ANS-C01 Network Security, Compliance and Governance Practice Question
A security engineer is troubleshooting an issue where Amazon Inspector is not finding any vulnerabilities in an EC2 instance. The instance has the AWS Systems Manager Agent (SSM Agent) installed and is managed by AWS Systems Manager. What is the most likely reason for Inspector not reporting findings?
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
✓
The EC2 instance does not have an IAM role that allows Inspector to scan it.
Amazon Inspector requires an IAM role that grants it permission to assess the EC2 instance. Without such a role, Inspector cannot perform vulnerability scans, even if the SSM Agent is installed and the instance is managed by Systems Manager. The other options are incorrect: the instance is managed by SSM (contradicting D), and missing NAT gateway or security group outbound rules do not prevent Inspector from scanning (Inspector initiates scans internally).
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
The EC2 instance does not have an IAM role that allows Inspector to scan it.
Why this is correct
Correct. The EC2 instance must have an IAM role (e.g., AmazonInspector-ENI-EC2-Role) that allows Inspector to access and scan it. Without this role, Inspector cannot report findings.
- ✗
The EC2 instance is in a private subnet without a NAT gateway.
Why it's wrong here
Incorrect. While a NAT gateway may be needed for instances in private subnets to reach the internet, Inspector does not require outbound internet access; it uses the AWS network internally.
- ✗
The EC2 instance's security group blocks outbound traffic to the Inspector service.
Why it's wrong here
Incorrect. Inspector does not require outbound traffic from the instance; the security group rules do not affect Inspector's ability to scan.
- ✗
The EC2 instance is not managed by AWS Systems Manager.
Why it's wrong here
Incorrect. The stem explicitly states the instance is managed by AWS Systems Manager, so this option contradicts the given information.
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JA
Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
This ANS-C01 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 ANS-C01 exam.