DEA-C01 Data Security and Governance Practice Question
An organization needs to audit all access to their S3 buckets for compliance purposes. They want to log both successful and failed API calls. Which AWS service should be used?
⚠ Common exam trap
Candidates often confuse AWS CloudTrail (API auditing) with AWS Config (configuration auditing) or VPC Flow Logs (network traffic logging), failing to recognize that only CloudTrail captures the specific API call details needed for access auditing.
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 S3, including both successful and failed requests, and delivers log files to an S3 bucket for auditing and compliance. CloudTrail captures management events (e.g., CreateBucket) and, when enabled, data events (e.g., GetObject, PutObject) for S3, providing a complete audit trail of access.
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 is for log storage, not for auditing API calls.
- ✗
AWS Config
Why it's wrong here
AWS Config records resource configuration changes, not API calls.
- ✓
AWS CloudTrail
Why this is correct
CloudTrail logs API calls for auditing.
- ✗
VPC Flow Logs
Why it's wrong here
VPC Flow Logs capture network traffic, not API calls.
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 |
Go deeper
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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.