DEA-C01 Data Security and Governance Practice Question
A company has a multi-account AWS environment with a centralized data lake in the Security account. Data producers in other accounts use AWS Glue to write data to S3 buckets in the Security account. The Security account uses AWS Lake Formation to manage permissions. The data engineer is setting up cross-account access so that users in the Producer account can query the data using Athena in their own account. The engineer has registered the S3 buckets and Data Catalog tables in Lake Formation. The IAM roles in the Producer account have the necessary permissions. However, when a user in the Producer account tries to query the table, they get an AccessDenied error. The error message indicates that the principal is not authorized to perform lakeformation:GetTable on the resource. What is the most likely cause?
Answer choices
Why each option matters
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
The Lake Formation permissions in the Security account do not include a grant to the Producer account's IAM role.
Lake Formation requires explicit cross-account grants to the producer account's IAM role for the Data Catalog tables. Even if the S3 buckets and Data Catalog tables are registered, the producer account's role must be granted SELECT and DESCRIBE permissions on the table in Lake Formation. Option A is incorrect because a Glue Data Catalog resource policy is not required when Lake Formation is used for cross-account access; Lake Formation handles the authorization. Option B is incorrect because the S3 bucket policy must allow the producer account's role, but the error specifically mentions lakeformation:GetTable, not S3 access. Option C is incorrect because the KMS key policy is not relevant to the lakeformation:GetTable error.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
The Glue Data Catalog resource policy is missing a statement to allow cross-account access.
Why it's wrong here
Lake Formation overrides Data Catalog policies.
- ✗
The S3 bucket policy does not allow the Producer account's IAM role to read the data.
Why it's wrong here
The error is about Lake Formation, not S3.
- ✗
The KMS key policy does not allow the Producer account's IAM role to decrypt objects.
Why it's wrong here
The error does not mention KMS.
- ✓
The Lake Formation permissions in the Security account do not include a grant to the Producer account's IAM role.
Why this is correct
Lake Formation must grant cross-account access to the external IAM role.
Quick reference
AWS S3 Storage Class Comparison
| Storage Class | Min Duration | Retrieval | Use Case |
|---|---|---|---|
| S3 Standard | None | Immediate | Frequently accessed data |
| S3 Standard-IA | 30 days | Immediate | Infrequent access, rapid retrieval |
| S3 One Zone-IA | 30 days | Immediate | Non-critical infrequent data |
| S3 Intelligent-Tiering | None | Immediate–hours | Unknown or changing access patterns |
| S3 Glacier Instant | 90 days | Milliseconds | Archive with instant retrieval |
| S3 Glacier Flexible | 90 days | Minutes–hours | Archive, flexible retrieval |
| S3 Glacier Deep Archive | 180 days | Hours | Long-term compliance archive |
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JA
Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
This DEA-C01 practice question is part of Courseiva's free Amazon Web Services certification practice question bank. Courseiva provides original exam-style practice questions with explanations, topic-based practice, mock exams, readiness tracking, and study analytics to help learners prepare for the DEA-C01 exam.