DEA-C01 Data Security and Governance Practice Question
A company needs to automate the detection of sensitive data in Amazon S3 and generate reports. Which AWS service should be used?
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
✓
Amazon Macie
Amazon Macie is the correct service for automating detection of sensitive data in S3 and generating reports. It uses machine learning to discover and classify sensitive data. Amazon Inspector is for vulnerability management, not sensitive data detection. Amazon GuardDuty is for threat detection. AWS Config is for resource compliance and configuration auditing.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
Amazon Macie
Why this is correct
Macie discovers sensitive data in S3.
- ✗
Amazon Inspector
Why it's wrong here
Inspector assesses application vulnerabilities.
- ✗
Amazon GuardDuty
Why it's wrong here
GuardDuty detects threats, not sensitive data.
- ✗
AWS Config
Why it's wrong here
Config tracks resource configuration changes.
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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Same concept, more angles
1 more way this is tested on DEA-C01
These questions test the same concept from different angles. Work through them to make sure you can recognise it however the exam phrases it.
Variation 1. A data engineer needs to store sensitive data in Amazon S3 and automatically classify the data using a managed service. The data is uploaded via an S3 bucket. Which AWS service can automatically detect and classify sensitive data?
medium- ✓ A.Amazon Macie
- B.AWS WAF
- C.Amazon Inspector
- D.AWS Shield
Why A: Amazon Macie is the correct answer because it is a fully managed data security and data privacy service that uses machine learning and pattern matching to discover, monitor, and protect sensitive data in Amazon S3. Option B, AWS WAF, is a web application firewall for protecting web applications, not for data classification. Option C, Amazon Inspector, is an automated vulnerability management service for EC2 instances and containers, not for S3 data classification. Option D, AWS Shield, is a managed DDoS protection service, unrelated to data classification.
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.