AWS Certified Security – Specialty (SCS-C02) — Question 41

A company accidentally deleted the private key for an Amazon Elastic Block Store (Amazon EBS)-backed Amazon EC2 instance. A security engineer needs to regain access to the instance.
Which combination of steps will meet this requirement? (Choose two.)

Answer options

• A. Stop the instance. Detach the root volume. Generate a new key pair.
• B. Keep the instance running. Detach the root volume. Generate a new key pair.
• C. When the volume is detached from the original instance, attach the volume to another instance as a data volume. Modify the authorized_keys file with a new public key. Move the volume back to the original instance. Start the instance.
• D. When the volume is detached from the original instance, attach the volume to another instance as a data volume. Modify the authorized_keys file with a new private key. Move the volume back to the original instance. Start the instance.
• E. When the volume is detached from the original instance, attach the volume to another instance as a data volume. Modify the authorized_keys file with a new public key. Move the volume back to the original instance that is running.

Correct answer: A, C

Explanation

The correct steps involve stopping the instance and detaching the root volume to safely make changes. Modifying the authorized_keys file on another instance with a new public key allows for regaining access, which is correctly described in options A and C. The other options either keep the instance running or incorrectly mention using a private key, which is not valid in this context.