DEA-C01 Data Security and Governance Practice Question
A data engineer is configuring an AWS Glue ETL job that reads from an Amazon S3 bucket encrypted with SSE-KMS and writes to another S3 bucket also encrypted with SSE-KMS. The job uses an IAM role. The security team requires that the job have only the minimum necessary permissions to decrypt and encrypt data. Which TWO actions should be included in the IAM policy attached to the Glue job role? (Choose two.)
⚠ Common exam trap
Many exam-takers confuse the permissions needed for S3 to use KMS keys with permissions for direct KMS operations like CreateGrant or ReEncrypt.
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
✓
kms:GenerateDataKey on the KMS key used by the destination S3 bucket.
To read SSE-KMS encrypted objects from the source bucket, the Glue job role needs kms:Decrypt on the source key. To write SSE-KMS encrypted objects to the destination bucket, S3 requires the job role to have kms:GenerateDataKey on the destination key. These two permissions are the minimum required for the job to function while adhering to least privilege.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
kms:ReEncryptFrom on the KMS key used by the destination S3 bucket.
Why it's wrong here
kms:ReEncryptFrom is used when re-encrypting data from one KMS key to another within a single KMS operation. The Glue job does not perform a KMS re-encrypt operation; it reads decrypted data and writes new encrypted data. S3 handles encryption on write using GenerateDataKey. Therefore, this permission is not needed and would be excessive.
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kms:Encrypt on the KMS key used by the source S3 bucket.
Why it's wrong here
The source bucket is only being read, not written to. The Glue job does not need to encrypt data with the source key. Adding kms:Encrypt on the source key would grant unnecessary permissions, violating the principle of least privilege. The job only needs to decrypt from the source, not encrypt to it.
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kms:CreateGrant on both KMS keys to allow S3 to use the keys.
Why it's wrong here
kms:CreateGrant allows a principal to create grants on a KMS key, which delegates usage permissions to other AWS principals. It is not required for S3 to use a KMS key for encryption or decryption when the caller has the necessary permissions. S3 does not need a grant to be created by the Glue job; it uses the job's permissions directly. Including this would violate least privilege.
- ✓
kms:GenerateDataKey on the KMS key used by the destination S3 bucket.
Why this is correct
When writing objects to the destination S3 bucket with SSE-KMS, S3 uses the KMS key to generate a data key for encryption. The Glue job role must have kms:GenerateDataKey permission on the destination key to allow S3 to encrypt the data on its behalf. This is required for the write operation to succeed.
- ✓
kms:Decrypt on the KMS key used by the source S3 bucket.
Why this is correct
The Glue job must read objects from the source bucket, which are encrypted with SSE-KMS. To decrypt those objects, the job role needs the kms:Decrypt permission on the KMS key used by the source bucket. Without this, the job cannot read the data. This is a minimum necessary permission for reading encrypted data.
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 and reviewed by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
Last reviewed September 2026 · checked against the official Amazon Web Services exam blueprint
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