SAP-C02 Design for New Solutions Practice Question
A company is designing a new application that will store sensitive user data in Amazon S3. Compliance requirements mandate that all data must be encrypted at rest using a key that is managed by the company and rotated automatically every year. Which solution meets these requirements?
⚠ Common exam trap
Candidates often confuse SSE-C (customer-provided keys) with customer managed keys, but SSE-C does not support automatic rotation and requires the customer to manage key material outside AWS, whereas SSE-KMS with customer managed keys provides automatic rotation and is the correct choice for company-managed keys with rotation.
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
✓
Use S3 server-side encryption with AWS KMS customer managed keys (SSE-KMS) and enable automatic key rotation.
SSE-KMS with customer managed keys (CMKs) meets the compliance requirements because it allows the company to manage the encryption key lifecycle, including automatic annual rotation. AWS KMS supports automatic key rotation for customer managed keys, which can be configured to rotate every year, satisfying the mandate for company-managed keys with automatic rotation.
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 S3 server-side encryption with AWS KMS customer managed keys (SSE-KMS) and enable automatic key rotation.
Why this is correct
Customer managed keys can be rotated automatically yearly.
- ✗
Use client-side encryption with the AWS SDK.
Why it's wrong here
Keys are managed client-side, not in AWS.
- ✗
Use S3 server-side encryption with customer-provided keys (SSE-C).
Why it's wrong here
Keys must be provided with each request; rotation is manual.
- ✗
Use S3 server-side encryption with S3 managed keys (SSE-S3).
Why it's wrong here
Keys are managed by AWS, not the company.
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
Courseiva writes every SAP-C02 question from scratch — 1,660 in total, each with an explanation and a wrong-answer breakdown. None are copied from real exams or 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.