SCS-C02 Data Protection Practice Question
Which TWO AWS services provide key management for encryption at rest? (Choose 2.)
⚠ Common exam trap
Watch out — candidates often confuse AWS Secrets Manager or Systems Manager Parameter Store as key management services because they store encrypted secrets, but they are secret storage services that rely on KMS for encryption and do not provide independent key management for encryption at rest.
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
✓
AWS CloudHSM
AWS Key Management Service (KMS) is a managed service that makes it easy to create and control customer master keys (CMKs) used for encrypting data at rest across AWS services like S3, EBS, and RDS. AWS CloudHSM provides dedicated hardware security modules (HSMs) that allow you to manage your own encryption keys in a tamper-resistant hardware appliance, meeting FIPS 140-2 Level 3 compliance for key storage and cryptographic operations. Both services directly provide key management for encryption at rest, with KMS offering integrated key rotation and auditing via AWS CloudTrail, while CloudHSM gives you full control over the HSM appliance and keys.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
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AWS Systems Manager Parameter Store
Why it's wrong here
Parameter Store is a hierarchical store for configuration data and plaintext or encrypted strings, but it does not generate or manage encryption keys itself. Any encryption of secure string parameters is delegated to AWS KMS, making Parameter Store a customer of KMS rather than a key management service.
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AWS CloudHSM
Why this is correct
CloudHSM is a dedicated hardware security module that provides FIPS 140-2 Level 3 validated, tamper-resistant devices for generating, storing, and using cryptographic keys. Unlike KMS, CloudHSM gives you exclusive, root-level control over your own HSMs and the entire key lifecycle, independent of AWS-operated key infrastructure.
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AWS Certificate Manager (ACM)
Why it's wrong here
Certificate Manager automates the issuance, renewal, and deployment of public and private SSL/TLS certificates for AWS-integrated resources like Elastic Load Balancing and CloudFront. Although certificates contain key pairs, ACM is scoped to TLS certificate lifecycle management, not general-purpose key management for encrypting data at rest in your applications.
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AWS Key Management Service (KMS)
Why this is correct
KMS is a fully managed service that creates and controls customer master keys (CMKs) used to encrypt data across AWS services and in your own applications via the Encrypt, Decrypt, and GenerateDataKey APIs. It supports automatic key rotation, fine-grained IAM permissions, and integration with AWS CloudTrail for auditing key usage, making it the primary key management service.
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AWS Secrets Manager
Why it's wrong here
Secrets Manager is designed to securely store, rotate, and retrieve application secrets such as database credentials, API tokens, and other sensitive configuration. Encryption of those secrets is performed transparently by AWS KMS using an associated KMS key, so Secrets Manager is a secret storage and rotation service, not a key management service itself.
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 |
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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.