- A
AWS Config
Why wrong: AWS Config evaluates and records resource configuration changes over time, but it does not capture API calls or caller identity. It is used for compliance auditing of resource configurations, not for logging API activity.
- B
Amazon GuardDuty
Why wrong: Amazon GuardDuty is a threat detection service that monitors for malicious activity and unauthorized behavior using machine learning and threat intelligence. It does not provide a continuous audit trail of all API calls.
- C
AWS CloudTrail
AWS CloudTrail is the correct service. It records all API calls made to the AWS environment, including details such as the caller's identity, time of the call, source IP address, and request parameters. The logs can be stored durably in Amazon S3 with integrity validation and can be retained for as long as needed.
- D
AWS Trusted Advisor
Why wrong: AWS Trusted Advisor provides real-time guidance to help provision your resources following AWS best practices. It does not capture API call logs or provide an audit trail of user activity.
CLF-C02 Security and Compliance Practice Question
This CLF-C02 practice question tests your understanding of security and compliance. This is a configuration task: choose the command set that satisfies every stated requirement. Small differences — like 'secret' vs 'password' or 'transport input ssh' vs 'all' — change whether the answer is correct. After answering, compare your reasoning against the explanation and wrong-answer breakdown below. Once you have made your selection, read the full explanation to reinforce the concept and understand why each distractor is designed to mislead on exam day.
A company needs to maintain a secure audit trail of all API calls made against its AWS resources. The audit trail must record the identity of the caller, the time of the call, the source IP address, and the request details. The records must be stored securely with integrity guarantees for a minimum of five years to meet compliance requirements. Which AWS service should the company use to capture and store this information?
Clue words in this question
Noticing these words before you look at the options changes how you read each choice.
Clue:
"minimum / minimize"Why it matters: Asks for the least resource use — fewest addresses, smallest subnet, lowest overhead. Eliminate over-provisioned options even if they would technically work.
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
AWS CloudTrail
AWS CloudTrail is the correct service because it records all API calls made to AWS services, capturing the identity of the caller, timestamp, source IP address, and request details. It stores these logs in Amazon S3 with server-side encryption and integrity validation via digest files, and can be configured to retain logs for more than five years using lifecycle policies or by archiving to Amazon S3 Glacier.
Key principle: Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
AWS Config
Why it's wrong here
AWS Config evaluates and records resource configuration changes over time, but it does not capture API calls or caller identity. It is used for compliance auditing of resource configurations, not for logging API activity.
When this WOULD be correct
A company needs to track changes to AWS resource configurations and evaluate compliance against internal policies over time. AWS Config would be correct to record configuration history and detect non-compliant resources.
- ✗
Amazon GuardDuty
Why it's wrong here
Amazon GuardDuty is a threat detection service that monitors for malicious activity and unauthorized behavior using machine learning and threat intelligence. It does not provide a continuous audit trail of all API calls.
When this WOULD be correct
A company wants to continuously monitor AWS accounts for malicious or unauthorized behavior, such as unusual API calls or compromised credentials, and needs automated threat detection and alerting.
- ✓
AWS CloudTrail
Why this is correct
AWS CloudTrail is the correct service. It records all API calls made to the AWS environment, including details such as the caller's identity, time of the call, source IP address, and request parameters. The logs can be stored durably in Amazon S3 with integrity validation and can be retained for as long as needed.
Clue confirmation
The clue word "minimum / minimize" in the question point toward this answer.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
- ✗
AWS Trusted Advisor
Why it's wrong here
AWS Trusted Advisor provides real-time guidance to help provision your resources following AWS best practices. It does not capture API call logs or provide an audit trail of user activity.
When this WOULD be correct
A company wants to check its AWS account against AWS best practices for security (e.g., whether MFA is enabled on root account, whether security groups allow unrestricted access) and receive actionable recommendations. AWS Trusted Advisor would be the correct service to use.
Option-by-option analysis
Why each answer is right or wrong
Understanding why wrong answers are wrong — and when they would be correct — is what separates a 750 score from a 900. The CLF-C02 exam frequently reuses these exact scenarios with slightly different constraints.
✓AWS CloudTrailCorrect answer▾
Why this is correct
AWS CloudTrail is the correct service. It records all API calls made to the AWS environment, including details such as the caller's identity, time of the call, source IP address, and request parameters. The logs can be stored durably in Amazon S3 with integrity validation and can be retained for as long as needed.
✗AWS ConfigWrong answer — click to see why▾
Why this is wrong here
AWS Config records resource configuration changes and evaluates compliance, not API call audit trails. It lacks details like caller identity, source IP, and request details required for this question.
★ When this WOULD be the correct answer
A company needs to track changes to AWS resource configurations and evaluate compliance against internal policies over time. AWS Config would be correct to record configuration history and detect non-compliant resources.
Why candidates choose this
Candidates may confuse Config's logging of configuration changes with CloudTrail's API activity logging, or think 'audit trail' broadly includes configuration changes.
✗Amazon GuardDutyWrong answer — click to see why▾
Why this is wrong here
Amazon GuardDuty is a threat detection service that monitors for malicious activity, not a service for capturing and storing API call audit trails with integrity guarantees for compliance.
★ When this WOULD be the correct answer
A company wants to continuously monitor AWS accounts for malicious or unauthorized behavior, such as unusual API calls or compromised credentials, and needs automated threat detection and alerting.
Why candidates choose this
Candidates may confuse GuardDuty's monitoring of API calls for security threats with CloudTrail's comprehensive logging of all API calls for auditing and compliance.
✗AWS Trusted AdvisorWrong answer — click to see why▾
Why this is wrong here
AWS Trusted Advisor provides recommendations for optimizing AWS environments (cost, performance, security, fault tolerance, service limits), but it does not capture or store API call audit trails with caller identity, timestamps, source IP, and request details.
★ When this WOULD be the correct answer
A company wants to check its AWS account against AWS best practices for security (e.g., whether MFA is enabled on root account, whether security groups allow unrestricted access) and receive actionable recommendations. AWS Trusted Advisor would be the correct service to use.
Why candidates choose this
Candidates may think Trusted Advisor provides security auditing because it includes security checks, but they confuse security recommendations with the detailed API activity logging that CloudTrail provides.
Analysis generated from the official CLF-C02blueprint and verified against question context. The “when correct” sections are what AI assistants cite when candidates ask “what’s the difference between these options?”
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
The trap here is that candidates confuse AWS Config's configuration tracking with CloudTrail's API activity logging, or assume GuardDuty's threat detection includes a complete audit trail, when in fact only CloudTrail provides the detailed, integrity-protected record of every API call required for compliance.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
CloudTrail delivers log files in JSON format to an S3 bucket, and each log file contains a digest file that uses SHA-256 hashing to ensure integrity; you can enable log file validation to verify that logs have not been tampered with. For long-term retention, you can transition logs to S3 Glacier Deep Archive after 90 days, meeting the five-year compliance requirement while minimizing cost. CloudTrail also supports multi-region trails and organization trails to aggregate activity across accounts.
KKey Concepts to Remember
- Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
- Find the constraint that changes the correct option.
- Eliminate answers that are true in general but not in this case.
TExam Day Tips
- Watch for words such as best, first, most likely and least administrative effort.
- Review why wrong options are wrong, not only why the correct option is correct.
Key takeaway
Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Real-world example
How this comes up in practice
A media company stores terabytes of video archives that are accessed once a year for audit purposes. Moving these objects to a cold storage tier (Azure Archive, S3 Glacier, or Google Nearline) costs a fraction of hot storage. Questions like this test whether you understand storage tiers, access frequency tradeoffs, and retrieval latency requirements.
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 |
What to study next
Got this wrong? Here's your next step.
Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.
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FAQ
Questions learners often ask
What does this CLF-C02 question test?
Security and Compliance — This question tests Security and Compliance — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
What is the correct answer to this question?
The correct answer is: AWS CloudTrail — AWS CloudTrail is the correct service because it records all API calls made to AWS services, capturing the identity of the caller, timestamp, source IP address, and request details. It stores these logs in Amazon S3 with server-side encryption and integrity validation via digest files, and can be configured to retain logs for more than five years using lifecycle policies or by archiving to Amazon S3 Glacier.
What should I do if I get this CLF-C02 question wrong?
Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.
Are there clue words in this question I should notice?
Yes — watch for: "minimum / minimize". Asks for the least resource use — fewest addresses, smallest subnet, lowest overhead. Eliminate over-provisioned options even if they would technically work.
What is the key concept behind this question?
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
About these practice questions
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Last reviewed: Jun 11, 2026
This CLF-C02 practice question is part of Courseiva's free Amazon Web Services 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 CLF-C02 exam.
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