ISC Security Planning And Engineering Practice Question
An ISSEP is configuring an AWS S3 bucket. What policy setting best prevents public access while allowing access from a specific VPC?
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
✓
Bucket Policy with 'Condition' element matching 'aws:SourceVpc'.
Using an S3 Bucket Policy with a 'Condition' block that checks the 'aws:SourceVpc' key is the standard way to restrict access to a private network.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Enable 'Block Public Access' and ACLs.
Why it's wrong here
While blocking public access is good, it doesn't specify VPC-only access.
- ✓
Bucket Policy with 'Condition' element matching 'aws:SourceVpc'.
Why this is correct
This restricts bucket access exclusively to the specified VPC.
- ✗
Create an IAM role for every user in the VPC.
Why it's wrong here
This is non-scalable and administratively complex.
- ✗
Use an S3 Pre-signed URL.
Why it's wrong here
Pre-signed URLs are for temporary, one-off access, not network-wide restriction.
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 |
About these practice questions
This ISC question is part of Courseiva's 209-question bank — original exam-style content with full explanations and wrong-answer analysis, never real exam questions or exam 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 August 2026 · checked against the official (ISC)² exam blueprint
This ISC practice question is part of Courseiva's free (ISC)² 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 ISC exam.