SAA-C03 Question 54
Single answerAn organization wants to securely provide access to its web application hosted on Amazon EC2 instances behind an Application Load Balancer (ALB). The application requires authentication and authorization for users, but the organization does not want to manage a custom identity solution. Which solution would best meet these requirements?
- A
Enable AWS WAF on the Application Load Balancer to handle authentication and authorization.
- B
Use Amazon Cognito to provide user sign-up, sign-in, and access control integrated with the Application Load Balancer.
- C
Create custom authentication logic in the application code and deploy it on the Amazon EC2 instances.
- D
Use IAM roles and policies to authenticate users directly through the Application Load Balancer.
Show answer and explanation
Correct answer: B
Explanation
Amazon Cognito is the best solution for providing secure application access without the need to manage a custom identity solution. It integrates seamlessly with the Application Load Balancer and can handle user authentication, authorization, and user management. Other options either do not provide authentication and authorization (e.g., AWS WAF and IAM roles) or require additional operational and security effort (e.g., custom authentication logic).
- A. Incorrect.
AWS WAF (Web Application Firewall) is designed to protect web applications from common web exploits, but it does not provide authentication or authorization capabilities.
- B. Correct.
Amazon Cognito is a fully managed service that provides user authentication, sign-up, sign-in, and authorization, and it integrates natively with the Application Load Balancer to secure access to your application.
- C. Incorrect.
While custom authentication logic could achieve the goal, it increases management overhead and security risks compared to a managed service like Amazon Cognito.
- D. Incorrect.
IAM roles and policies are not designed for end-user authentication; they are intended for assigning permissions to AWS services and resources.