Databricks-DE-Pro Data Security and Compliance Practice Question
A financial services firm stores market data in an external location registered in Unity Catalog as `s3://firm-market-data/`. The security team requires that only a specific IAM role, assumed by a Unity Catalog storage credential, can read the bucket, and that no Databricks user can bypass Unity Catalog to read the data directly with their own cloud credentials. The Data Engineer must configure the storage credential. Which configuration achieves this?
⚠ Common exam trap
The trap here is assuming that any storage credential that can read the bucket is sufficient, when the trust policy must specifically restrict assumption to the Unity Catalog metastore's IAM role to prevent bypass.
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
✓
Create a storage credential that assumes an IAM role whose trust policy allows only the Unity Catalog metastore's IAM role, and grant the credential to the external location.
The secure pattern is a storage credential that assumes a customer IAM role whose trust policy names only the Unity Catalog metastore's IAM role. That makes the metastore the sole path to the bucket, so users cannot use their own credentials to read it, and Unity Catalog enforces privileges at query time. Static keys, broad workspace trust, and instance profiles all create alternate access paths or long-lived secrets.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Create a storage credential using an access key and secret key with full S3 permissions, and attach it to the external location.
Why it's wrong here
Static access keys are long-lived secrets that must be rotated and can be exfiltrated, weakening the security posture. They also do not prevent a user who obtains the keys from reading the bucket outside Unity Catalog. The requirement is that no user can bypass Unity Catalog, and shared static keys violate that because possession of the key equals direct bucket access, independent of metastore governance.
- ✓
Create a storage credential that assumes an IAM role whose trust policy allows only the Unity Catalog metastore's IAM role, and grant the credential to the external location.
Why this is correct
This is the supported pattern: the storage credential assumes a customer IAM role, and the role's trust policy permits only the Unity Catalog metastore's IAM role to assume it. Because the bucket policy or role permissions allow access only through that path, users cannot read the bucket with their own credentials, and Unity Catalog mediates all access. Granting the credential to the external location completes the wiring.
- ✗
Create a storage credential backed by an instance profile attached to the cluster's EC2 instances, and grant it to the external location.
Why it's wrong here
Instance profiles are the legacy mechanism for cluster-level cloud access and are not the Unity Catalog storage credential model for external locations. Using an instance profile lets any process on the cluster use the role, which is exactly the bypass the security team wants to eliminate. It also does not scope access through the metastore, so it fails the requirement.
- ✗
Create a storage credential that assumes an IAM role trusted by every Databricks workspace in the account, and grant it to the external location.
Why it's wrong here
Trusting every workspace widens the trust boundary far beyond the requirement. Any workspace in the account could then assume the role and reach the market data bucket, which conflicts with the goal of a tightly scoped path. The trust policy should name only the Unity Catalog metastore's IAM role, not all workspaces, to preserve least privilege.
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 |
About these practice questions
Courseiva writes every Databricks-DE-Pro question from scratch — 267 in total, each with an explanation and a wrong-answer breakdown. None are copied from real exams or dumps. Learn why practice questions differ from exam dumps →
JA
Written and reviewed by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
Last reviewed September 2026 · checked against the official Databricks exam blueprint
This Databricks-DE-Pro practice question is part of Courseiva's free Databricks 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 Databricks-DE-Pro exam.