SAP-C02 Design for New Solutions Practice Question
A company is designing a new containerized application on Amazon EKS. The application must be able to access secrets (e.g., database credentials) securely. The company requires that secrets be automatically rotated and audited. Which THREE actions should the company take to meet these requirements?
⚠ Common exam trap
A common mix-up: candidates think mounting the CSI driver without ASCP (Option A) is sufficient, but ASCP is the critical component that bridges the CSI driver to AWS Secrets Manager, and without it, the driver cannot retrieve secrets from AWS.
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 IAM roles for service accounts (IRSA) to grant pods access to Secrets Manager
IAM Roles for Service Accounts (IRSA) allows pods in Amazon EKS to assume an IAM role with fine-grained permissions, enabling secure access to AWS Secrets Manager without embedding long-term credentials. This approach integrates with AWS IAM to provide temporary credentials via OIDC federation, ensuring that only authorized pods can retrieve secrets.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Mount the Secrets Store CSI Driver volume directly to the pod without using ASCP
Why it's wrong here
ASCP is recommended for integration with Secrets Manager.
- ✓
Use IAM roles for service accounts (IRSA) to grant pods access to Secrets Manager
Why this is correct
IRSA provides fine-grained permissions for pods.
- ✓
Store secrets in AWS Secrets Manager and enable automatic rotation
Why this is correct
Secrets Manager supports automatic rotation.
- ✓
Use the AWS Secrets and Configuration Provider (ASCP) for the Secrets Store CSI Driver to inject secrets into pods
Why this is correct
ASCP injects secrets securely into pods.
- ✗
Store secrets in Kubernetes Secrets and use a ConfigMap to reference them
Why it's wrong here
Kubernetes Secrets are not automatically rotated and are less secure.
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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.