AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Professional (SAP-C02) — Question 108

A solutions architect is auditing the security setup or an AWS Lambda function for a company. The Lambda function retrieves, the latest changes from an Amazon Aurora database. The Lambda function and the database run in the same VPC. Lambda environment variables are providing the database credentials to the Lambda function.

The Lambda function aggregates data and makes the data available in an Amazon S3 bucket that is configured for server-side encryption with AWS KMS managed encryption keys (SSE-KMS). The data must not travel across the Internet. If any database credentials become compromised, the company needs a solution that minimizes the impact of the compromise.

What should the solutions architect recommend to meet these requirements?

Answer options

• A. Enable IAM database authentication on the Aurora DB cluster. Change the IAM role for the Lambda function to allow the function to access the database by using IAM database authentication. Deploy a gateway VPC endpoint for Amazon S3 in the VPC.
• B. Enable IAM database authentication on the Aurora DB cluster. Change the IAM role for the Lambda function to allow the function to access the database by using IAM database authentication. Enforce HTTPS on the connection to Amazon S3 during data transfers.
• C. Save the database credentials in AWS Systems Manager Parameter Store. Set up password rotation on the credentials in Parameter Store. Change the IAM role for the Lambda function to allow the function to access Parameter Store. Modify the Lambda function to retrieve the credentials from Parameter Store. Deploy a gateway VPC endpoint for Amazon S3 in the VPC.
• D. Save the database credentials in AWS Secrets Manager. Set up password rotation on the credentials in Secrets Manager. Change the IAM role for the Lambda function to allow the function to access Secrets Manager. Modify the Lambda function to retrieve the credentials from Secrets Manager. Enforce HTTPS on the connection to Amazon S3 during data transfers.

Correct answer: A

Explanation

Option A is correct because enabling IAM database authentication allows the Lambda function to securely access the Aurora database without hardcoding credentials, and deploying a gateway VPC endpoint ensures that data remains within the AWS network. Options B and D suggest using HTTPS or Secrets Manager, which do not specifically address the requirement to minimize the impact of compromised credentials as effectively as option A. Option C uses Systems Manager Parameter Store, which is not as secure as IAM database authentication for this scenario.