This DOP-C02 practice question tests your understanding of monitoring and logging. 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 wants to receive a notification when an AWS IAM user creates a new access key. Which AWS service should be used to capture this event and trigger a notification?
Amazon GuardDuty
Why wrong: Incorrect. GuardDuty is for threat detection, not API call monitoring.
AWS CloudTrail with CloudWatch Events
Correct. CloudTrail logs API calls, and CloudWatch Events can trigger actions.
Amazon CloudWatch
Why wrong: Incorrect. CloudWatch does not directly capture API calls.
AWS Config
Why wrong: Incorrect. Config is for configuration compliance, not real-time API monitoring.
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 with CloudWatch Events
AWS CloudTrail captures API activity, including the CreateAccessKey event when an IAM user creates a new access key. By sending these events to Amazon CloudWatch Events (now part of Amazon EventBridge), you can define a rule that triggers a notification via SNS, Lambda, or other targets. This combination provides the real-time event-driven notification the company requires.
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 GuardDuty
Why it's wrong here
Incorrect. GuardDuty is for threat detection, not API call monitoring.
AWS CloudTrail with CloudWatch Events
Why this is correct
Correct. CloudTrail logs API calls, and CloudWatch Events can trigger actions.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
Amazon CloudWatch
Why it's wrong here
Incorrect. CloudWatch does not directly capture API calls.
AWS Config
Why it's wrong here
Incorrect. Config is for configuration compliance, not real-time API monitoring.
Common exam traps
The trap here is that candidates often confuse CloudWatch (which handles metrics and logs) with CloudWatch Events (which handles event-driven triggers), leading them to pick Option C, even though CloudWatch alone cannot capture API calls without CloudTrail integration.
Detailed technical explanation
Under the hood, CloudTrail delivers management events to CloudWatch Logs or directly to CloudWatch Events (EventBridge) via a trail. The CreateAccessKey event is a management event that is logged by default when CloudTrail is enabled. In EventBridge, you can create a rule with an event pattern like {"source":["aws.iam"],"detail-type":["AWS API Call via CloudTrail"],"detail":{"eventSource":["iam.amazonaws.com"],"eventName":["CreateAccessKey"]}} to trigger an SNS topic for email or SMS notifications. A subtle behavior is that if the trail is configured to log only read events or has data events excluded, the CreateAccessKey management event will still be captured, but you must ensure the trail is logging management events and that the CloudWatch Events rule is in the same region as the trail.
Key takeaway
Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Real-world example
A company's IT admin needs to give a contractor read-only access to production logs without sharing account credentials. Using role-based access control (RBAC) and temporary scoped permissions — not a permanent shared password — is the correct pattern. Questions like this test whether you can apply least-privilege access across cloud identity services.
What to study next
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FAQ
Monitoring and Logging — This question tests Monitoring and Logging — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
The correct answer is: AWS CloudTrail with CloudWatch Events — AWS CloudTrail captures API activity, including the CreateAccessKey event when an IAM user creates a new access key. By sending these events to Amazon CloudWatch Events (now part of Amazon EventBridge), you can define a rule that triggers a notification via SNS, Lambda, or other targets. This combination provides the real-time event-driven notification the company requires.
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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