SCS-C02 Data Protection Practice Question
A company is implementing a data protection strategy for its Amazon S3 bucket that contains sensitive data. The company requires that all objects be encrypted at rest using server-side encryption with a customer managed key (SSE-KMS). Additionally, the company wants to ensure that only a specific IAM role can decrypt objects. Which THREE actions should the company take?
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
✓
Attach an IAM policy to the specific role that grants kms:Decrypt on the customer managed key
To enforce SSE-KMS, use a bucket policy that denies s3:PutObject unless the request includes the x-amz-server-side-encryption header with value aws:kms (option B). To control decryption, grant kms:Decrypt to the specific role via an IAM policy (option A) and modify the KMS key policy to allow that role (option D). Option C is incorrect because SSE-S3 does not use a customer managed key. Option E is incorrect because client-side encryption is not S3 server-side encryption.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
Attach an IAM policy to the specific role that grants kms:Decrypt on the customer managed key
Why this is correct
Allows decryption by that role.
- ✓
Create a bucket policy that denies s3:PutObject unless the request includes the x-amz-server-side-encryption header with value aws:kms
Why this is correct
Enforces SSE-KMS on upload.
- ✗
Use the default S3-managed key (SSE-S3) for encryption
Why it's wrong here
Does not use customer managed key.
- ✓
Modify the KMS key policy to allow the specific IAM role to use the key for decryption
Why this is correct
Key policy grants decryption.
- ✗
Use client-side encryption with a customer managed key
Why it's wrong here
Client-side encryption is not server-side 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
Related to this question
About these practice questions
This SCS-C02 question is part of Courseiva's 376-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 SCS-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 SCS-C02 exam.