This DOP-C02 practice question tests your understanding of security and compliance. 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 uses AWS KMS to encrypt data in S3. They want to audit who used which KMS key and when. Which AWS service should they use?
Amazon CloudWatch
Why wrong: CloudWatch monitors metrics and logs but does not provide detailed API audit trails for KMS.
Amazon GuardDuty
Why wrong: GuardDuty is for threat detection, not auditing API calls.
AWS CloudTrail
CloudTrail records KMS API calls like Decrypt, Encrypt, GenerateDataKey for auditing.
AWS Config
Why wrong: Config tracks configuration changes to resources, not API usage.
Answer choices
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 AWS KMS API calls, including the key ID, the principal who made the request, the time of the request, and the source IP address. These logs are delivered to an S3 bucket and can be queried using CloudTrail Insights or Athena to audit KMS key usage for S3 decryption events.
Key principle: Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Answer analysis
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
Amazon CloudWatch
Why it's wrong here
CloudWatch monitors metrics and logs but does not provide detailed API audit trails for KMS.
Amazon GuardDuty
Why it's wrong here
GuardDuty is for threat detection, not auditing API calls.
AWS CloudTrail
Why this is correct
CloudTrail records KMS API calls like Decrypt, Encrypt, GenerateDataKey for auditing.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
AWS Config
Why it's wrong here
Config tracks configuration changes to resources, not API usage.
Common exam traps
The trap here is that candidates often confuse CloudWatch Logs (which can store logs) with CloudTrail (which captures the API audit trail), leading them to pick CloudWatch because they think 'audit logs' are just logs, but only CloudTrail records the specific KMS API calls needed for key usage auditing.
Detailed technical explanation
Under the hood, CloudTrail records KMS operations such as Decrypt, Encrypt, GenerateDataKey, and ReEncrypt as management events, and each event includes the key ARN, the encryption context, and the caller identity via the userIdentity field. A subtle behavior is that KMS key usage for S3 server-side encryption (SSE-KMS) is logged only when the S3 operation triggers a KMS API call, meaning the CloudTrail event will show the S3 principal (e.g., s3.amazonaws.com) as the caller, not the end user, which can complicate attribution in cross-account scenarios.
Key takeaway
Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Real-world example
A media company stores terabytes of video archives that are accessed once a year for audit purposes. Moving these objects to a cold storage tier (Azure Archive, S3 Glacier, or Google Nearline) costs a fraction of hot storage. Questions like this test whether you understand storage tiers, access frequency tradeoffs, and retrieval latency requirements.
What to study next
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FAQ
Security and Compliance — This question tests Security and Compliance — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
The correct answer is: AWS CloudTrail — AWS CloudTrail is the correct service because it records all AWS KMS API calls, including the key ID, the principal who made the request, the time of the request, and the source IP address. These logs are delivered to an S3 bucket and can be queried using CloudTrail Insights or Athena to audit KMS key usage for S3 decryption events.
Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
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Last reviewed: Jun 24, 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.
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