DEA-C01 Data Store Management Practice Question
A company uses Amazon S3 to store sensitive financial data. The security team requires that all objects be encrypted at rest using AWS KMS with a customer-managed key. Additionally, they want to audit all KMS decrypt calls for compliance. Which configuration should be used to meet these requirements?
⚠ Common exam trap
Many candidates confuse enabling default encryption on the bucket (which can use SSE-KMS) with the need for a customer-managed key and CloudTrail data events, or they may think SSE-S3 or SSE-C can satisfy the audit requirement without KMS-specific logging.
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
✓
Use SSE-KMS with a customer-managed KMS key and enable CloudTrail data events for the key.
SSE-KMS with a customer-managed key allows the company to control the encryption key lifecycle and meet the requirement for customer-managed keys. Enabling CloudTrail data events for the KMS key captures all decrypt API calls, providing the necessary audit trail for compliance.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Enable default encryption on the bucket with SSE-KMS using an AWS managed key.
Why it's wrong here
AWS managed keys do not provide customer control and key rotation auditing.
- ✗
Use SSE-S3 with a bucket policy that denies uploads without encryption.
Why it's wrong here
SSE-S3 does not use customer-managed keys.
- ✓
Use SSE-KMS with a customer-managed KMS key and enable CloudTrail data events for the key.
Why this is correct
SSE-KMS with customer-managed key and CloudTrail auditing meets requirements.
- ✗
Use SSE-C with client-managed keys and log S3 API calls.
Why it's wrong here
SSE-C does not use KMS and cannot be audited via CloudTrail KMS events.
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.