Quick Answer
The answer is CloudWatch Alarms with SNS. This is correct because AWS WAF publishes per-rule metrics to CloudWatch, including the 'BlockedRequests' count, and a CloudWatch Alarm can monitor that metric to trigger an SNS notification when a specific rule block occurs, creating the alert pipeline the security team needs. On the AWS Certified Security Specialty SCS-C02 exam, this tests your understanding of how WAF integrates with CloudWatch for operational visibility—a common trap is choosing AWS Config or GuardDuty, which handle compliance and threat detection, not real-time metric-based alerts. Remember the pattern: WAF metrics feed CloudWatch Alarms, which publish to SNS for immediate notification. A useful memory tip is "WAF blocks, CloudWatch clocks, SNS knocks"—the alarm watches the block count, then SNS sends the knock.
This SCS-C02 practice question tests your understanding of threat detection and incident response. 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 is using AWS WAF to protect a web application. The security team wants to receive alerts when a specific rule block is triggered. Which AWS service should they use to achieve this?
Amazon EventBridge
Why wrong: EventBridge can route events, but for alerts, CloudWatch Alarms are more straightforward.
CloudWatch Alarms with SNS
CloudWatch Alarms monitor WAF metrics and send notifications via SNS.
Amazon S3
Why wrong: S3 is for storage, not notifications.
Amazon SNS
Why wrong: SNS is a notification service but needs a trigger like CloudWatch Alarm.
Answer choices
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
CloudWatch Alarms with SNS
AWS WAF integrates with Amazon CloudWatch to provide metrics for each rule, including the 'BlockedRequests' count. By creating a CloudWatch Alarm on this metric, you can trigger an SNS notification when the threshold is exceeded, alerting the security team. This is the standard pattern for receiving alerts on WAF rule actions, as CloudWatch Alarms with SNS provide the necessary monitoring and notification pipeline.
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 EventBridge
Why it's wrong here
EventBridge can route events, but for alerts, CloudWatch Alarms are more straightforward.
CloudWatch Alarms with SNS
Why this is correct
CloudWatch Alarms monitor WAF metrics and send notifications via SNS.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
Amazon S3
Why it's wrong here
S3 is for storage, not notifications.
Amazon SNS
Why it's wrong here
SNS is a notification service but needs a trigger like CloudWatch Alarm.
Common exam traps
The trap here is that candidates often confuse the notification mechanism (SNS) with the evaluation mechanism (CloudWatch Alarms), selecting SNS alone without recognizing that CloudWatch Alarms are required to evaluate the WAF metric and trigger the notification.
Detailed technical explanation
Under the hood, AWS WAF publishes per-rule metrics to CloudWatch under the AWS/WAFV2 namespace, with dimensions like Rule, RuleGroup, and WebACL. A CloudWatch Alarm monitors the Sum statistic of the 'BlockedRequests' metric over a specified period (e.g., 1 minute) and transitions to ALARM state when the threshold is breached. The alarm then publishes to an SNS topic, which can send email, SMS, or integrate with other services. In a real-world scenario, you might set a threshold of 100 blocked requests in 5 minutes to detect a potential attack, ensuring the security team is alerted promptly without noise from normal traffic.
Key takeaway
Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Real-world example
A media company stores terabytes of video archives that are accessed once a year for audit purposes. Moving these objects to a cold storage tier (Azure Archive, S3 Glacier, or Google Nearline) costs a fraction of hot storage. Questions like this test whether you understand storage tiers, access frequency tradeoffs, and retrieval latency requirements.
What to study next
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FAQ
Threat Detection and Incident Response — This question tests Threat Detection and Incident Response — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
The correct answer is: CloudWatch Alarms with SNS — AWS WAF integrates with Amazon CloudWatch to provide metrics for each rule, including the 'BlockedRequests' count. By creating a CloudWatch Alarm on this metric, you can trigger an SNS notification when the threshold is exceeded, alerting the security team. This is the standard pattern for receiving alerts on WAF rule actions, as CloudWatch Alarms with SNS provide the necessary monitoring and notification pipeline.
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.
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Last reviewed: Jun 24, 2026
This SCS-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 SCS-C02 exam.
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