COF-C03 Question 9
Single answerCompare and contrast the different Snowflake editionsA healthcare analytics company is moving a regulated workload to Snowflake. The security team requires support for customer-managed encryption keys and needs a higher level of business continuity than the standard edition provides. However, the company does not currently need organization-wide account management features for multiple business units. Which Snowflake edition best meets these requirements with the least unnecessary cost?
- A
Standard Edition, because it supports all core security capabilities and cross-region replication by default
- B
Enterprise Edition, because it includes all advanced security features such as Tri-Secret Secure and the highest business continuity capabilities
- C
Business Critical Edition, because it adds enhanced security features like customer-managed keys and is designed for organizations with stricter data protection requirements
- D
Virtual Private Snowflake (VPS), because it is the only edition that supports customer-managed encryption keys and account-level isolation
Show answer and explanation
Correct answer: C
Explanation
The key requirement in this scenario is support for customer-managed encryption keys, which points to Business Critical Edition through Tri-Secret Secure. Snowflake editions are differentiated by features related to security, governance, business continuity, and deployment isolation, not by basic SQL functionality alone. Standard Edition covers core platform use cases. Enterprise Edition adds capabilities such as extended Time Travel and multi-cluster warehouses, but not the customer-managed key capability required here. Business Critical Edition is the appropriate fit for regulated workloads needing enhanced security and compliance features. Virtual Private Snowflake offers additional isolation as a separate deployment model, but it is typically selected only when dedicated environment isolation is specifically required. This aligns with Snowflake documentation on edition-based feature availability and security-focused best practices for regulated workloads.
- A. Incorrect.
Incorrect. Standard Edition includes core Snowflake functionality, but it does not provide the enhanced security capabilities required for highly regulated workloads, such as Tri-Secret Secure with customer-managed keys. The statement about cross-region replication being available by default in Standard Edition is also incorrect. This option reflects a common misconception that all editions differ only by scale or performance.
- B. Incorrect.
Incorrect. Enterprise Edition adds features such as multi-cluster warehouses, extended Time Travel, and some advanced governance capabilities, but customer-managed keys through Tri-Secret Secure are associated with Business Critical Edition. Also, saying Enterprise provides the highest business continuity capabilities is inaccurate in this context. This distractor is plausible because Enterprise is often assumed to include the most important advanced features, but it does not satisfy the specific encryption-key requirement here.
- C. Correct.
Correct. Business Critical Edition is intended for organizations with more stringent security and compliance requirements. It includes enhanced data protection capabilities, including support for Tri-Secret Secure, which enables customer-managed keys. It is therefore the most appropriate choice when the requirement is stronger security and compliance without necessarily needing features associated with broader organizational isolation strategies beyond this use case.
- D. Incorrect.
Incorrect. Virtual Private Snowflake provides a dedicated Snowflake environment and greater isolation, but it is not the least-cost option for the stated requirements. The scenario explicitly says the company does not currently need broader organization-wide isolation or similar higher-end deployment characteristics. Choosing VPS would exceed the stated requirements and increase cost unnecessarily. This option targets the misconception that the most isolated deployment is always required for regulated data.