DEA-C01 Data Security and Governance Practice Question
A company uses AWS Lake Formation to manage data lake permissions. A data engineer notices that a user can query tables in Athena even though the user does not have SELECT permission on the table in Lake Formation. What could be the cause?
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
✓
The IAMAllowedPrincipals group has been granted Super permission on the database
The IAMAllowedPrincipals group is a special group in Lake Formation that, when granted permissions (such as Super), allows IAM users and roles to bypass Lake Formation permissions and access data directly via services like Athena. This is a common misconfiguration that leads to unintended data access. Option A is incorrect because Redshift Spectrum uses its own permissions, not Athena. Option B is incorrect because S3 permissions allow reading the underlying data but not querying via Athena without proper Lake Formation grants. Option C is incorrect because an IAM policy granting Athena access does not override Lake Formation permissions; the IAMAllowedPrincipals group is the key bypass mechanism.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
The user is using Redshift Spectrum
Why it's wrong here
Redshift Spectrum is a different query service.
- ✗
The user has S3 permissions to read the underlying data
Why it's wrong here
S3 permissions alone do not allow Athena to query tables; Lake Formation must grant table access.
- ✗
The user has an IAM policy that allows Athena access
Why it's wrong here
IAM allows Athena actions, but table-level permissions are controlled by Lake Formation.
- ✓
The IAMAllowedPrincipals group has been granted Super permission on the database
Why this is correct
The IAMAllowedPrincipals group bypasses Lake Formation permissions and allows IAM users to access tables directly.
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.