Databricks-DE-Pro Data Security and Compliance Practice Question
Which of the following describes the correct behavior of Unity Catalog's 'Data Lineage' when used for security compliance?
⚠ Common exam trap
Test-takers often assume data lineage only tracks user access events or notebook execution history, missing that its core mechanism maps table-to-table data dependencies.
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
✓
It captures table-to-table data dependencies.
Data Lineage in Unity Catalog automatically captures the flow of data from source to target. This is invaluable for security compliance, as it allows administrators to trace sensitive data across the environment, identify which tables are derived from PII sources, and understand the impact of modifying or deleting specific tables. By visualizing these dependencies, teams can ensure that security policies are consistently applied throughout the data lifecycle.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
It shows which users accessed the data.
Why it's wrong here
Data Lineage tracks the movement of data between tables and files, not the individual users who queried it. User access information is captured in audit logs. Confusing lineage (the path of data) with auditing (the history of access) is a common error in designing security and compliance monitoring systems.
- ✓
It captures table-to-table data dependencies.
Why this is correct
Unity Catalog lineage maps dependencies between tables, including views and downstream transformations. This is essential for compliance, as it allows engineers to see the flow of sensitive data through the ETL pipeline, making it easier to ensure that masking policies are applied to all downstream, derived datasets.
- ✗
It manually triggers an alert when PII is detected.
Why it's wrong here
Lineage is a descriptive feature, not a detection or alerting feature. It shows you the history of data movement. While it can help an engineer manually identify the flow of sensitive information, it does not contain built-in logic to trigger alerts based on the detection of PII.
- ✗
It permanently stores the raw data content.
Why it's wrong here
Lineage metadata tracks relationships and transformations, but it does not store the underlying data records themselves. Storing raw data in metadata logs would be a major privacy risk and would violate most data retention and compliance policies, as metadata should be lightweight and focused on provenance.
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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.