The correct combination is enabling SSE-S3 on the S3 bucket and using IAM policies with bucket policies to control Athena access. SSE-S3 provides server-side encryption at rest, ensuring that PII stored in the S3 bucket is encrypted automatically by Amazon S3, which satisfies the encryption requirement without additional key management. For access control, IAM policies attached to the user or role, combined with an S3 bucket policy that explicitly allows only Athena’s principal, restrict who can query the data through Athena—this is the simplest and most direct method for securing PII in this scenario. On the AWS Certified Data Engineer Associate DEA-C01 exam, this question tests your understanding of the least-privilege principle and the fact that Athena relies on underlying S3 permissions; a common trap is overcomplicating the solution with Lake Formation or S3 Access Points when IAM and bucket policies alone are sufficient. Remember the mnemonic “SSE-S3 for encryption, IAM for permission”—if the data is in S3 and queried by Athena, you don’t need extra services for basic PII protection.
DEA-C01 Data Security and Governance Practice Question
This DEA-C01 practice question tests your understanding of data security and governance. Match the stated requirement to the specific cloud service, access model, or configuration option — many options are valid in isolation but not for this scenario. After answering, compare your reasoning against the explanation and wrong-answer breakdown below. Once you have made your selection, read the full explanation to reinforce the concept and understand why each distractor is designed to mislead on exam day.
A data analytics company uses Amazon Athena to query data stored in an S3 bucket. The data contains personally identifiable information (PII). The security team wants to ensure that only authorized users can access the data through Athena, and that the data is encrypted at rest in S3. Which combination of actions should the company take? (Choose two.)
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
Attach an IAM policy to users that grants Athena access and S3 read access to the bucket.
Option A and D are correct. Option A enables encryption at rest. Option D restricts Athena access via IAM policies and bucket policies. Option B is wrong because Lake Formation is not required for basic access control; IAM policies suffice. Option C is wrong because S3 Access Points can provide granular access but are not necessary. Option E is wrong because Athena does not support Kinesis.
Key principle: NAT direction and interface roles matter as much as the IP address mapping. Inside/outside designation controls which traffic is translated.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
✓
Attach an IAM policy to users that grants Athena access and S3 read access to the bucket.
Why this is correct
Controls access to Athena and underlying data.
Related concept
Static NAT maps one inside address to one outside address.
✗
Use AWS Lake Formation to define data lake permissions.
Why it's wrong here
Optional but not required; IAM is simpler.
✗
Use AWS Kinesis to stream data to Athena.
Why it's wrong here
Kinesis is for streaming, not querying.
✗
Create an S3 Access Point with a restricted policy.
Why it's wrong here
Not needed if IAM policies are used.
✓
Enable server-side encryption (SSE-S3) on the S3 bucket.
Static NAT maps one inside address to one outside address.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: NAT rules depend on direction and matching traffic
NAT is not only about the public address. The inside/outside interface roles and the ACL or rule that matches traffic are just as important.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
NAT questions usually test address translation, overload/PAT behaviour, static mappings and whether the right traffic is being translated. Read the interface direction and address terms carefully.
KKey Concepts to Remember
Static NAT maps one inside address to one outside address.
PAT allows many inside hosts to share one public address using ports.
Inside local and inside global describe the private and translated addresses.
NAT ACLs identify traffic for translation, not always security filtering.
TExam Day Tips
→Identify inside and outside interfaces first.
→Check whether the scenario needs static NAT, dynamic NAT or PAT.
→Do not confuse NAT matching ACLs with normal packet-filtering intent.
Key takeaway
NAT direction and interface roles matter as much as the IP address mapping. Inside/outside designation controls which traffic is translated.
Real-world example
How this comes up in practice
A media company stores terabytes of video archives that are accessed once a year for audit purposes. Moving these objects to a cold storage tier (Azure Archive, S3 Glacier, or Google Nearline) costs a fraction of hot storage. Questions like this test whether you understand storage tiers, access frequency tradeoffs, and retrieval latency requirements.
What to study next
Got this wrong? Here's your next step.
Review the four NAT address types (inside local, inside global, outside local, outside global), PAT port overload, and static vs dynamic NAT use cases. Then practise related DEA-C01 NAT questions on configuration and troubleshooting.
Data Security and Governance — This question tests Data Security and Governance — Static NAT maps one inside address to one outside address..
What is the correct answer to this question?
The correct answer is: Attach an IAM policy to users that grants Athena access and S3 read access to the bucket. — Option A and D are correct. Option A enables encryption at rest. Option D restricts Athena access via IAM policies and bucket policies. Option B is wrong because Lake Formation is not required for basic access control; IAM policies suffice. Option C is wrong because S3 Access Points can provide granular access but are not necessary. Option E is wrong because Athena does not support Kinesis.
What should I do if I get this DEA-C01 question wrong?
Review the four NAT address types (inside local, inside global, outside local, outside global), PAT port overload, and static vs dynamic NAT use cases. Then practise related DEA-C01 NAT questions on configuration and troubleshooting.
What is the key concept behind this question?
Static NAT maps one inside address to one outside address.
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Question Discussion
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