DEA-C01 Data Store Management Practice Question
A company uses Amazon S3 to store customer documents. The data engineer needs to ensure that all objects uploaded to a specific S3 bucket are automatically encrypted with a customer-managed AWS KMS key. What should the data engineer do?
⚠ Common exam trap
Candidates often confuse bucket policies that deny unencrypted uploads (which only reject non-compliant requests) with default encryption (which automatically encrypts objects), leading them to choose Option B instead of D.
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
✓
Set default encryption on the bucket to use SSE-KMS with the customer-managed key.
Setting default encryption on the S3 bucket to SSE-KMS with the customer-managed key ensures that all objects uploaded without explicit encryption headers are automatically encrypted using that KMS key. This satisfies the requirement without relying on client-side behavior, as S3 applies the encryption server-side at the time of write.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Use pre-signed URLs for all uploads that include encryption parameters.
Why it's wrong here
Pre-signed URLs require client-side action, not automatic.
- ✗
Create a bucket policy that denies uploads without encryption.
Why it's wrong here
This enforces encryption but does not automatically encrypt objects.
- ✗
Enable S3 Versioning on the bucket.
Why it's wrong here
Versioning does not enforce encryption.
- ✓
Set default encryption on the bucket to use SSE-KMS with the customer-managed key.
Why this is correct
Default encryption automatically encrypts all objects with the specified KMS key.
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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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.