This SCS-C02 practice question tests your understanding of data protection. This is a configuration task: choose the command set that satisfies every stated requirement. Small differences — like 'secret' vs 'password' or 'transport input ssh' vs 'all' — change whether the answer is correct. After answering, compare your reasoning against the explanation and wrong-answer breakdown below. Once you have made your selection, read the full explanation to reinforce the concept and understand why each distractor is designed to mislead on exam day.
A company needs to encrypt data in transit between an on-premises data center and Amazon S3. Which solution should they use?
Use AWS KMS to encrypt the data before transmission.
Why wrong: KMS does not handle transit encryption.
Use an S3 VPC endpoint.
Why wrong: VPC endpoints do not encrypt traffic; they use AWS private network.
Use HTTPS endpoints for S3 API calls.
HTTPS provides encryption in transit.
Use S3 Transfer Acceleration.
Why wrong: Transfer Acceleration uses HTTPS but is for speed, not primarily for encryption.
Answer choices
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
Use HTTPS endpoints for S3 API calls.
Option C is correct because HTTPS (HTTP over TLS) encrypts data in transit between the on-premises data center and Amazon S3 by using TLS 1.2/1.3 to secure the API calls. This ensures that all data transmitted over the network is encrypted end-to-end, protecting it from eavesdropping and man-in-the-middle attacks. AWS S3 enforces HTTPS for all API requests when using the default endpoint, and customers can also configure bucket policies to deny HTTP requests.
Key principle: Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Answer analysis
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
Use AWS KMS to encrypt the data before transmission.
Why it's wrong here
KMS does not handle transit encryption.
Use an S3 VPC endpoint.
Why it's wrong here
VPC endpoints do not encrypt traffic; they use AWS private network.
Use HTTPS endpoints for S3 API calls.
Why this is correct
HTTPS provides encryption in transit.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
Use S3 Transfer Acceleration.
Why it's wrong here
Transfer Acceleration uses HTTPS but is for speed, not primarily for encryption.
Common exam traps
The trap here is that candidates often confuse encryption at rest (KMS) with encryption in transit, or assume that network-level features like VPC endpoints or Transfer Acceleration inherently provide encryption, when in fact they do not add transport-layer security beyond what HTTPS already provides.
Detailed technical explanation
HTTPS for S3 uses TLS 1.2 or 1.3 to encrypt the HTTP payload, headers, and metadata, ensuring confidentiality and integrity of the entire request. Under the hood, the TLS handshake negotiates cipher suites and exchanges certificates, and AWS S3 supports Perfect Forward Secrecy (PFS) using ephemeral Diffie-Hellman key exchange. In a real-world scenario, a company might enforce HTTPS-only access via an S3 bucket policy that denies requests with `aws:SecureTransport` set to false, ensuring no unencrypted traffic is allowed.
Key takeaway
Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Real-world example
A media company stores terabytes of video archives that are accessed once a year for audit purposes. Moving these objects to a cold storage tier (Azure Archive, S3 Glacier, or Google Nearline) costs a fraction of hot storage. Questions like this test whether you understand storage tiers, access frequency tradeoffs, and retrieval latency requirements.
What to study next
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FAQ
Data Protection — This question tests Data Protection — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
The correct answer is: Use HTTPS endpoints for S3 API calls. — Option C is correct because HTTPS (HTTP over TLS) encrypts data in transit between the on-premises data center and Amazon S3 by using TLS 1.2/1.3 to secure the API calls. This ensures that all data transmitted over the network is encrypted end-to-end, protecting it from eavesdropping and man-in-the-middle attacks. AWS S3 enforces HTTPS for all API requests when using the default endpoint, and customers can also configure bucket policies to deny HTTP requests.
Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
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Last reviewed: Jun 24, 2026
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.
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