DEA-C01 AWS CloudTrail Practice Question
A company wants to monitor and alert on unauthorized API calls in their AWS account. Which AWS service should be used to detect and notify on such events?
⚠ Common exam trap
Candidates often assume GuardDuty is the go-to for API call monitoring, but GuardDuty focuses on threat detection, not comprehensive API logging. CloudTrail is the correct service for logging all API calls.
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 and Amazon CloudWatch Events
D is correct because AWS CloudTrail records all API calls in the AWS account, and Amazon CloudWatch Events (or EventBridge) can be configured with rules to detect specific API calls (e.g., unauthorized actions) and trigger notifications. Option A is incorrect because Amazon GuardDuty and AWS Security Hub are threat detection and security management services, not primarily for monitoring all API calls. Option B is incorrect because Amazon VPC Flow Logs capture network traffic metadata, not API calls. Option C is incorrect because AWS Config monitors resource configuration changes, not API calls.
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 GuardDuty and AWS Security Hub
Why it's wrong here
Amazon GuardDuty and Security Hub: GuardDuty detects threats but does not log all API calls; Security Hub aggregates findings, not a primary alerting mechanism for unauthorized API calls.
- ✗
Amazon VPC Flow Logs and Amazon CloudWatch Logs
Why it's wrong here
Amazon VPC Flow Logs and CloudWatch Logs: VPC Flow Logs capture network traffic, not API calls; CloudWatch Logs can store logs but do not trigger alerts on specific API calls without additional configuration.
- ✗
AWS Config and AWS Systems Manager
Why it's wrong here
AWS Config and Systems Manager: AWS Config monitors configuration changes, not API calls; Systems Manager manages operations, not event alerting.
- ✓
AWS CloudTrail and Amazon CloudWatch Events
Why this is correct
AWS CloudTrail and CloudWatch Events: CloudTrail logs API calls, and CloudWatch Events can create rules to trigger notifications on specific API calls, such as unauthorized ones.
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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.