This PAS-C01 practice question tests your understanding of operations and maintenance. 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 uses AWS CloudTrail to log API calls. The security team wants to detect unauthorized attempts to modify security group rules and send real-time alerts. Which TWO AWS services should be used together to achieve this?
Amazon Simple Notification Service (SNS)
Can send alerts via email, SMS, etc.
Amazon CloudWatch Events (or EventBridge)
Can filter CloudTrail events and trigger a target.
AWS Lambda
Why wrong: Could be used but is not required; EventBridge can directly invoke SNS.
AWS Config
Why wrong: Config evaluates resource configurations, not real-time API calls.
Amazon GuardDuty
Why wrong: GuardDuty is for threat detection, not custom 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
Amazon Simple Notification Service (SNS)
Amazon CloudWatch Events (or EventBridge) can capture CloudTrail API calls related to security group modifications (e.g., AuthorizeSecurityGroupIngress, RevokeSecurityGroupEgress) and route them to an SNS topic. SNS then sends real-time alerts (e.g., email, SMS) to the security team. This combination provides event-driven, near-instantaneous notification without polling or custom code.
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 Simple Notification Service (SNS)
Why this is correct
Can send alerts via email, SMS, etc.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
Amazon CloudWatch Events (or EventBridge)
Why this is correct
Can filter CloudTrail events and trigger a target.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
AWS Lambda
Why it's wrong here
Could be used but is not required; EventBridge can directly invoke SNS.
AWS Config
Why it's wrong here
Config evaluates resource configurations, not real-time API calls.
Amazon GuardDuty
Why it's wrong here
GuardDuty is for threat detection, not custom API monitoring.
Common exam traps
The trap here is that candidates often over-engineer by adding Lambda or GuardDuty, not realizing that CloudWatch Events (EventBridge) can directly trigger SNS for real-time alerting without additional compute or security services.
Detailed technical explanation
CloudTrail logs are delivered to CloudWatch Logs, and a CloudWatch Events rule can match specific event patterns (e.g., eventName equals 'AuthorizeSecurityGroupIngress') using JSON-based event patterns. SNS topics can then be configured as a target for the rule, enabling immediate fan-out to multiple subscribers (email, SMS, HTTP endpoints). This pattern avoids the latency of polling-based solutions and scales automatically with API call volume.
Key takeaway
Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Real-world example
A healthcare organisation deploys an application with a public-facing web tier and a private database tier. The database subnet has no public IP and only accepts connections from the web tier's security group. Questions like this test whether you can design cloud network isolation using VNets/VPCs, subnets, and security group rules.
What to study next
Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.
Operations and Maintenance — study guide chapter
Learn the concepts, then practise the questions
Operations and Maintenance practice questions
Targeted practice on this topic area only
All PAS-C01 questions
1,733 questions across all exam domains
AWS Certified SAP on AWS Specialty PAS-C01 study guide
Full concept coverage aligned to exam objectives
PAS-C01 practice test guide
How to use practice tests most effectively before exam day
Related practice questions
Use these pages to review the topic behind this question. This is how one missed question becomes focused revision.
Practise PAS-C01 questions linked to Design of SAP Workloads on AWS.
Practise PAS-C01 questions linked to Technology.
Practise PAS-C01 questions linked to Migration.
Practise PAS-C01 questions linked to Operations and Maintenance.
Practise PAS-C01 questions linked to PAS-C01 fundamentals.
Practise PAS-C01 questions linked to PAS-C01 scenario.
Practise PAS-C01 questions linked to PAS-C01 troubleshooting.
Practice this exam
Short sessions build daily habit. Longer sessions build exam-day stamina. Try a timed session to simulate real conditions.
FAQ
Operations and Maintenance — This question tests Operations and Maintenance — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
The correct answer is: Amazon Simple Notification Service (SNS) — Amazon CloudWatch Events (or EventBridge) can capture CloudTrail API calls related to security group modifications (e.g., AuthorizeSecurityGroupIngress, RevokeSecurityGroupEgress) and route them to an SNS topic. SNS then sends real-time alerts (e.g., email, SMS) to the security team. This combination provides event-driven, near-instantaneous notification without polling or custom code.
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.
About these practice questions
Courseiva creates original exam-style practice questions with explanations and wrong-answer analysis. It does not publish real exam questions, exam dumps, or protected exam content. Learn why practice questions differ from exam dumps →
Last reviewed: Jun 11, 2026
This PAS-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 PAS-C01 exam.
Question Discussion
Share a tip, memory trick, or ask about the reasoning behind this question. Do not post real exam questions, leaked content, braindumps, or copyrighted exam material. Comments are moderated and may be removed without notice.
Sign in to join the discussion.