SCS-C02 Management and Security Governance Practice Question
A company needs to audit all changes to IAM policies in their AWS account. Which AWS service should they use 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 IAM policy changes. Option D is correct because CloudTrail logs all IAM policy modifications. Option A (Amazon S3) is wrong because S3 is a storage service and does not record API calls. Option B (Amazon CloudWatch Logs) is wrong because CloudWatch Logs stores logs but does not directly record API calls for audit purposes. Option C (AWS Config) is wrong because AWS Config records resource state changes but not the API calls that caused those changes.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Amazon S3
Why it's wrong here
S3 is object storage, not an audit service.
- ✗
Amazon CloudWatch Logs
Why it's wrong here
CloudWatch Logs stores logs but does not record API calls.
- ✗
AWS Config
Why it's wrong here
AWS Config records configuration changes but not API calls like IAM policy changes.
- ✓
AWS CloudTrail
Why this is correct
CloudTrail logs all API calls, including IAM policy modifications.
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 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.