DEA-C01 Data Security and Governance Practice Question
A company has multiple AWS accounts and wants to centrally manage permissions and access to data lakes. They have enabled AWS Organizations and want to use a single set of policies that apply to all accounts. Which policy type should be used at the organization level?
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
✓
Service control policies (SCPs)
Service Control Policies (SCPs) are used in AWS Organizations to centrally manage permissions across accounts. Option A (IAM policies) are attached to IAM users/roles within an account, not across accounts. Option B (KMS key policies) control access to KMS keys. Option C (S3 bucket policies) are specific to S3 buckets.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
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IAM policies
Why it's wrong here
IAM policies attach to identities or resources within a single account, so they cannot apply one policy set across all accounts in AWS Organizations. They are tempting because they define permissions, and would be correct for granting a specific user or role access within one account.
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KMS key policies
Why it's wrong here
KMS key policies govern cryptographic key usage, not data-lake permission management across accounts. They are tempting because they are resource-based and central to encrypted data lakes, and would be correct when defining which principals may encrypt or decrypt data under a specific customer managed key.
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S3 bucket policies
Why it's wrong here
S3 bucket policies attach to individual buckets, so they cannot deliver one policy set across every account in AWS Organizations. They are tempting because they govern data-lake access, and would be correct for granting cross-account access to a specific bucket rather than organisation-wide control.
- ✓
Service control policies (SCPs)
Why this is correct
SCPs are the only AWS Organizations policy type that sets permission guardrails inherited by every member account, centrally restricting what principals can do. Applied at the organisation or OU level, they satisfy the requirement for one policy set governing all accounts.
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 |
Go deeper
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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.