SAP-C02 Design for New Solutions Practice Question
A company is designing a new application that will process sensitive financial data. They need to ensure that data at rest is encrypted using customer-provided encryption keys (SSE-C) in Amazon S3. Which action is required to enable this?
⚠ Common exam trap
Candidates often confuse SSE-C with SSE-KMS or SSE-S3, assuming that a bucket policy or default encryption alone can enforce customer-provided keys, when in fact SSE-C requires the key to be explicitly supplied in every request.
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
✓
Provide the encryption key in the request headers
SSE-C requires the customer to provide the encryption key in the request headers when uploading or accessing objects. Amazon S3 uses the provided key to encrypt data at rest and then discards the key; the customer is responsible for managing the key lifecycle. This is the only way to enforce customer-provided encryption keys at the object level.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Use AWS KMS to generate a key
Why it's wrong here
AWS KMS generates and stores keys server-side, producing SSE-KMS, where S3 or KMS holds the key material. SSE-C requires the client to supply the AES-256 key on every request, so S3 never stores it. KMS is correct when you want managed key rotation and audit trails without handling key material yourself.
- ✗
Enable default encryption on the bucket
Why it's wrong here
SSE-C requires the client to supply the encryption key and algorithm with every PUT or GET request; enabling default encryption configures SSE-S3 or SSE-KMS instead, which uses AWS-managed or KMS keys. It tempts because default encryption does enforce at-rest encryption, but not with customer-provided keys.
- ✓
Provide the encryption key in the request headers
Why this is correct
SSE-C requires the customer to supply the encryption key with every request rather than storing it in S3; S3 uses the key to encrypt or decrypt the object and then discards it. Passing the key via request headers satisfies the stem's customer-provided-key constraint without AWS retaining it.
- ✗
Configure a bucket policy to require SSE-C
Why it's wrong here
A bucket policy only enforces that requests must supply SSE-C headers; it cannot enable encryption itself, and S3 rejects unsigned or unencrypted uploads. It is tempting because bucket policies do govern access conditions, and are the right tool when you want to deny non-compliant PUTs rather than perform the 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 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.