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.
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Use IAM policies to restrict DBA access to the RDS instance
Why it's wrong here
IAM policies govern API-level access to the RDS instance and its management actions; they cannot prevent a DBA who already holds database credentials from reading plaintext rows. It is tempting because IAM is the standard control for restricting AWS resource access, which would be correct when limiting who can modify or delete the database.
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Enable Dynamic Data Masking in RDS to obfuscate PII for all users
Why it's wrong here
RDS for PostgreSQL does not provide a native Dynamic Data Masking feature; masking requires column-level grants, views or the pgcrypto/anonymisation extensions. It is tempting because dynamic masking is the classic answer for hiding values from privileged users, and would be correct on platforms that natively support it.
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Enable encryption at rest for the RDS instance using AWS KMS
Why it's wrong here
KMS encryption at rest protects data on the underlying storage volume, but a DBA querying the running database receives decrypted plaintext rows. It is tempting because encryption is the default control for PII at rest, and would be correct when the threat is physical media theft rather than privileged database users.
- ✓
Use client-side encryption with AWS KMS to encrypt PII before inserting into the database
Why this is correct
Client-side encryption with AWS KMS encrypts PII before it reaches PostgreSQL, so ciphertext alone is stored. Database administrators lack the KMS key permissions needed to decrypt, satisfying the requirement that they cannot view plaintext PII. Server-side options such as RDS encryption leave administrators able to read data through SQL queries.
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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.