DOP-C02 Monitoring and Logging Practice Question
A company uses AWS Organizations to manage multiple accounts. The DevOps team needs to monitor for any IAM user creation across all accounts in the organization. Which THREE steps should be taken to implement this centralized monitoring?
⚠ Common exam trap
DOP-C02 often tests whether candidates confuse S3-based log archival with CloudWatch-based real-time alerting — the S3 event notification option sounds plausible but fires on log file delivery, not on the specific API event.
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
✓
Create a CloudWatch Logs metric filter on the organization's CloudTrail log group for 'CreateUser' events.
Option B is correct because an organization trail created in the management account automatically applies to all member accounts, delivering CloudTrail events such as IAM CreateUser to a central S3 bucket and CloudWatch Logs, which is the foundation for centralized monitoring. Option A is correct because a CloudWatch Logs metric filter on the organization's CloudTrail log group can match the 'CreateUser' event name and turn each occurrence into a custom metric, enabling detection of IAM user creation across all accounts. Option E is correct because a CloudWatch alarm on that metric can trigger notifications through Amazon SNS, providing the DevOps team with real-time alerts when IAM users are created. Option C is not needed because S3 event notifications on object creation only signal that a log file was delivered, not that a CreateUser event occurred, and CloudWatch Logs metric filters are the appropriate mechanism. Option D is not appropriate because AWS Config rules evaluate resource configuration compliance and are not the primary real-time event-detection mechanism for API calls like CreateUser; CloudTrail plus CloudWatch is the intended solution.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
Create a CloudWatch Logs metric filter on the organization's CloudTrail log group for 'CreateUser' events.
Why this is correct
Metric filters in CloudWatch Logs can parse CloudTrail logs for specific event names, counting occurrences of CreateUser API calls. Since the organization trail delivers logs to a central log group in the management account, a single metric filter can monitor IAM user creation across all member accounts. This provides a real-time, event-driven signal to trigger a CloudWatch alarm, rather than relying on periodic scans or resource configuration evaluations.
- ✓
Enable CloudTrail in the management account with an organization trail that applies to all accounts.
Why this is correct
An organization trail is a single CloudTrail that logs API activity for the management account and all member accounts, delivering one consolidated log stream to a designated S3 bucket (and optionally CloudWatch Logs). This centralization is a prerequisite for the metric filter approach, as it ensures CreateUser events from any account appear in the same log group. Without the organization trail, you would need per-account trails and separate metric filters, making detection fragmented and harder to manage.
- ✗
Configure an S3 bucket to receive CloudTrail logs from all accounts and enable S3 event notifications for object creation.
Why it's wrong here
S3 event notifications trigger on every log file delivered to the bucket, which happens periodically (every 5 minutes) regardless of the API event type. They do not inspect the contents of the log files, so you cannot filter specifically for CreateUser events. This would generate a high volume of invocations for every CloudTrail log delivery, not just when an IAM user is created, leading to noise and potential missed detections if you attempt to filter afterward.
- ✗
Use AWS Config rules to detect IAM user creation across accounts.
Why it's wrong here
AWS Config evaluates resource configurations against desired policies, but it does not capture or react to API call events like CreateUser. IAM user creation changes the resource configuration, but Config would only detect the change after the fact during its periodic evaluation, and it lacks real-time, event-driven detection of the specific API call. Additionally, Config rules are regional and do not natively aggregate across all accounts without additional setup, making them unsuitable for this notification use case.
- ✓
Set a CloudWatch alarm on the metric to send notifications via SNS.
Why this is correct
Once the metric filter counts CreateUser events, a CloudWatch alarm can monitor that metric's count or rate over a specified period. When the alarm state changes (e.g., from OK to ALARM), it publishes a message to an SNS topic, which can notify the security team via email, SMS, or other integrations. This completes the automated detection pipeline: CloudTrail -> CloudWatch Logs -> metric filter -> alarm -> SNS -> notification.
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 |
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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.