SAP-C02 Continuous Improvement for Existing Solutions Practice Question
A company is using AWS CloudTrail to log all API activity. The security team wants to be alerted when an IAM user creates a new access key. What is the simplest way to achieve this?
⚠ Common exam trap
SAP-C02 often tests the distinction between real-time event-driven alerting (EventBridge) and batch/log-based processing (S3 notifications, Config rules), so candidates may incorrectly choose S3 event notifications or AWS Config due to familiarity with those services.
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 an Amazon EventBridge rule that matches the 'CreateAccessKey' API call and sends an SNS notification.
Amazon EventBridge natively integrates with CloudTrail to receive API call events in near real-time. By creating an EventBridge rule that matches the 'CreateAccessKey' event source and detail-type, you can route the event directly to an SNS topic for alerting. This is the simplest, most direct, and serverless approach, requiring no custom code or additional services beyond the rule and SNS topic.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Configure an S3 event notification on the CloudTrail log bucket to trigger a Lambda function.
Why it's wrong here
S3 events are not for real-time API monitoring.
- ✗
Set up a CloudTrail trail with log file validation enabled.
Why it's wrong here
Log file validation does not provide alerts.
- ✗
Use AWS Config to create a rule that checks for access keys.
Why it's wrong here
AWS Config evaluates resource configurations, not API events.
- ✓
Create an Amazon EventBridge rule that matches the 'CreateAccessKey' API call and sends an SNS notification.
Why this is correct
EventBridge natively ingests CloudTrail management events and pattern-matches on the `CreateAccessKey` API call, triggering an SNS notification without custom code or log parsing. This satisfies the stem's requirement for the simplest alerting mechanism, since CloudTrail already delivers the event stream EventBridge consumes.
Quick reference
Cloud Service Model Comparison
| Model | You Manage | Provider Manages | Examples |
|---|---|---|---|
| IaaS | OS, runtime, apps, data | Hardware, hypervisor, networking | EC2, Azure VMs, GCP Compute Engine |
| PaaS | Apps and data | OS, runtime, middleware, hardware | Elastic Beanstalk, Azure App Service |
| SaaS | Data and settings only | Everything else | Microsoft 365, Salesforce, Workday |
| FaaS / Serverless | Function code only | Infra, scaling, runtime | Lambda, Azure Functions, Cloud Run |
| CaaS | Containers and apps | Kubernetes, OS, hardware | EKS, AKS, GKE |
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About these practice questions
Courseiva writes every SAP-C02 question from scratch — 984 in total, each with an explanation and a wrong-answer breakdown. None are copied from real exams or dumps. Learn why practice questions differ from exam dumps →
JA
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 SAP-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 SAP-C02 exam.