SOA-C02 Security and Compliance Practice Question
A company wants to provide temporary security credentials to a mobile application so it can access an S3 bucket. Which AWS service should be used to issue these credentials?
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
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AWS Security Token Service (STS)
AWS Security Token Service (STS) is specifically designed to generate temporary security credentials for users and applications. Option A is incorrect: Amazon Cognito can issue temporary credentials via identity pools, but STS is the direct service for temporary credentials. Option B is incorrect: AWS KMS manages encryption keys, not credentials. Option D is incorrect: IAM manages long-term user credentials, not temporary ones.
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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Amazon Cognito
Why it's wrong here
Amazon Cognito identity pools can act as an identity broker, letting authenticated users exchange tokens for AWS credentials, but the actual credential issuance is performed by AWS Security Token Service (STS) under the hood. Cognito does not generate session tokens or execute STS API calls; it simply integrates with STS, so it is not the correct service for directly providing temporary credentials. Understanding this layered responsibility keeps Cognito distinct from the core STS service.
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AWS Key Management Service (KMS)
Why it's wrong here
AWS Key Management Service (KMS) is a managed service for creating, rotating, and controlling the cryptographic keys used for encrypting data. It has no API that returns AWS access keys, secret access keys, or session tokens—temporary security credentials are authentication artifacts, not encryption keys. Using KMS would provide no mechanism for impersonating an IAM principal or federated user; it exists solely for envelope encryption and key management.
- ✓
AWS Security Token Service (STS)
Why this is correct
AWS Security Token Service (STS) is the authoritative AWS service that vends temporary security credentials, returning an access key, a secret key, a session token, and an expiration timestamp. It provides APIs such as AssumeRole, GetFederationToken, AssumeRoleWithSAML, and AssumeRoleWithWebIdentity to support cross-account access, role delegation, and identity federation. These credentials automatically expire and carry the permissions of the assumed role, which is exactly what the company needs for short-lived, limited-privilege access.
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AWS Identity and Access Management (IAM)
Why it's wrong here
AWS Identity and Access Management (IAM) is the control plane for defining users, groups, roles, and permission policies, but it does not directly issue temporary credentials. IAM users are provisioned with long-term access keys that do not expire, while IAM roles are credentials-neutral principals that merely define a trust policy and a permissions policy. The actual issuance of short-lived credentials for a role is always done by STS via AssumeRole or a similar call, so IAM alone cannot fulfill the requirement.
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 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.