The correct answer is to request a public ACM certificate and associate it with the ALB. AWS Certificate Manager can issue public certificates from trusted Certificate Authorities like Amazon Trust Services at no additional cost, and these certificates support TLS 1.2 or higher, meeting PCI DSS requirements for encrypted data in transit. ACM also handles automatic renewal, minimizing operational overhead by eliminating manual certificate management. On the AWS Certified Security Specialty SCS-C02 exam, this scenario tests your understanding of the difference between ACM-issued public certificates and imported certificates—imported ones require manual renewal, which violates the “minimize overhead” constraint. A common trap is overcomplicating the solution with CloudHSM or CloudFront, but for a simple ALB TLS termination with a trusted public CA, ACM is the native, low-effort choice. Memory tip: “ACM issues, auto-renews, no fuss—PCI compliance on the ALB is a must.”
SCS-C02 Data Protection Practice Question
This SCS-C02 practice question tests your understanding of data protection. The scenario asks you to isolate a root cause — eliminate options that address a different problem before choosing. 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 runs a web application on Amazon EC2 behind an Application Load Balancer (ALB). The application handles payment card information (PCI) and must comply with PCI DSS. The security team wants to ensure that all data in transit between the client and the ALB is encrypted using TLS 1.2 or higher. The ALB currently uses a default certificate from AWS Certificate Manager (ACM) that was issued by Amazon. The compliance team has flagged that the certificate must be issued by a public Certificate Authority (CA) that is trusted by major browsers. The company wants to minimize operational overhead. What should the security team do?
Clue words in this question
Noticing these words before you look at the options changes how you read each choice.
Clue: "minimum / minimize"
Why it matters: Asks for the least resource use — fewest addresses, smallest subnet, lowest overhead. Eliminate over-provisioned options even if they would technically work.
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
Request a public certificate from ACM and associate it with the ALB
Option B is correct because ACM can issue public certificates from trusted CAs at no cost, and they can be automatically renewed. Option A is wrong because importing a certificate requires manual renewal. Option C is wrong because CloudHSM is not needed for this. Option D is wrong because CloudFront is unnecessary overhead.
Key principle: Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
✗
Use AWS CloudHSM to generate a certificate and import it into ACM
Why it's wrong here
CloudHSM adds complexity; ACM public certificates are sufficient.
✗
Configure CloudFront in front of the ALB and use a CloudFront default certificate
Why it's wrong here
CloudFront adds unnecessary complexity; ACM public certificate on ALB works.
✗
Generate a self-signed certificate on the EC2 instance and upload it to ACM, then associate it with the ALB
Why it's wrong here
Self-signed certificates are not trusted by browsers.
✓
Request a public certificate from ACM and associate it with the ALB
Why this is correct
ACM public certificates are issued by trusted CAs and automatically renewed.
Clue confirmation
The clue word "minimum / minimize" in the question point toward this answer.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
Many certification questions include familiar terms but test a specific constraint. Read the exact wording before choosing an answer that is generally true but wrong for this case.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
This question should be treated as a scenario, not a definition check. Identify the problem, the constraint and the best action. Then compare each option against those facts.
KKey Concepts to Remember
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
Find the constraint that changes the correct option.
Eliminate answers that are true in general but not in this case.
Use explanations to understand the rule behind the answer.
TExam Day Tips
→Underline the problem statement mentally.
→Watch for words such as best, first, most likely and least administrative effort.
→Review why wrong options are wrong, not only why the correct option is correct.
Key takeaway
Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Real-world example
How this comes up in practice
A startup's cloud architect reviews their monthly bill and notices costs are higher than expected for a long-running batch job. Switching from on-demand instances to Reserved Instances — or using Spot/Preemptible VMs — can reduce compute costs by up to 72 %. Questions like this test whether you understand the tradeoffs between commitment, flexibility, and cost across cloud pricing models.
What to study next
Got this wrong? Here's your next step.
Identify which SCS-C02 exam domain this question belongs to, then review the specific concept being tested. Practise related questions in that domain and focus on understanding why each wrong answer is tempting — not just why the correct answer is right.
Data Protection — This question tests Data Protection — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
What is the correct answer to this question?
The correct answer is: Request a public certificate from ACM and associate it with the ALB — Option B is correct because ACM can issue public certificates from trusted CAs at no cost, and they can be automatically renewed. Option A is wrong because importing a certificate requires manual renewal. Option C is wrong because CloudHSM is not needed for this. Option D is wrong because CloudFront is unnecessary overhead.
What should I do if I get this SCS-C02 question wrong?
Identify which SCS-C02 exam domain this question belongs to, then review the specific concept being tested. Practise related questions in that domain and focus on understanding why each wrong answer is tempting — not just why the correct answer is right.
Are there clue words in this question I should notice?
Yes — watch for: "minimum / minimize". Asks for the least resource use — fewest addresses, smallest subnet, lowest overhead. Eliminate over-provisioned options even if they would technically work.
What is the key concept behind this question?
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
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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.
Question Discussion
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