DEA-C01 Data Security and Governance Practice Question
A company is using an Amazon RDS for PostgreSQL database to store personally identifiable information (PII). The security team wants to ensure that database administrators cannot view the plaintext PII data. Which solution should a data engineer implement?
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
✓
Use client-side encryption with AWS KMS to encrypt PII before inserting into the database
Using AWS KMS with client-side encryption ensures that data is encrypted before being sent to RDS, so database administrators cannot read the plaintext. Dynamic data masking in RDS is not natively supported; application-level masking would be needed. RDS encryption at rest protects data on disk but DBAs with access can still query plaintext. Using IAM policies to restrict access does not prevent DBAs with database credentials from viewing data.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Use IAM policies to restrict DBA access to the RDS instance
Why it's wrong here
IAM policies control access to the RDS API but do not restrict database-level access if DBAs have database credentials.
- ✗
Enable Dynamic Data Masking in RDS to obfuscate PII for all users
Why it's wrong here
RDS does not natively support Dynamic Data Masking; this would need to be implemented at the application level.
- ✗
Enable encryption at rest for the RDS instance using AWS KMS
Why it's wrong here
Encryption at rest protects data on disk, but users with database access can still query plaintext data.
- ✓
Use client-side encryption with AWS KMS to encrypt PII before inserting into the database
Why this is correct
Client-side encryption ensures data is encrypted before reaching the database, so DBAs cannot see the plaintext.
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JA
Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
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