DEA-C01 Data Store Management Practice Question
A data engineer is designing a data lake on Amazon S3 that will store sensitive financial data. The engineer needs to implement encryption at rest and ensure that only authorized users can access the data. Which TWO actions should the engineer take to meet these requirements? (Choose TWO.)
⚠ Common exam trap
Watch out — candidates often confuse encryption enforcement with encryption method selection, picking SSE-C (option B) because it sounds more secure, but the question asks for actions that ensure encryption at rest and authorized access, not a specific key management model.
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 a bucket policy that denies writes if the object is not encrypted.
A bucket policy with a condition that denies writes if the object is not encrypted (e.g., using `s3:x-amz-server-side-encryption` or `s3:PutObject` with `aws:SecureTransport`) enforces encryption at rest at the time of upload. This ensures that all objects written to the bucket are encrypted, meeting the encryption requirement without relying on client-side behavior.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
Configure a bucket policy that denies writes if the object is not encrypted.
Why this is correct
Bucket policies can enforce encryption and control access.
- ✗
Use server-side encryption with customer-provided keys (SSE-C).
Why it's wrong here
SSE-C requires managing your own keys, which is not recommended for simplicity.
- ✗
Enable S3 Transfer Acceleration for the bucket.
Why it's wrong here
Transfer Acceleration improves upload speed, not security.
- ✗
Enable object-level access control lists (ACLs).
Why it's wrong here
ACLs are legacy; bucket policies and IAM are recommended.
- ✓
Create IAM policies that grant least privilege access to users.
Why this is correct
IAM policies define who can access S3 resources.
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.