- A
Disable cross-zone load balancing on the ALB to limit the number of instances receiving traffic.
Why wrong: This does not mitigate the attack and could degrade performance.
- B
Enable AWS Shield Advanced on the ALB.
Shield Advanced provides enhanced DDoS protection and access to DDoS Response Team (DRT).
- C
Enable connection draining (deregistration delay) on the ALB target group.
Connection draining allows existing connections to complete before instances are terminated, reducing disruption.
- D
Configure the Auto Scaling group to scale based on the NetworkIn metric to handle the increased traffic.
Why wrong: Scaling during an attack only increases cost and does not stop the attack.
- E
Configure AWS WAF on the ALB to block requests based on source IP reputation or rate-based rules.
WAF can filter malicious traffic.
Quick Answer
The correct answer is to configure AWS WAF on the ALB to block requests based on source IP reputation or rate-based rules, alongside enabling AWS Shield Advanced and engaging the DDoS Response Team (DRT). This combination works because Shield Advanced provides always-on, inline traffic inspection at the network and transport layers with negligible latency, while WAF adds application-layer filtering to drop malicious HTTP/S requests before they reach the ALB. On the AWS Certified DevOps Engineer Professional DOP-C02 exam, this scenario tests your understanding of layered DDoS mitigation on ALB, where Shield Advanced handles volumetric attacks and WAF handles targeted web exploits. A common trap is choosing to scale the Auto Scaling group alone, which increases cost and latency without blocking the attack. Remember the memory tip: Shield for the flood, WAF for the craft—Shield stops the volume, WAF stops the clever requests.
DOP-C02 Incident and Event Response Practice Question
This DOP-C02 practice question tests your understanding of incident and event response. Match the stated requirement to the specific cloud service, access model, or configuration option — many options are valid in isolation but not for this scenario. 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 is experiencing a DDoS attack on its application hosted on AWS. The application uses an Application Load Balancer (ALB) with an Auto Scaling group of EC2 instances. The security team needs to mitigate the attack with minimal latency impact on legitimate users. Which THREE actions should the team take? (Choose THREE.)
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
Enable AWS Shield Advanced on the ALB.
AWS Shield Advanced provides enhanced DDoS mitigation for ALBs, including access to the DDoS Response Team (DRT) and financial protection against scaling costs. It operates at the network and transport layers with minimal latency, as it inspects traffic inline without introducing significant processing delay. This makes it a critical first line of defense for high-availability applications under attack.
Key principle: Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Disable cross-zone load balancing on the ALB to limit the number of instances receiving traffic.
Why it's wrong here
This does not mitigate the attack and could degrade performance.
- ✓
Enable AWS Shield Advanced on the ALB.
Why this is correct
Shield Advanced provides enhanced DDoS protection and access to DDoS Response Team (DRT).
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
- ✓
Enable connection draining (deregistration delay) on the ALB target group.
Why this is correct
Connection draining allows existing connections to complete before instances are terminated, reducing disruption.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
- ✗
Configure the Auto Scaling group to scale based on the NetworkIn metric to handle the increased traffic.
Why it's wrong here
Scaling during an attack only increases cost and does not stop the attack.
- ✓
Configure AWS WAF on the ALB to block requests based on source IP reputation or rate-based rules.
Why this is correct
WAF can filter malicious traffic.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
The trap here is confusing scaling-based absorption (Option D) with actual mitigation, leading candidates to think handling more traffic automatically defends against DDoS, when in reality it only increases cost and resource exhaustion without blocking the attack source.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
AWS Shield Advanced uses a combination of flow-based and packet-level inspection to detect anomalies, and it can automatically apply mitigations like blackholing or rate limiting at the edge. The ALB’s connection draining (deregistration delay) ensures in-flight requests complete before instances are removed, which is useful during scaling events but not for attack mitigation—however, in this context, it helps preserve existing sessions when instances are terminated due to attack-related health checks. AWS WAF rate-based rules track request rates per source IP and can block clients exceeding a threshold, effectively throttling application-layer DDoS attacks with minimal latency overhead.
KKey Concepts to Remember
- Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
- Find the constraint that changes the correct option.
- Eliminate answers that are true in general but not in this case.
TExam Day Tips
- Watch for words such as best, first, most likely and least administrative effort.
- Review why wrong options are wrong, not only why the correct option is correct.
Key takeaway
Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Real-world example
How this comes up in practice
A startup's cloud architect reviews their monthly bill and notices costs are higher than expected for a long-running batch job. Switching from on-demand instances to Reserved Instances — or using Spot/Preemptible VMs — can reduce compute costs by up to 72 %. Questions like this test whether you understand the tradeoffs between commitment, flexibility, and cost across cloud pricing models.
What to study next
Got this wrong? Here's your next step.
Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.
- →
Incident and Event Response — study guide chapter
Learn the concepts, then practise the questions
- →
Incident and Event Response practice questions
Targeted practice on this topic area only
- →
All DOP-C02 questions
1,740 questions across all exam domains
- →
AWS Certified DevOps Engineer Professional DOP-C02 study guide
Full concept coverage aligned to exam objectives
- →
DOP-C02 practice test guide
How to use practice tests most effectively before exam day
Related practice questions
Related DOP-C02 practice-question pages
Use these pages to review the topic behind this question. This is how one missed question becomes focused revision.
Configuration Management and IaC practice questions
Practise DOP-C02 questions linked to Configuration Management and IaC.
Resilient Cloud Solutions practice questions
Practise DOP-C02 questions linked to Resilient Cloud Solutions.
Monitoring and Logging practice questions
Practise DOP-C02 questions linked to Monitoring and Logging.
Incident and Event Response practice questions
Practise DOP-C02 questions linked to Incident and Event Response.
Security and Compliance practice questions
Practise DOP-C02 questions linked to Security and Compliance.
SDLC Automation practice questions
Practise DOP-C02 questions linked to SDLC Automation.
DOP-C02 fundamentals practice questions
Practise DOP-C02 questions linked to DOP-C02 fundamentals.
DOP-C02 scenario practice questions
Practise DOP-C02 questions linked to DOP-C02 scenario.
DOP-C02 troubleshooting practice questions
Practise DOP-C02 questions linked to DOP-C02 troubleshooting.
Practice this exam
Start a free DOP-C02 practice session
Short sessions build daily habit. Longer sessions build exam-day stamina. Try a timed session to simulate real conditions.
FAQ
Questions learners often ask
What does this DOP-C02 question test?
Incident and Event Response — This question tests Incident and Event Response — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
What is the correct answer to this question?
The correct answer is: Enable AWS Shield Advanced on the ALB. — AWS Shield Advanced provides enhanced DDoS mitigation for ALBs, including access to the DDoS Response Team (DRT) and financial protection against scaling costs. It operates at the network and transport layers with minimal latency, as it inspects traffic inline without introducing significant processing delay. This makes it a critical first line of defense for high-availability applications under attack.
What should I do if I get this DOP-C02 question wrong?
Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.
What is the key concept behind this question?
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
About these practice questions
Courseiva creates original exam-style practice questions with explanations and wrong-answer analysis. It does not publish real exam questions, exam dumps, or protected exam content. Learn why practice questions differ from exam dumps →
Keep practising
More DOP-C02 practice questions
- A company uses AWS CodePipeline with a multi-branch strategy. A new feature branch triggers a pipeline that runs unit te…
- A development team uses AWS CodeBuild to compile a Java application and run unit tests. The build takes 30 minutes, but…
- A company uses AWS CodePipeline with multiple stages: Source (Amazon S3), Build (AWS CodeBuild), and Deploy (AWS CodeDep…
- A company uses AWS CodeCommit for source control. Developers frequently push large binary files (e.g., compiled JARs) to…
- An organization uses AWS CodePipeline to orchestrate deployments to multiple environments (dev, test, prod). Each enviro…
- A company uses AWS Key Management Service (KMS) to encrypt data at rest in Amazon S3. The security team wants to ensure…
Last reviewed: Jun 11, 2026
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.
Question Discussion
Share a tip, memory trick, or ask about the reasoning behind this question. Do not post real exam questions, leaked content, braindumps, or copyrighted exam material. Comments are moderated and may be removed without notice.
Sign in to join the discussion.