A company is planning to use Amazon S3 to archive financial data. The data is currently stored in an on-premises data center. The company uses AWS Direct Connect with a Direct Connect gateway and a transit gateway to connect to the on-premises data center. The data cannot be transported over the public internet and must be encrypted in transit. Which solution will meet these requirements?

This solution establishes a fully private and encrypted path from the on-premises data center to Amazon S3. A transit VIF on Direct Connect connects to a transit gateway, keeping traffic off the public internet. An IPsec VPN connection over this transit VIF provides strong, network-level encryption for all data in transit. Attaching the VPC to the transit gateway and using an interface VPC endpoint for S3 ensures that traffic from the VPC to S3 also remains on the AWS private network. Finally, using HTTPS provides an additional layer of application-level encryption, creating a defense-in-depth security posture suitable for sensitive financial data.

A. A public VIF routes traffic over the public AWS network, which does not meet the requirement to avoid the public internet for data transport.
C. This solution provides a private path but lacks the network-level encryption of an IPsec VPN, relying solely on HTTPS. For sensitive financial data, an IPsec VPN is a best practice.
D. This describes an invalid architecture. An IPsec VPN over a public VIF connects to a Virtual Private Gateway (VGW), not directly to a transit gateway.

1. AWS Documentation. (2023). AWS Direct Connect User Guide - AWS Direct Connect connections. AWS. Retrieved from https://docs.aws.amazon.com/directconnect/latest/UserGuide/WorkingWithConnections.html (See section on "Virtual interfaces" explaining public vs. private/transit VIFs).

2. AWS Documentation. (2023). AWS Site-to-Site VPN User Guide - AWS Site-to-Site VPN connections with AWS Direct Connect. AWS. Retrieved from https://docs.aws.amazon.com/vpn/latest/s2svpn/VPNCloudHubArchitecture.html (Describes creating an IPsec VPN over a Direct Connect connection for added security).

3. AWS Documentation. (2023). AWS PrivateLink Guide - Access an AWS service using an interface VPC endpoint. AWS. Retrieved from https://docs.aws.amazon.com/vpc/latest/privatelink/privatelink-access-aws-services.html (Explains how interface endpoints keep traffic to services like S3 within the AWS network).