AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner — Question 645

Which credential allows programmatic access to AWS resources for use from toe AWS CLI or the AWS API?

Answer options

• A. User name and password
• B. Access keys
• C. SSH public keys
• D. AWS Key Management Service (AWS KMS) keys

Correct answer: B

Explanation

Access keys, which consist of an access key ID and a secret access key, are specifically used to send programmatic requests to AWS via the AWS CLI, AWS SDKs, or direct API calls. Usernames and passwords are intended for logging into the web-based AWS Management Console, while SSH keys are used for Git authentication or EC2 instance access, and KMS keys are used for data encryption rather than IAM authentication.