DEA-C01 Data Security and Governance Practice Question
A company uses AWS Lake Formation to manage data lake permissions. The data lake contains sensitive customer data in the 'customer' database. The security team wants to ensure that only users with a specific tag 'access_level=analyst' can query the 'customer' table. Which combination of steps should the data engineer take to enforce this?
⚠ Common exam trap
It's easy for candidates to confuse IAM tag-based policies (Option B) or S3 bucket policies (Option C) with Lake Formation's native LF-tag mechanism, not realizing that LF-tags are a Lake Formation-specific construct that must be managed within Lake Formation itself, not at the IAM or S3 level.
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
✓
In Lake Formation, create an LF-tag 'access_level' with values 'analyst' and 'admin'. Grant 'SELECT' permission on the 'customer' table to the tag value 'analyst'. Associate the LF-tag with the 'customer' table.
Lake Formation LF-tags allow you to define metadata tags (key-value pairs) and grant permissions to those tags. By creating an LF-tag 'access_level' with values 'analyst' and 'admin', granting SELECT on the 'customer' table to the tag value 'analyst', and associating that LF-tag with the table, only principals who have the tag 'access_level=analyst' (or are granted via the tag) can query the table. This enforces tag-based access control at the Lake Formation permission layer, which is the intended mechanism for fine-grained, attribute-based access control in Lake Formation.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
In Lake Formation, create an LF-tag 'access_level' with values 'analyst' and 'admin'. Grant 'SELECT' permission on the 'customer' table to the tag value 'analyst'. Associate the LF-tag with the 'customer' table.
Why this is correct
This uses Lake Formation TBAC to restrict access based on the user's tag.
- ✗
Create an IAM policy that conditionally allows 'glue:GetTable' based on the tag 'access_level=analyst'.
Why it's wrong here
IAM policies cannot enforce Lake Formation table-level permissions; Lake Formation manages grants.
- ✗
Apply a bucket policy on the S3 location of the 'customer' table that allows access only if the request carries the tag 'access_level=analyst'.
Why it's wrong here
S3 bucket policies do not control Lake Formation permissions; Lake Formation manages access independent of S3 policies.
- ✗
Use Lake Formation column-level filters to restrict access to columns based on the tag 'access_level=analyst'.
Why it's wrong here
Lake Formation column-level filters do not support tag conditions; they filter columns by name or data type.
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Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
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