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Question 826 of 1,748

Data Protection →easyMultiple 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 uses AWS KMS to encrypt data at rest in Amazon S3. The security team wants to ensure that only users with a specific IAM role can decrypt objects. What is the MOST secure way to achieve this?

A
Use a customer managed KMS key with a key policy that grants kms:Decrypt only to the specific IAM role, and configure the S3 bucket policy to allow only that role to access the bucket.
Key policy controls who can decrypt, bucket policy controls access to the object.
B
Enable automatic key rotation in KMS and assign the key to the IAM role.
Why wrong: Key rotation does not control access; it only changes the underlying cryptographic material.
C
Configure an S3 bucket policy that denies all users except the specific IAM role.
Why wrong: Bucket policy controls access to the object, not decryption of the object if it is encrypted.
D
Use S3 default encryption with an AWS managed key and trust the IAM role.
Why wrong: Default encryption with AWS managed key does not restrict decryption to a specific role.

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

✓

Use a customer managed KMS key with a key policy that grants kms:Decrypt only to the specific IAM role, and configure the S3 bucket policy to allow only that role to access the bucket.

Option A is the most secure approach because it uses a customer managed KMS key with a key policy that grants kms:Decrypt only to the specific IAM role. Combined with an S3 bucket policy that restricts bucket access to that same role, this ensures that only the designated role can both access the S3 objects and decrypt them. Option B is incorrect because automatic key rotation does not control access permissions. Option C is incorrect because the S3 bucket policy alone cannot control decryption permissions; the KMS key policy is also required. Option D is incorrect because using an AWS managed key and S3 default encryption does not restrict decryption to a specific IAM role.

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 a customer managed KMS key with a key policy that grants kms:Decrypt only to the specific IAM role, and configure the S3 bucket policy to allow only that role to access the bucket.
Why this is correct
Key policy controls who can decrypt, bucket policy controls access to the object.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
✗
Enable automatic key rotation in KMS and assign the key to the IAM role.
Why it's wrong here
Key rotation does not control access; it only changes the underlying cryptographic material.
✗
Configure an S3 bucket policy that denies all users except the specific IAM role.
Why it's wrong here
Bucket policy controls access to the object, not decryption of the object if it is encrypted.
✗
Use S3 default encryption with an AWS managed key and trust the IAM role.
Why it's wrong here
Default encryption with AWS managed key does not restrict decryption to a specific role.

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: Use a customer managed KMS key with a key policy that grants kms:Decrypt only to the specific IAM role, and configure the S3 bucket policy to allow only that role to access the bucket. — Option A is the most secure approach because it uses a customer managed KMS key with a key policy that grants kms:Decrypt only to the specific IAM role. Combined with an S3 bucket policy that restricts bucket access to that same role, this ensures that only the designated role can both access the S3 objects and decrypt them. Option B is incorrect because automatic key rotation does not control access permissions. Option C is incorrect because the S3 bucket policy alone cannot control decryption permissions; the KMS key policy is also required. Option D is incorrect because using an AWS managed key and S3 default encryption does not restrict decryption to a specific IAM role.

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

What is the key concept behind this question?

Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.

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