DEA-C01 Data Security and Governance Practice Question
A company uses AWS Lake Formation to manage permissions on a data lake in S3. A data analyst reports that queries using Amazon Athena return zero rows for a table that the analyst has been granted SELECT permission on. The table is registered in Lake Formation and uses a partition projection. What is the most likely 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 analyst lacks GetObject and ListBucket permissions on the underlying S3 location
When a table in Lake Formation uses partition projection, Athena bypasses the Glue Data Catalog for partition discovery and directly accesses the S3 location. This requires explicit S3 permissions (GetObject and ListBucket) on the underlying data, which Lake Formation does not automatically grant. The analyst likely can see the table metadata but cannot read the data, resulting in zero rows. Option A is incorrect because the table is registered in Lake Formation (otherwise it wouldn't appear in Athena). Option B is incorrect because DESCRIBE permission is not required for SELECT queries; SELECT alone should suffice. Option D is incorrect because encryption permission issues would cause an error message, not a silent return of zero rows.
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 table is not registered as a resource in Lake Formation
Why it's wrong here
The table is registered.
- ✗
The analyst does not have DESCRIBE permission on the table
Why it's wrong here
DESCRIBE is not required for SELECT.
- ✓
The analyst lacks GetObject and ListBucket permissions on the underlying S3 location
Why this is correct
Lake Formation grants metadata permissions, but S3 permissions are still needed for partition projection.
- ✗
The table uses server-side encryption with KMS and the analyst lacks kms:Decrypt permission
Why it's wrong here
KMS permissions would cause errors, not zero rows.
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 |
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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.