CV0-004 Security Practice Question
A company stores sensitive customer data in an S3 bucket and must encrypt the data at rest using a key managed by the company (not AWS). Which encryption option should the company use?
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
✓
SSE-C
SSE-C allows customers to provide their own encryption keys; AWS performs encryption/decryption but does not store the 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.
- ✗
Client-side encryption
Why it's wrong here
Client-side encryption encrypts data before sending to S3, but the question implies server-side encryption.
- ✓
SSE-C
Why this is correct
SSE-C uses customer-provided keys; the customer manages the keys outside of AWS.
- ✗
SSE-KMS
Why it's wrong here
SSE-KMS uses AWS KMS but the key can be customer-managed (CMK) but is still managed within AWS KMS.
- ✗
SSE-S3
Why it's wrong here
SSE-S3 uses Amazon-managed keys.
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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JA
Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
This CV0-004 practice question is part of Courseiva's free CompTIA 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 CV0-004 exam.