DEA-C01 Data Security and Governance Practice Question
A company uses AWS Glue to catalog data in Amazon S3. The security team requires that all sensitive data be identified and encrypted at rest using customer-managed KMS keys. Which combination of steps should a data engineer take to meet these requirements?
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
✓
Configure AWS Glue to use Detect Sensitive Data and write encrypted output to S3 with SSE-KMS.
AWS Glue provides a 'Detect Sensitive Data' transform (such as FindMatches or custom classifiers) that can be used in a Glue ETL job to identify sensitive data within the catalog. The same ETL job can then write the processed data to Amazon S3 with server-side encryption using customer-managed KMS keys (SSE-KMS), meeting both identification and encryption-at-rest requirements. Option A is incorrect because S3 Access Logs and Athena queries do not directly identify sensitive data patterns reliably, nor do they enforce encryption. Option B is incorrect because Amazon Macie can scan for sensitive data, but it does not automatically apply S3 default encryption; moreover, default encryption uses S3-managed keys, not customer-managed KMS keys. Option C is incorrect because enabling S3 default encryption and using IAM policies addresses encryption and access control but lacks the sensitive data identification step required by the security team.
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 S3 Access Logs and use Athena to query the logs for sensitive data patterns.
Why it's wrong here
Access Logs contain metadata, not object content, so they cannot identify sensitive data.
- ✗
Use Amazon Macie to scan the S3 bucket and automatically apply S3 default encryption.
Why it's wrong here
Macie identifies sensitive data but does not automatically apply encryption.
- ✗
Enable S3 default encryption for the bucket and use IAM policies to restrict access.
Why it's wrong here
S3 default encryption can be SSE-S3 or SSE-KMS, but customer-managed KMS keys are not enforced.
- ✓
Configure AWS Glue to use Detect Sensitive Data and write encrypted output to S3 with SSE-KMS.
Why this is correct
Glue's Detect Sensitive Data identifies sensitive columns, and the ETL job can encrypt output using customer-managed KMS keys.
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.