DEA-C01 Data Security and Governance Practice Question
A company is designing a data pipeline using Amazon Kinesis Data Streams. The data includes personally identifiable information (PII). The security team requires that data be encrypted at rest using a customer-managed KMS key. How should the data engineer configure the Kinesis stream?
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
✓
Enable server-side encryption on the Kinesis stream and specify the customer-managed KMS key.
Kinesis Data Streams supports server-side encryption (SSE) using AWS KMS. By enabling SSE and specifying a customer-managed KMS key, the data is encrypted at rest. Option A is incorrect because CloudHSM is not used for Kinesis encryption. Option C is incorrect because storing encrypted data in S3 and streaming keys is not a direct encryption method for the Kinesis stream. Option D is incorrect because client-side encryption is an alternative, but the question specifically requires encryption at rest using a customer-managed KMS key, which is achieved via server-side encryption on the stream itself.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Configure the Kinesis stream to use AWS CloudHSM for encryption.
Why it's wrong here
CloudHSM is not integrated with Kinesis encryption.
- ✓
Enable server-side encryption on the Kinesis stream and specify the customer-managed KMS key.
Why this is correct
Kinesis supports server-side encryption with KMS.
- ✗
Store the encrypted data in S3 and use Kinesis to stream the S3 object keys.
Why it's wrong here
This is not a standard design for Kinesis.
- ✗
Use client-side encryption in the producer application to encrypt data before sending to Kinesis.
Why it's wrong here
Client-side encryption is possible but not a configuration of the stream itself.
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.