DOP-C02 Incident and Event Response Practice Question
A company uses AWS CloudTrail to monitor API activity. The security team notices that an IAM user 'dev-user' deleted an S3 bucket. They need to quickly identify the source IP address of the delete request. Which CloudTrail feature should they use to find this information?
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
✓
Search the CloudTrail event history for the delete event and review the sourceIPAddress field.
CloudTrail event history records include the `sourceIPAddress` field, which directly provides the IP address from which the `DeleteBucket` API call was made. Option A is incorrect because CloudTrail Lake can query events, but the IP address is in the `sourceIPAddress` field, not in `userIdentity`. Option B is incorrect because S3 server access logs capture requests to S3 objects, not bucket-level API calls like deletion; CloudTrail captures management events such as `DeleteBucket`. Option C is incorrect because CloudTrail Insights detects unusual activity patterns but does not provide the source IP for individual events.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Use CloudTrail Lake to query the event and extract the IP address from the userIdentity field.
Why it's wrong here
CloudTrail Lake is a valid way to query event records, but the userIdentity field does not capture the source IP address; it identifies the principal (e.g., the IAM user, role, or federated identity) that made the API call. The network origin is stored in the sourceIPAddress field of the event, not within userIdentity. Attempting to extract an IP from userIdentity will return null or misleading data, making this option incorrect.
- ✗
Check S3 server access logs for the bucket deletion event.
Why it's wrong here
S3 server access logs capture object-level requests (such as GET, PUT, and DELETE on objects) and are delivered to a separate bucket, but they do not log account-level management actions like deleting an S3 bucket. The DeleteBucket API call is a control-plane operation that is recorded by CloudTrail as a management event, not by S3 server access logging. Therefore, even with server access logging enabled, there would be no record of the bucket deletion itself in those logs.
- ✗
Enable CloudTrail Insights to analyze unusual activity.
Why it's wrong here
CloudTrail Insights is designed to detect anomalous patterns in management events, not to retrieve the source IP address for a specific, already-known API call. Insights produces findings about unusual activity and links to related events, but it does not provide a direct, deterministic record of the source IP for an individual event. Searching event history is the authoritative method to inspect the event record and its sourceIPAddress field.
- ✓
Search the CloudTrail event history for the delete event and review the sourceIPAddress field.
Why this is correct
CloudTrail event history retains management events for the last 90 days, and each event record includes the sourceIPAddress field, which identifies the IP address from which the API call was made. Searching event history for the DeleteBucket event, or a similar deletion event, and expanding the event details will show the sourceIPAddress in the raw event record. This is the direct and correct way to retrieve the requester's IP for a specific CloudTrail event.
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
Related to this question
About these practice questions
One of 1,013 original DOP-C02 practice questions on Courseiva, each with a full explanation and wrong-answer analysis — not exam dumps or protected exam content. Learn why practice questions differ from exam dumps →
JA
Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
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.