SCS-C02 Security Logging and Monitoring Practice Question
A company wants to ensure that all API calls made to their AWS account are logged and immutable. They have enabled AWS CloudTrail and are delivering logs to an S3 bucket. The security team requires that logs cannot be deleted or modified by anyone, including the root user. What should they do?
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
✓
Enable S3 Object Lock with Compliance retention mode on the bucket.
S3 Object Lock with retention mode Compliance prevents any user, including root, from deleting or overwriting objects. Option B is wrong because MFA Delete prevents deletion but requires additional authentication and can be disabled by root if they have MFA. Option C is wrong because versioning alone does not prevent deletion of versions; objects can still be deleted, though old versions are retained. Option D is wrong because bucket policies can be changed by root, so a deny policy is not immutable.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
Enable S3 Object Lock with Compliance retention mode on the bucket.
Why this is correct
Compliance mode prevents any deletion even by root.
- ✗
Enable MFA Delete on the S3 bucket.
Why it's wrong here
MFA Delete can be undone by root with MFA.
- ✗
Enable S3 Versioning on the bucket.
Why it's wrong here
Versioning preserves previous versions but does not prevent deletion of current version.
- ✗
Add a bucket policy that denies s3:DeleteObject for all principals.
Why it's wrong here
Bucket policies do not apply to root by default.
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.