DOP-C02 Security and Compliance Practice Question
Network Topology
Refer to the exhibit. A security engineer sees this CloudTrail event. What action did the user 'admin' perform?
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
✓
Created a new KMS key.
The CloudTrail event 'CreateKey' indicates that a new KMS key was created. Option A is incorrect because encrypting data would generate a different event (e.g., 'Encrypt'). Option B is incorrect because rotating a key corresponds to 'RotateKey' or 'EnableKeyRotation' events. Option D is incorrect because deleting a key generates 'DeleteKey' or 'ScheduleKeyDeletion' 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.
- ✗
Encrypted data with a KMS key.
Why it's wrong here
The CloudTrail event name "CreateKey" does not correspond to any encryption operation. In AWS KMS, encrypting data records an "Encrypt", "GenerateDataKey", or "ReEncrypt" event, depending on the API call used. These events reference an existing KMS key in the resources field but never use "CreateKey" as the event name, so this log entry cannot represent an encryption action.
- ✗
Rotated a KMS key.
Why it's wrong here
Rotating a KMS key in AWS is performed manually via the "RotateKey" API or automatically by AWS, and automatic rotation is not recorded as a customer-visible CloudTrail event like "CreateKey". Manual rotation produces an event name of "RotateKey" (or "EnableKeyRotation"), not "CreateKey". Additionally, rotation does not create a new key resource; it generates new backing key material for the same key ARN, which is inconsistent with the "CreateKey" event name and the creation of a new resource in the log.
- ✓
Created a new KMS key.
Why this is correct
The event name "CreateKey" maps directly to the AWS KMS CreateKey API call, which is used to provision a new customer master key (CMK). In the CloudTrail log, the resources array contains the ARN of the newly created key (e.g., arn:aws:kms:region:account:key/key-id), confirming that a new symmetric or asymmetric KMS key was successfully created. This is the only action listed whose event name and resource type align with the observed log entry.
- ✗
Deleted a KMS key.
Why it's wrong here
Deleting a KMS key is a deliberate lifecycle action that first requires scheduling deletion via the "ScheduleKeyDeletion" API, which CloudTrail records as "ScheduleKeyDeletion". After the waiting period expires, the key is permanently deleted, and CloudTrail may record "DeleteKey" or a related deletion event. The event name "CreateKey" explicitly indicates a creation operation, not a deletion, and the log shows a new key resource being created, so it cannot represent a deleted key.
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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.