The correct combination is AWS CloudTrail and Amazon CloudWatch Logs. CloudTrail is the service that records every API call made in your account, including IAM policy changes such as PutRolePolicy, PutUserPolicy, and DeletePolicy, providing a complete audit trail of who made the change, when, and from where. By sending these CloudTrail logs to CloudWatch Logs, you can set up metric filters and alarms to detect unauthorized or unexpected policy modifications in real time. On the AWS Certified Data Engineer Associate DEA-C01 exam, this question tests your understanding that CloudTrail captures the API-level details needed for auditing IAM changes, while CloudWatch Logs enables monitoring and alerting—a common trap is choosing AWS Config, which tracks resource configuration changes but does not log every API call. Remember the memory tip: CloudTrail trails the API calls, CloudWatch watches the logs.
DEA-C01 Data Security and Governance Practice Question
This DEA-C01 practice question tests your understanding of data security and governance. 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 audit all changes to IAM policies in their AWS account. Which combination of services should be used to achieve this?
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
AWS CloudTrail and Amazon CloudWatch Logs
AWS CloudTrail records API calls for IAM policy changes (e.g., PutRolePolicy, PutUserPolicy). Amazon CloudWatch Logs can be the target for CloudTrail logs, and CloudWatch Events (now Amazon EventBridge) can trigger notifications or actions. Option D is correct. AWS Config records resource configuration changes but not all API calls.
Key principle: NAT direction and interface roles matter as much as the IP address mapping. Inside/outside designation controls which traffic is translated.
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 and Amazon SNS
Why it's wrong here
AWS Config can evaluate configuration changes but does not record all IAM API calls like PutRolePolicy.
✓
AWS CloudTrail and Amazon CloudWatch Logs
Why this is correct
CloudTrail records IAM API calls and can deliver logs to CloudWatch Logs for monitoring and alerting.
Related concept
Static NAT maps one inside address to one outside address.
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Amazon CloudWatch Logs and Amazon SNS
Why it's wrong here
CloudWatch Logs alone does not capture IAM API calls; it needs CloudTrail as a source.
✗
AWS CloudTrail and Amazon DynamoDB
Why it's wrong here
DynamoDB is not a typical target for CloudTrail logs for auditing.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: NAT rules depend on direction and matching traffic
NAT is not only about the public address. The inside/outside interface roles and the ACL or rule that matches traffic are just as important.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
NAT questions usually test address translation, overload/PAT behaviour, static mappings and whether the right traffic is being translated. Read the interface direction and address terms carefully.
KKey Concepts to Remember
Static NAT maps one inside address to one outside address.
PAT allows many inside hosts to share one public address using ports.
Inside local and inside global describe the private and translated addresses.
NAT ACLs identify traffic for translation, not always security filtering.
TExam Day Tips
→Identify inside and outside interfaces first.
→Check whether the scenario needs static NAT, dynamic NAT or PAT.
→Do not confuse NAT matching ACLs with normal packet-filtering intent.
Key takeaway
NAT direction and interface roles matter as much as the IP address mapping. Inside/outside designation controls which traffic is translated.
Real-world example
How this comes up in practice
A company's IT admin needs to give a contractor read-only access to production logs without sharing account credentials. Using role-based access control (RBAC) and temporary scoped permissions — not a permanent shared password — is the correct pattern. Questions like this test whether you can apply least-privilege access across cloud identity services.
What to study next
Got this wrong? Here's your next step.
Review the four NAT address types (inside local, inside global, outside local, outside global), PAT port overload, and static vs dynamic NAT use cases. Then practise related DEA-C01 NAT questions on configuration and troubleshooting.
Data Security and Governance — This question tests Data Security and Governance — Static NAT maps one inside address to one outside address..
What is the correct answer to this question?
The correct answer is: AWS CloudTrail and Amazon CloudWatch Logs — AWS CloudTrail records API calls for IAM policy changes (e.g., PutRolePolicy, PutUserPolicy). Amazon CloudWatch Logs can be the target for CloudTrail logs, and CloudWatch Events (now Amazon EventBridge) can trigger notifications or actions. Option D is correct. AWS Config records resource configuration changes but not all API calls.
What should I do if I get this DEA-C01 question wrong?
Review the four NAT address types (inside local, inside global, outside local, outside global), PAT port overload, and static vs dynamic NAT use cases. Then practise related DEA-C01 NAT questions on configuration and troubleshooting.
What is the key concept behind this question?
Static NAT maps one inside address to one outside address.
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Question Discussion
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