DEA-C01 Data Store Management Practice Question

Which TWO features of Amazon S3 help protect data from accidental deletion or modification? (Choose two.)

⚠ Common exam trap

Many exam-takers confuse data protection features (like encryption or replication) with deletion prevention, mistakenly selecting Lifecycle policies or Cross-Region Replication because they think 'protection' includes backup or security, when the question specifically asks about preventing accidental deletion or modification.

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

✓

S3 MFA Delete

C is correct because S3 MFA Delete requires multi-factor authentication for permanent deletion of objects or suspension of versioning, adding a critical layer of protection against accidental or malicious deletions. D is correct because S3 Object Versioning preserves every version of an object, allowing recovery from accidental overwrites or deletions by restoring a previous version.

Answer analysis

Option-by-option breakdown

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

✗
Lifecycle policies
Why it's wrong here
Lifecycle policies transition or expire objects, which actively deletes data, so they cannot protect against accidental deletion. It is tempting because lifecycle rules manage storage cost and retention, and they would be the correct choice if the question asked how to automatically archive or remove aged objects.
✗
Default encryption
Why it's wrong here
Default encryption protects data confidentiality at rest, not against deletion or modification; versioning and Object Lock provide that. It is tempting because encryption is a core S3 security control, and it would be the right answer if the question asked how to protect data from unauthorised disclosure.
✓
S3 MFA Delete
Why this is correct
S3 MFA Delete enforces a second authentication factor on delete operations, requiring the bucket owner's MFA token to permanently remove object versions or change versioning state. This directly satisfies the accidental-deletion constraint by blocking unauthorised or mistaken deletions.
✓
S3 Object Versioning
Why this is correct
S3 Object Versioning retains every prior version of an object, so an overwrite or delete creates a new version rather than destroying data. This satisfies the accidental modification and deletion constraint, allowing recovery of the previous state.
✗
Cross-Region Replication
Why it's wrong here
Cross-Region Replication copies objects to another bucket, so a deletion in the source propagates and the replica is not a recovery point. It is tempting because replication supports durability and compliance, and it would be correct if the requirement were regional resilience or lower-latency access.

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 Store Management Practice Question

Why each option matters

Option-by-option breakdown

AWS S3 Storage Class Comparison

Related to this question