration task: choose the command set that satisfies every stated requirement. Small differences — like 'secret' vs 'password' or 'transport input ssh' vs 'all' — change whether the answer is correct. 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.
A financial services company is migrating sensitive customer data to Amazon S3. The data must be encrypted at rest using a customer-managed key stored in AWS KMS, with automatic rotation every 90 days. The company also needs to prevent any access to the data from outside the corporate network, except for approved AWS services. Which three steps should be taken to meet these requirements? (Choose three.)
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
✓
Enable default encryption on the S3 bucket with SSE-KMS using the customer-managed key.
Enable default encryption on the S3 bucket with SSE-KMS using the customer-managed key ensures data is encrypted at rest with a key the customer controls and can rotate automatically every 90 days. Configure an S3 bucket policy that denies access unless the request is made from the corporate IP range restricts access to the corporate network. Attach an S3 VPC endpoint policy that only allows access from the corporate VPC ensures that traffic to S3 stays within the AWS network and is subject to VPC controls, preventing exposure to the public internet.
Key principle: Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
The trap here is that candidates often confuse encryption in transit (HTTPS) with encryption at rest (SSE-KMS), or they think that Block Public Access alone satisfies network restriction requirements, when in fact a combination of bucket policy IP restrictions and VPC endpoint policies is needed to meet the 'no access from outside the corporate network' requirement.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
SSE-KMS with a customer-managed key allows you to enable automatic key rotation every 90 days (or custom period) via KMS, and you can audit key usage via CloudTrail. The VPC endpoint policy works in conjunction with the bucket policy; the bucket policy can use the aws:SourceVpce condition key to restrict access to a specific VPC endpoint, while the VPC endpoint policy further scopes actions and principals. This layered approach ensures that even if a request originates from the corporate IP range, it must also come through the approved VPC endpoint, providing defense in depth.
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.
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 |
What to study next
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FAQ
Questions learners often ask
What does this SAA-C03 question test?
Design Secure Architectures — This question tests Design Secure Architectures — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
What is the correct answer to this question?
The correct answer is: Enable default encryption on the S3 bucket with SSE-KMS using the customer-managed key. — Enable default encryption on the S3 bucket with SSE-KMS using the customer-managed key ensures data is encrypted at rest with a key the customer controls and can rotate automatically every 90 days. Configure an S3 bucket policy that denies access unless the request is made from the corporate IP range restricts access to the corporate network. Attach an S3 VPC endpoint policy that only allows access from the corporate VPC ensures that traffic to S3 stays within the AWS network and is subject to VPC controls, preventing exposure to the public internet.
What should I do if I get this SAA-C03 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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Last reviewed: Jun 11, 2026
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