Quick Answer
The answer is AWS Glue, as it is the correct service to mask PII data in transit during an ETL pipeline. AWS Glue provides built-in transformation capabilities, including the ability to apply custom masking logic to sensitive fields like names, social security numbers, or email addresses as data moves from an on-premises database to Amazon S3. This is achieved through Glue ETL jobs, where you can use PySpark or Scala code to obfuscate or redact PII before writing the output to the target storage. On the AWS Certified Data Engineer Associate DEA-C01 exam, this question tests your understanding of which service handles data transformation versus data movement or streaming. A common trap is confusing AWS Glue with AWS DMS, which is designed for database migration and lacks native masking features, or with Kinesis, which is for real-time streaming, not batch ETL masking. Remember the memory tip: Glue is for “gluing” data together with transformations, while DMS just moves it—masking needs the glue.
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 company is designing a data pipeline that ingests data from an on-premises database to Amazon S3. The data contains personally identifiable information (PII) that must be masked before storage. Which AWS service can be used to mask the data in transit?
AWS Database Migration Service (DMS)
Why wrong: DMS migrates data without masking.
AWS Data Pipeline
Why wrong: Data Pipeline does not have built-in masking capabilities.
Amazon Kinesis Data Firehose
Why wrong: Kinesis can transform data using Lambda, but Glue is more suited for batch masking.
AWS Glue
AWS Glue can run ETL jobs to mask PII before writing to S3.
Answer choices
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
AWS Glue
AWS Glue can transform and mask data during ETL jobs. Option C is correct. Kinesis is for streaming data. Data Pipeline orchestrates but does not have native masking. DMS is for migration, not masking.
Key principle: Count usable hosts — not total addresses — and remember that the network and broadcast addresses are not available to hosts in standard IPv4 subnets.
Answer analysis
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
AWS Database Migration Service (DMS)
Why it's wrong here
DMS migrates data without masking.
AWS Data Pipeline
Why it's wrong here
Data Pipeline does not have built-in masking capabilities.
Amazon Kinesis Data Firehose
Why it's wrong here
Kinesis can transform data using Lambda, but Glue is more suited for batch masking.
AWS Glue
Why this is correct
AWS Glue can run ETL jobs to mask PII before writing to S3.
Related concept
CIDR notation defines the prefix length.
Common exam traps
Subnetting questions often tempt you into counting all addresses. In normal IPv4 subnets, the network and broadcast addresses are not usable host addresses.
Detailed technical explanation
Subnetting questions test whether you can identify the network, broadcast address, usable range, mask and correct subnet. Slow down enough to calculate the block size correctly.
Key takeaway
Count usable hosts — not total addresses — and remember that the network and broadcast addresses are not available to hosts in standard IPv4 subnets.
Real-world example
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
Review block sizes, usable host formulas (2^n − 2), and how to find network and broadcast addresses for /24 through /30. Then practise related DEA-C01 subnetting questions on CIDR, address ranges, and subnet selection.
Data Security and Governance — study guide chapter
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FAQ
Data Security and Governance — This question tests Data Security and Governance — CIDR notation defines the prefix length..
The correct answer is: AWS Glue — AWS Glue can transform and mask data during ETL jobs. Option C is correct. Kinesis is for streaming data. Data Pipeline orchestrates but does not have native masking. DMS is for migration, not masking.
Review block sizes, usable host formulas (2^n − 2), and how to find network and broadcast addresses for /24 through /30. Then practise related DEA-C01 subnetting questions on CIDR, address ranges, and subnet selection.
CIDR notation defines the prefix length.
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Last reviewed: Jun 20, 2026
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.
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