DEA-C01 Data Security and Governance Practice Question
A company uses Amazon RDS for MySQL with encryption at rest enabled. The security team requires that all database audit logs be stored in Amazon S3 for at least 7 years. Which AWS service should the data engineer use to collect and store the logs?
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 CloudWatch Logs with a subscription filter to Amazon S3.
Amazon RDS for MySQL can publish audit logs to Amazon CloudWatch Logs. A subscription filter can then forward these logs to Amazon S3 for long-term storage, satisfying the 7-year retention requirement. Option A is wrong because S3 Object Lock is a storage feature, not a log collection service. Option B is wrong because Kinesis Data Firehose is not natively integrated with RDS audit logs. Option D is wrong because AWS CloudTrail captures API calls, not database audit logs.
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 S3 with S3 Object Lock enabled for write-once-read-many (WORM) protection.
Why it's wrong here
S3 is the target, not the collection service.
- ✗
Amazon Kinesis Data Firehose to stream logs directly to Amazon S3.
Why it's wrong here
RDS does not directly stream audit logs to Firehose.
- ✓
Amazon CloudWatch Logs with a subscription filter to Amazon S3.
Why this is correct
RDS audit logs can be sent to CloudWatch Logs, and then exported to S3.
- ✗
AWS CloudTrail to capture database queries and store in S3.
Why it's wrong here
CloudTrail captures API calls, not database audit logs.
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 |
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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.