The correct combination is CloudTrail, EventBridge, and SNS. CloudTrail captures every root account sign-in as a `ConsoleLogin` management event, and EventBridge uses a rule to match the specific event pattern—checking that `detail.userIdentity.type` equals `Root` and `detail.eventName` equals `ConsoleLogin`—which then triggers an SNS topic to send the notification. On the AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner CLF-C02 exam, this scenario tests your understanding of event-driven monitoring and the integration of these three core services; a common trap is forgetting that CloudTrail must be enabled for management events or trying to use CloudWatch Alarms alone, which cannot natively parse the event pattern. Remember the memory tip: "Root login triggers a trail, which bridges to a topic"—CloudTrail logs it, EventBridge routes it, SNS alerts you.
CLF-C02 Billing, Pricing, and Support Practice Question
This CLF-C02 practice question tests your understanding of billing, pricing, and support. 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 wants to receive a notification whenever a new AWS root account sign-in occurs. Which combination of services achieves this?
CloudTrail captures the root sign-in event; EventBridge matches the event pattern and triggers an SNS notification — providing real-time alerting on root account usage.
Why wrong: GuardDuty detects threats including unusual root activity, but the combination for targeted root sign-in alerts is CloudTrail + EventBridge + SNS.
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
CloudTrail + EventBridge + SNS notification
AWS CloudTrail logs all root account sign-in events as `ConsoleLogin` events in the management events trail. Amazon EventBridge can be configured with a rule that matches this specific event pattern (e.g., `detail.userIdentity.type` = `Root` and `detail.eventName` = `ConsoleLogin`). The rule then triggers an Amazon SNS topic to send a notification (email, SMS, etc.) to the designated recipients. This combination provides a real-time, event-driven notification for root account activity.
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.
CloudTrail captures the root sign-in event; EventBridge matches the event pattern and triggers an SNS notification — providing real-time alerting on root account usage.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
✗
AWS Budgets + SES email
Why it's wrong here
Budgets monitors spending — it doesn't monitor account sign-in events.
✗
Amazon GuardDuty finding + S3 export
Why it's wrong here
GuardDuty detects threats including unusual root activity, but the combination for targeted root sign-in alerts is CloudTrail + EventBridge + SNS.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
The trap here is that candidates often confuse AWS Config (which audits resource configurations) with CloudTrail (which records API activity), leading them to pick Option A, or they mistakenly think AWS Budgets can monitor security events, when it is strictly for cost and usage alerts.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
Under the hood, CloudTrail delivers events to EventBridge (formerly CloudWatch Events) as a default event bus. The EventBridge rule uses event pattern matching with JSON syntax—for example, `{"source": ["aws.signin"], "detail-type": ["AWS Console Sign In"], "detail": {"userIdentity": {"type": ["Root"]}}}`—to filter precisely for root logins. A subtle behavior is that root sign-ins from the AWS Management Console generate a `ConsoleLogin` event with `userIdentity.type` set to `Root`, but root access via the AWS CLI or SDK uses IAM user credentials and does not produce this event, so the rule only catches console-based root logins.
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.
Related glossary terms
Concepts from this question explained
These glossary pages explain the core terms tested in this CLF-C02 question in full detail.
Billing, Pricing, and Support — This question tests Billing, Pricing, and Support — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
What is the correct answer to this question?
The correct answer is: CloudTrail + EventBridge + SNS notification — AWS CloudTrail logs all root account sign-in events as `ConsoleLogin` events in the management events trail. Amazon EventBridge can be configured with a rule that matches this specific event pattern (e.g., `detail.userIdentity.type` = `Root` and `detail.eventName` = `ConsoleLogin`). The rule then triggers an Amazon SNS topic to send a notification (email, SMS, etc.) to the designated recipients. This combination provides a real-time, event-driven notification for root account activity.
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.
What is the key concept behind this question?
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
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Question Discussion
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