AWS Certified SysOps Administrator – Associate (legacy) — Question 835

Your customers are concerned about the security of their sensitive data and their inquiry asks about what happens to old storage devices on AWS. What would be the best answer to this question?

Answer options

• A. AWS uses a 3rd party security organization to destroy data as part of the decommissioning pro-cess.
• B. AWS uses the techniques detailed in DoD 5220.22-M to destroy data as part of the decommis-sioning process.
• C. AWS reformats the disks and uses them again.
• D. AWS uses their own proprietary software to destroy data as part of the decommissioning pro-cess.

Correct answer: B

Explanation

When storage devices reach the end of their lifecycle, AWS decommissions them using highly secure sanitization procedures that align with established standards like DoD 5220.22-M. Simply reformatting the drives is inadequate for sensitive data, and AWS relies on these recognized federal standards rather than proprietary software or external third-party organizations to define their destruction protocols.