SAP-C02 Practice Question: Design Solutions for Organizational Complexity
A company uses a centralized logging account with an S3 bucket that receives VPC Flow Logs from multiple accounts. The logs must be encrypted at rest using a KMS key in the logging account. Which configuration is required to allow cross-account delivery of VPC Flow Logs?
⚠ Common exam trap
Many candidates assume cross-account delivery requires an IAM role (Option B) or that the source account must own the encryption key (Option D), but the correct mechanism uses resource-based policies on the destination bucket and KMS key, not role assumption or source-side key ownership.
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
✓
Add a bucket policy on the logging account's S3 bucket granting the VPC Flow Logs service principal write access, and a KMS key policy granting the same principal encrypt/decrypt permissions.
VPC Flow Logs can be published to an S3 bucket in a different account by using a resource-based bucket policy that grants the VPC Flow Logs service principal (delivery.logs.amazonaws.com) write access. Additionally, since the logs must be encrypted at rest with a KMS key in the logging account, the KMS key policy must also grant the same service principal the kms:Encrypt and kms:Decrypt permissions. This combination allows the cross-account delivery service to write encrypted objects directly into the logging account's bucket.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
Add a bucket policy on the logging account's S3 bucket granting the VPC Flow Logs service principal write access, and a KMS key policy granting the same principal encrypt/decrypt permissions.
Why this is correct
The service principal is 'delivery.logs.amazonaws.com' and needs both bucket and key permissions.
- ✗
Create an IAM role in the logging account that can be assumed by the VPC Flow Logs service.
Why it's wrong here
VPC Flow Logs does not support assuming roles for cross-account delivery.
- ✗
Configure the source account's S3 bucket policy to allow VPC Flow Logs to write logs and replicate them to the logging account.
Why it's wrong here
Replication would add complexity and additional permissions.
- ✗
In the source account, create a KMS key and allow the logging account to use it for encryption.
Why it's wrong here
The encryption key is managed by the logging account, not the source.
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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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.