SAP-C02 Design for New Solutions Practice Question
A company is designing a data lake on AWS using Amazon S3. The data will be ingested from various sources and must be encrypted at rest. The company requires that the encryption keys be managed by AWS and rotated automatically. Which encryption option should be used?
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
✓
Server-side encryption with S3 managed keys (SSE-S3)
SSE-S3 uses AWS-managed keys that are automatically rotated. Option A is wrong because SSE-C uses customer-provided keys. Option B is wrong because SSE-KMS uses customer-managed KMS keys. Option D is wrong because client-side encryption is managed by the customer.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Server-side encryption with customer-provided keys (SSE-C)
Why it's wrong here
SSE-C requires the customer to provide and manage keys.
- ✗
Server-side encryption with AWS KMS managed keys (SSE-KMS)
Why it's wrong here
SSE-KMS uses customer-managed KMS keys; rotation is optional but not automatic unless enabled.
- ✓
Server-side encryption with S3 managed keys (SSE-S3)
Why this is correct
SSE-S3 uses AWS-managed keys that are automatically rotated.
- ✗
Client-side encryption
Why it's wrong here
Client-side encryption is managed by the customer, not AWS.
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
Related to this question
About these practice questions
This SAP-C02 question is part of Courseiva's 1,660-question bank — original exam-style content with full explanations and wrong-answer analysis, never real exam questions or exam dumps. Learn why practice questions differ from exam dumps →
JA
Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
This SAP-C02 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 SAP-C02 exam.