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Data Protection →hardMultiple ChoiceObjective-mapped

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 is migrating its on-premises data warehouse to AWS. The data includes highly sensitive customer financial information. The company has the following requirements: 1) All data must be encrypted at rest using a key that is managed by the company's internal security team. 2) The encryption keys must be rotated every 90 days. 3) The data warehouse must support SQL queries and be highly available across multiple Availability Zones. 4) The solution must minimize the administrative overhead of managing keys. The security team has chosen Amazon Redshift as the data warehouse. They have enabled encryption using AWS KMS with a customer-managed key (CMK). They have set the key rotation period to 90 days using automatic key rotation. However, during a security review, an auditor points out that the key material is still stored in AWS KMS, and the company wants the key material to be stored in a hardware security module (HSM) that they control. Which of the following is the BEST course of action to meet the auditor's requirement while maintaining the other requirements?

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.

A
Use AWS CloudHSM directly to generate and manage the encryption keys, and configure Redshift to use those keys via the CloudHSM client.
Why wrong: Redshift does not support direct integration with CloudHSM; it only supports KMS.
B
Create a custom key store in AWS KMS backed by an AWS CloudHSM cluster, and use a KMS key in that custom key store to encrypt the Redshift cluster.
This allows the company to control the HSM and store key material in it, while Redshift uses KMS for encryption.
C
Switch to using Amazon S3 server-side encryption with customer-provided keys (SSE-C) and use Redshift Spectrum to query the data.
Why wrong: SSE-C is for S3, not Redshift. Redshift Spectrum can query S3, but the primary data warehouse would not be encrypted with the company's HSM.
D
Generate the key material on-premises and import it into KMS as a customer-managed key, then use that key for Redshift encryption.
Why wrong: Imported key material is stored in KMS, not in the company's HSM. The company does not have control over the HSM.

Full breakdown with real-world context →

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

✓

Create a custom key store in AWS KMS backed by an AWS CloudHSM cluster, and use a KMS key in that custom key store to encrypt the Redshift cluster.

The correct answer is B: Create a custom key store in AWS KMS backed by an AWS CloudHSM cluster, and use a KMS key in that custom key store to encrypt the Redshift cluster. This meets the requirement of storing key material in a company-controlled HSM while allowing automatic key rotation (KMS handles rotation of the key within the custom key store, but note that the actual key material in CloudHSM may need manual rotation depending on policy). Option A is incorrect because AWS CloudHSM alone is not directly supported by Redshift for encryption; Redshift requires integration via KMS custom key store. Option C is incorrect because Amazon S3 server-side encryption with SSE-C is not applicable to Redshift; Redshift is a separate service and cannot use SSE-C. Option D is incorrect because importing key material into KMS still stores the key material in KMS, not in an HSM controlled by the company; the custom key store with CloudHSM is required.

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 directly to generate and manage the encryption keys, and configure Redshift to use those keys via the CloudHSM client.
Why it's wrong here
Redshift does not support direct integration with CloudHSM; it only supports KMS.
✓
Create a custom key store in AWS KMS backed by an AWS CloudHSM cluster, and use a KMS key in that custom key store to encrypt the Redshift cluster.
Why this is correct
This allows the company to control the HSM and store key material in it, while Redshift uses KMS for encryption.
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.
✗
Switch to using Amazon S3 server-side encryption with customer-provided keys (SSE-C) and use Redshift Spectrum to query the data.
Why it's wrong here
SSE-C is for S3, not Redshift. Redshift Spectrum can query S3, but the primary data warehouse would not be encrypted with the company's HSM.
✗
Generate the key material on-premises and import it into KMS as a customer-managed key, then use that key for Redshift encryption.
Why it's wrong here
Imported key material is stored in KMS, not in the company's HSM. The company does not have control over the HSM.

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 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.

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

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.

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FAQ

Questions learners often ask

What does this SCS-C02 question test?

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: Create a custom key store in AWS KMS backed by an AWS CloudHSM cluster, and use a KMS key in that custom key store to encrypt the Redshift cluster. — The correct answer is B: Create a custom key store in AWS KMS backed by an AWS CloudHSM cluster, and use a KMS key in that custom key store to encrypt the Redshift cluster. This meets the requirement of storing key material in a company-controlled HSM while allowing automatic key rotation (KMS handles rotation of the key within the custom key store, but note that the actual key material in CloudHSM may need manual rotation depending on policy). Option A is incorrect because AWS CloudHSM alone is not directly supported by Redshift for encryption; Redshift requires integration via KMS custom key store. Option C is incorrect because Amazon S3 server-side encryption with SSE-C is not applicable to Redshift; Redshift is a separate service and cannot use SSE-C. Option D is incorrect because importing key material into KMS still stores the key material in KMS, not in an HSM controlled by the company; the custom key store with CloudHSM is required.

What should I do if I get this SCS-C02 question wrong?

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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