SOA-C02 Security and Compliance Practice Question
A company has an S3 bucket that contains sensitive customer data. The security team requires that all data in transit to and from the bucket must be encrypted. Which bucket policy condition should be used?
⚠ Common exam trap
The trap is confusing encryption at rest condition keys (s3:x-amz-server-side-encryption) with encryption in transit (aws:SecureTransport), causing candidates to pick a key that enforces SSE instead of HTTPS.
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:SecureTransport
The aws:SecureTransport condition key in an S3 bucket policy checks whether the request was sent using SSL/TLS. Setting it to 'true' denies any requests that are not encrypted in transit, enforcing HTTPS for all access to the bucket. This directly meets the requirement that all data in transit must be encrypted.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
aws:SecureTransport
Why this is correct
aws:SecureTransport is the legitimate boolean condition key used in S3 bucket policies to verify whether the request was made over HTTPS/TLS. When you set "Bool": {"aws:SecureTransport": "true"} in a Deny statement, you explicitly block any request that uses plain HTTP, ensuring all data transmitted to and from the bucket is encrypted in transit. This directly satisfies the requirement to enforce secure transport.
- ✗
s3:x-amz-server-side-encryption-aws-kms-key-id
Why it's wrong here
s3:x-amz-server-side-encryption-aws-kms-key-id is a condition key that evaluates the specific AWS KMS customer managed key (CMK) used to encrypt an object at rest with SSE-KMS. It has no bearing on how the request itself is transmitted; an object can be encrypted at rest with the specified KMS key while still being uploaded or downloaded over an insecure HTTP connection. Therefore, this condition does nothing to enforce encryption in transit.
- ✗
s3:x-amz-server-side-encryption
Why it's wrong here
s3:x-amz-server-side-encryption is a condition key that checks the value of the x-amz-server-side-encryption header, which indicates whether the object is encrypted at rest using SSE-S3 (AES256) or SSE-KMS (aws:kms). It only governs server-side encryption of the stored object and ignores whether the client-to-S3 connection is TLS-protected. Using this condition alone leaves the bucket vulnerable to requests sent in cleartext, so it cannot enforce HTTPS-only access.
- ✗
aws:TLSSupport
Why it's wrong here
aws:TLSSupport is not a valid AWS condition key. AWS condition keys follow a documented namespace and name pattern, and there is no aws:TLSSupport key available for use in S3 bucket policies. If you attempted to reference it, the policy would either fail to be saved or, if accepted, would never match. The correct key for checking transport-layer security is aws:SecureTransport.
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 |
Go deeper
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About these practice questions
Courseiva writes every SOA-C02 question from scratch — 1,169 in total, each with an explanation and a wrong-answer breakdown. None are copied from real exams or dumps. Learn why practice questions differ from exam dumps →
JA
Written and reviewed by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
Last reviewed September 2026 · checked against the official Amazon Web Services exam blueprint
This SOA-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 SOA-C02 exam.