AWS Certified Solutions Architect - Professional / Question #946 of 529

Question #946

A company uses an Amazon S3 bucket to store sensitive financial records that must remain unaltered for a minimum of 2 years. The compliance team is concerned that compromised credentials could lead to data tampering or deletion. Which solution ensures all current and future objects are immutable for the required duration?

A

Create a new AWS account accessible only via an IAM role. In the new account, create an S3 bucket with Versioning and Object Lock in Governance mode. Configure a default retention period of 2 years. Set up replication from the existing S3 bucket to the new bucket. Use S3 Batch Operations to copy all existing objects to the new bucket.

B

Enable the s3-bucket-versioning-enabled AWS Config rule. Configure an automatic remediation action using AWS Lambda to enforce S3 Versioning and MFA Delete. Add an S3 Lifecycle rule to transition objects to Glacier after 2 years.

C

Define an AWS Service Catalog product requiring S3 Versioning and Object Lock with a 2-year retention period. Restrict bucket creation to Service Catalog users. Authorize users to provision compliant buckets but do not address existing data.

D

Enable Amazon GuardDuty with S3 protection and logging. Implement an S3 Lifecycle policy to delete objects after 2 years. Rely on GuardDuty alerts to detect unauthorized deletion attempts.

Explanation

The correct answer is A because it uses S3 Object Lock in Governance mode with a default retention period of 2 years, ensuring all objects (existing and new) are immutable. Key points:
1. Object Lock: Enforces WORM (Write-Once-Read-Many) compliance, preventing tampering or deletion.
2. Replication & Batch Operations: Ensures existing objects are copied with retention settings, and new objects inherit the policy via replication.
3. Separate AWS Account: Limits access via IAM roles, reducing risk from compromised credentials.

Other options are incorrect because:
- B: Relies on MFA Delete and Lifecycle rules, which do not enforce immutability. Glacier transitions do not prevent deletion before 2 years.
- C: Only applies to new buckets created via Service Catalog, ignoring existing data.
- D: GuardDuty detects threats but does not prevent deletion. Lifecycle policy deletes objects, conflicting with the requirement.

Key Takeaway: S3 Object Lock with Governance/Compliance mode and Versioning is critical for immutable storage. Replication and Batch Operations ensure existing data compliance.

Answer

The correct answer is: A