SCS-C02 Infrastructure Security Practice Question
A company is using AWS CloudFormation to deploy infrastructure. The security team wants to ensure that all Amazon S3 buckets created by CloudFormation are encrypted by default. Which approach should be taken?
⚠ Common exam trap
Test-takers frequently confuse bucket-level default encryption (which can be overridden by individual requests) with object-level enforcement via bucket policy conditions, leading them to choose AWS Config rules or IAM policies that do not guarantee encryption on every object upload.
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 a bucket policy with a condition that denies s3:PutObject if the x-amz-server-side-encryption header is not present.
A bucket policy with a condition that denies s3:PutObject unless the x-amz-server-side-encryption header is present ensures that any object uploaded to the bucket must include encryption headers. This enforces server-side encryption at the object level, which is the most direct way to guarantee encryption for all objects placed into S3 buckets created by CloudFormation.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Configure an IAM policy that requires all S3 operations to use encryption.
Why it's wrong here
IAM policies can require encryption but apply to users, not to buckets.
- ✗
Set a bucket policy in the CloudFormation template that denies all actions unless encryption is enabled.
Why it's wrong here
Bucket policies are per bucket, not a global setting.
- ✗
Enable AWS Config rule s3-bucket-server-side-encryption-enabled to enforce encryption.
Why it's wrong here
AWS Config detects non-compliance but does not enforce encryption automatically.
- ✓
Use a bucket policy with a condition that denies s3:PutObject if the x-amz-server-side-encryption header is not present.
Why this is correct
This policy enforces encryption on object uploads.
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 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.