DEA-C01 Data Operations and Support Practice Question
A data engineer is designing a data lake on Amazon S3 with sensitive data. The engineer needs to ensure that data at rest is encrypted and that access is logged for compliance. Which TWO actions should the engineer take? (Choose TWO.)
⚠ Common exam trap
Test-takers frequently confuse S3 Block Public Access (a security control) with encryption or logging, or they mistakenly think S3 Select or Transfer Acceleration contribute to compliance requirements, when they are unrelated to data-at-rest encryption and access logging.
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
✓
Enable CloudTrail data events for S3 object-level operations.
Enabling CloudTrail data events for S3 object-level operations captures detailed logs of all read, write, and delete actions on objects, which is essential for compliance auditing. Option D is correct because enabling default encryption on the S3 bucket using SSE-KMS ensures that all objects stored in the bucket are encrypted at rest with AWS Key Management Service (KMS) keys, providing centralized control and auditability of encryption keys.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Enable S3 Select to filter data at read time.
Why it's wrong here
S3 Select is a query feature, not a security or logging feature.
- ✗
Enable S3 Transfer Acceleration.
Why it's wrong here
Transfer Acceleration speeds up uploads, not security.
- ✓
Enable CloudTrail data events for S3 object-level operations.
Why this is correct
CloudTrail data events log read/write operations to objects.
- ✓
Enable default encryption on the S3 bucket using SSE-KMS.
Why this is correct
SSE-KMS encrypts objects at rest with a KMS key.
- ✗
Enable S3 Block Public Access on the account.
Why it's wrong here
Block Public Access prevents public access but does not provide logging.
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.