The data scientists’ EC2 instances in a separate account must access S3 data in a controlled way that satisfies the policy: only authorized networks may access the IoT data. “Authorized networks” in this context means traffic must originate from approved VPCs and must not traverse the public internet.
First, traffic from the EC2 instances to S3 must stay on the AWS network without using public endpoints. A gateway VPC endpoint for S3 in the data scientists’ VPC (option A) allows EC2 instances in that VPC to reach S3 over private connectivity. When using a gateway VPC endpoint, the route tables of the subnets associated with the endpoint automatically route S3 traffic through the endpoint. This ensures that access to S3 is from an authorized network (the VPC) instead of from the public internet.
Second, access must be constrained such that only calls made through the intended S3 access mechanism are allowed. The data lake bucket already has an S3 access point. S3 access points can be restricted by policy and can be referenced in bucket policies through the s3:DataAccessPointArn condition key. By using an S3 bucket policy that allows s3:GetObject only when s3:DataAccessPointArn matches the expected access point ARN (option E), the company can enforce that all valid access uses the approved access point configuration. Combined with the access point’s own network configuration and the VPC endpoint, access is limited to authorized networks.
Option B, blocking public access on the access point, is a good general security practice but does not by itself guarantee that access is restricted to authorized VPC networks. The main enforcement must be through VPC endpoints and bucket/access point policies.
Option C denies s3:GetObject when s3:DataAccessPointArn is a valid access point ARN, which is the opposite of what is required. This would prevent intended access via the access point rather than allow it.
Option D is not correct because gateway VPC endpoints for S3 are configured via endpoint associations with route tables, not by directly routing to an access point in the route table. Traffic to S3 is routed to the VPC endpoint, and the endpoint plus S3 policies determine access.
Therefore, creating a gateway VPC endpoint for S3 in the data scientists’ VPC (option A) and using a bucket policy condition on s3:DataAccessPointArn to allow access only through the authorized access point (option E) together meet the requirement of secure, network-restricted access from authorized networks.
[References:AWS documentation on S3 gateway VPC endpoints for private access to S3 from VPCs.AWS documentation on S3 access points and the use of s3:DataAccessPointArn condition keys in bucket policies to control access paths., ]
