PostgreSQL: automated, encrypted backups to Amazon S3

The data team of a fintech in Douala keeps its PostgreSQL backups on the application server's disk. A disk failure in July cost two days of transactions: management now demands daily backups, encrypted, stored off the server and verifiable. In this scenario, you take over the infrastructure as it stands: a PostgreSQL payments database that receives a new transaction every two seconds, and an empty S3 bucket. It is up to you to build the complete backup chain: extraction with pg_dump, encryption, upload to S3, rotation of old copies and an alert on failure. The sandbox is ready: PostgreSQL, the AWS CLI and an IAM role restricted to your bucket are already in place, and you open the terminal directly in your browser, with no SSH key. You spend the session on backup logic, not on installing tools. At the end, you deliberately drop a table and prove that your backup gets you back on your feet.