DOP-C02 Incident and Event Response Practice Question
A company experiences a security incident where an unauthorized user accessed an S3 bucket containing sensitive data. The DevOps team needs to identify the source IP address and user agent of the request. Which AWS service provides this information?
⚠ Common exam trap
DOP-C02 often tests the distinction between CloudTrail (API/management events) and S3 server access logs (data-plane request details including IP and user agent) — candidates frequently assume CloudTrail captures everything.
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
✓
Amazon S3 server access logs
Amazon S3 server access logs record detailed information about every request made to a bucket, including the requester's IP address, user agent, request time, and operation. This is the only AWS service in the list that captures the source IP and user agent for S3 object-level requests. CloudTrail records API management events but does not log data-plane GET/PUT requests by default.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
VPC Flow Logs
Why it's wrong here
VPC Flow Logs capture IP-level metadata for traffic traversing network interfaces, recording no HTTP user agent and no S3 request context. CloudTrail data events log the source IP and user agent for S3 object requests. Flow Logs would be correct for diagnosing connectivity or rejected traffic between subnets.
- ✓
Amazon S3 server access logs
Why this is correct
Amazon S3 server access logs provide detailed records for every request, including source IP address, user agent, requester, operation, and HTTP status. This is the correct service to identify the source IP and user agent of the unauthorized request.
- ✗
AWS CloudTrail
Why it's wrong here
CloudTrail records API calls made against AWS services, including S3 data plane operations like `GetObject` or `PutObject` if data events are explicitly configured. While it logs the `sourceIPAddress` and `userAgent` for these API calls, it is primarily an audit log for actions performed on AWS resources. The scenario describes an S3 bucket access incident, making S3 Server Access Logs the more direct and comprehensive service for detailing *all* requests to the bucket, including source IP and user agent, which is its dedicated purpose.
- ✗
Amazon CloudWatch Logs
Why it's wrong here
Amazon CloudWatch Logs is a service for storing, monitoring, and analyzing log data, but it does not generate logs itself. S3 server access logs can be sent to CloudWatch Logs, but CloudWatch is not the source of the request information.
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 and reviewed by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
Last reviewed September 2026 · checked against the official Amazon Web Services exam blueprint
This DOP-C02 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 DOP-C02 exam.