ANS-C01 Network Security, Compliance and Governance Practice Question
A security engineer needs to audit all changes to security group rules in an AWS account. Which AWS service should be used to record these changes?
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
✓
AWS CloudTrail
AWS CloudTrail records API calls, including changes to security group rules. Option A (VPC Flow Logs) is wrong because it captures network traffic, not API calls. Option C (AWS Config) is wrong because it records configuration changes, but not the API call history. Option D (Amazon CloudWatch Logs) is wrong because it is used for log storage and monitoring, not for recording API calls.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
VPC Flow Logs
Why it's wrong here
VPC Flow Logs capture network traffic metadata, not API calls. They cannot be used to audit changes to security group rules.
- ✓
AWS CloudTrail
Why this is correct
AWS CloudTrail records all API calls made in the account, including AuthorizeSecurityGroupIngress and RevokeSecurityGroupEgress, making it the correct service to audit security group rule changes.
- ✗
AWS Config
Why it's wrong here
AWS Config evaluates configuration changes and can track security group rule changes, but it does not record the API calls themselves. CloudTrail is the primary service for API activity logging.
- ✗
Amazon CloudWatch Logs
Why it's wrong here
Amazon CloudWatch Logs is for storing and monitoring logs from various sources, but it does not natively capture API calls. CloudTrail integrates with CloudWatch Logs for storage, but the recording service is CloudTrail.
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 |
Go deeper
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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.