DEA-C01 Data Security and Governance Practice Question
A company wants to audit all changes to IAM policies in their AWS account. Which AWS service should be used to record these changes for compliance purposes?
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 records API calls, including IAM policy changes. AWS Config records resource configurations but not all API calls. CloudWatch Logs can store logs but does not record API calls itself. S3 is the destination for logs, not the recording service.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Amazon CloudWatch Logs
Why it's wrong here
CloudWatch Logs stores application and resource log streams, not a queryable record of configuration changes to IAM policies. It is the right choice for centralising log data and metric filters, but auditing who altered a policy needs CloudTrail, which records the API calls that made those changes.
- ✗
AWS Config
Why it's wrong here
AWS Config evaluates resource configuration compliance and records configuration item history, but it does not capture the identity, source IP and API call detail of who changed an IAM policy. Config suits detecting drift against rules; recording the change events themselves for compliance requires CloudTrail.
- ✓
AWS CloudTrail
Why this is correct
AWS CloudTrail records API activity, capturing every IAM policy change as a management event with the caller's identity, timestamp and source IP. This satisfies the audit requirement by providing an immutable, queryable log of who modified which policy and when, which CloudWatch metrics or Config rules alone cannot deliver.
- ✗
Amazon S3
Why it's wrong here
Amazon S3 stores objects; it does not record IAM policy changes, so it cannot provide the audit trail. It tempts because CloudTrail can deliver its logs into an S3 bucket, but CloudTrail itself is the service that captures and records the API activity.
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 |
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JA
Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
This DEA-C01 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 DEA-C01 exam.