DEA-C01 Data Operations and Support Practice Question

A company stores sensitive data in Amazon S3 and uses AWS Lake Formation to manage fine-grained access control. A data engineer notices that users are able to access data in S3 directly via the AWS Management Console, bypassing Lake Formation permissions. What should the engineer do to enforce Lake Formation access controls for all access methods?

⚠ Common exam trap

DEA-C01 often tests the misconception that S3 bucket policies alone can enforce Lake Formation permissions, when in fact Lake Formation must be configured to override IAM access for registered locations.

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

✓

Registering the S3 location in Lake Formation and disabling IAM access control for that registered location enforces Lake Formation permissions for all access methods, including direct S3 access via the console. This ensures that Lake Formation acts as the single source of truth for fine-grained access control.

Answer analysis

Option-by-option breakdown

For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.

✗
Add a bucket policy that denies all access except from Lake Formation.
Why it's wrong here
A blanket deny on all non-Lake-Formation access also blocks the Lake Formation service role itself, breaking governed queries, and does not reference the correct principal or condition. Such policies are used to restrict access to specific roles or VPC endpoints, not to enforce Lake Formation mediation.
✗
Disable AWS CloudTrail logging for S3 access.
Why it's wrong here
CloudTrail records API activity; disabling it removes the audit trail that would reveal the bypass, leaving direct S3 console access unrestricted. Lake Formation enforcement requires an S3 bucket policy denying access unless requests arrive through Lake Formation. CloudTrail is for logging and monitoring, and would be the right choice when investigating who accessed data.
✓
Register the S3 location in Lake Formation and disable IAM access control for the registered location.
Why this is correct
Registering the S3 location in Lake Formation makes it a governed table, and disabling IAM access control removes the S3 bucket-policy and IAM identity-based paths that let users read objects directly through the console. This satisfies the stem's requirement to enforce Lake Formation permissions across all access methods, not just integrated engines.
✗
Enable S3 Block Public Access on the bucket.
Why it's wrong here
S3 Block Public Access only blocks policies granting public or anonymous access; it does not stop authenticated IAM principals whose S3 permissions allow direct GetObject calls. It is designed to prevent accidental public exposure, not to funnel named users through Lake Formation's permission model.

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

DEA-C01 Data Operations and Support Practice Question

Why each option matters

Option-by-option breakdown

AWS S3 Storage Class Comparison

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