DEA-C01 Data Ingestion and Transformation Practice Question

Exhibit

Refer to the exhibit.

{
  "Version": "2012-10-17",
  "Statement": [
    {
      "Effect": "Allow",
      "Action": [
        "s3:GetObject",
        "s3:PutObject"
      ],
      "Resource": "arn:aws:s3:::my-bucket/*"
    },
    {
      "Effect": "Allow",
      "Action": "kinesis:PutRecord",
      "Resource": "arn:aws:kinesis:us-east-1:123456789012:stream/my-stream"
    }
  ]
}

Refer to the exhibit. A data engineer is creating an IAM policy for an application that sends data to a Kinesis stream and stores processed data in S3. The policy is attached to an IAM role used by an EC2 instance. The application fails to write to S3 with an access denied error. What is the cause?

⚠ Common exam trap

The DEA-C01 exam often tests the nuance that S3 write operations (PutObject) require the s3:ListBucket permission on the bucket for SDK-level operations, even though the explicit API call is only PutObject.

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

✓

The policy does not allow s3:ListBucket on the bucket.

The error occurs because the IAM policy grants s3:PutObject but not s3:ListBucket on the target S3 bucket. When the application writes to S3, the AWS SDK often performs a ListBucket operation first to verify bucket existence or to handle multipart uploads, and without s3:ListBucket permission, the request is denied with an access denied error.

Answer analysis

Option-by-option breakdown

For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.

✓
The policy does not allow s3:ListBucket on the bucket.
Why this is correct
Some operations require ListBucket permission; without it, the SDK may fail.
✗
The IAM role is not attached to the EC2 instance profile.
Why it's wrong here
Would cause different error, but still plausible. However, the question states the policy is attached.
✗
The policy does not allow kinesis:PutRecord on the stream.
Why it's wrong here
The policy does allow kinesis:PutRecord.
✗
The EC2 instance does not have an internet gateway to reach S3.
Why it's wrong here
Access denied is a permission error, not network.

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

DEA-C01 Data Ingestion and Transformation Practice Question

Exhibit

Why each option matters

Option-by-option breakdown

AWS S3 Storage Class Comparison

Related to this question