DEA-C01 Data Security and Governance Practice Question
A company is using Amazon EMR to process data stored in Amazon S3. The S3 bucket is configured with a bucket policy that denies access unless the request includes a specific tag. The EMR cluster's IAM role has s3:GetObject permission. However, the EMR job fails to read data from S3. What is the most likely cause?
⚠ Common exam trap
AWS often tests the interaction between IAM policies and S3 bucket policies, specifically that a bucket policy with a deny condition can override IAM permissions, and candidates mistakenly think the issue is missing IAM permissions rather than a missing condition in the request.
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 IAM role does not have a condition that matches the required tag.
The bucket policy denies access unless the request includes a specific tag. Even though the EMR cluster's IAM role has s3:GetObject permission, the IAM role does not have a condition key (e.g., aws:RequestTag) that matches the required tag. Therefore, the request is denied by the bucket policy, causing the EMR job to fail.
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 bucket policy is not attached to the EMR role.
Why it's wrong here
Bucket policies are attached to buckets, not roles.
- ✗
The EMR cluster is not in the same account as the S3 bucket.
Why it's wrong here
Cross-account access could work with proper permissions, but the issue is the tag.
- ✓
The IAM role does not have a condition that matches the required tag.
Why this is correct
The bucket policy requires a tag, and the role must have a matching condition.
- ✗
The EMR role does not have s3:GetObject permission.
Why it's wrong here
The role has the permission, but the bucket policy denies access without the tag.
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.