DEA-C01 Data Security and Governance Practice Question
A company stores sensitive customer data in an S3 bucket. The security team requires that all data be encrypted at rest using a customer-managed AWS KMS key. However, when a data engineer attempts to upload an object using the AWS CLI, the upload fails with an access denied error. The engineer has s3:PutObject permission on the bucket. Which additional permission is most likely missing?
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
✓
kms:GenerateDataKey
To upload an object with SSE-KMS, the IAM user or role must have kms:GenerateDataKey permission to generate a data key for encryption. Option D is correct because without it, the upload fails. Option A (kms:CreateKey) is for creating keys, not using them. Option B (kms:Decrypt) is for decryption, not upload. Option C (s3:PutObjectAcl) is for ACLs, not encryption.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
kms:CreateKey
Why it's wrong here
Permission to create keys, not to use them for encryption.
- ✗
kms:Decrypt
Why it's wrong here
Needed for decryption, not upload.
- ✗
s3:PutObjectAcl
Why it's wrong here
Manages object ACLs, unrelated to encryption.
- ✓
kms:GenerateDataKey
Why this is correct
Required to generate a data key for server-side encryption.
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
Related to this question
About these practice questions
One of 1,711 original DEA-C01 practice questions on Courseiva, each with a full explanation and wrong-answer analysis — not exam dumps or protected exam content. Learn why practice questions differ from exam dumps →
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.