This SCS-C02 practice question tests your understanding of security logging and monitoring. This is a configuration task: choose the command set that satisfies every stated requirement. Small differences — like 'secret' vs 'password' or 'transport input ssh' vs 'all' — change whether the answer is correct. 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 wants to monitor failed SSH login attempts to its EC2 instances. Which AWS service should be used to collect and analyze these logs?
VPC Flow Logs
Why wrong: VPC Flow Logs capture network traffic metadata, not OS-level authentication logs.
Amazon CloudWatch Logs with the unified CloudWatch agent
The CloudWatch agent can collect OS logs and deliver them to CloudWatch Logs for analysis.
AWS CloudTrail
Why wrong: CloudTrail records API calls, not OS-level commands.
AWS Config
Why wrong: AWS Config records resource configuration changes, not logs.
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 CloudWatch Logs with the unified CloudWatch agent
Amazon CloudWatch Logs with the unified CloudWatch agent is the correct choice because the agent can be configured to collect and forward system log files, such as /var/log/secure (Amazon Linux) or /var/log/auth.log (Ubuntu), which record SSH authentication attempts including failures. This allows centralized monitoring and analysis of failed SSH logins via CloudWatch Logs Insights or metric filters.
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.
VPC Flow Logs
Why it's wrong here
VPC Flow Logs capture network traffic metadata, not OS-level authentication logs.
Amazon CloudWatch Logs with the unified CloudWatch agent
Why this is correct
The CloudWatch agent can collect OS logs and deliver them to CloudWatch Logs for analysis.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
AWS CloudTrail
Why it's wrong here
CloudTrail records API calls, not OS-level commands.
AWS Config
Why it's wrong here
AWS Config records resource configuration changes, not logs.
Common exam traps
The trap here is that candidates confuse VPC Flow Logs (network-level) with OS-level logs, or assume CloudTrail captures all activity including guest OS events, when in fact CloudTrail only records AWS API calls, not in-OS authentication logs.
Trap categories for this question
Command / output trap
CloudTrail records API calls, not OS-level commands.
Detailed technical explanation
The unified CloudWatch agent uses a configuration file (common-config.toml and amzn-cloudwatch-agent.json) to specify log file paths and collectd metrics. For SSH monitoring, the agent reads lines from /var/log/secure or /var/log/auth.log, which contain entries like 'Failed password for root from 192.168.1.100 port 22 ssh2'. A CloudWatch Logs metric filter can then count these events and trigger alarms, enabling real-time response to brute-force attacks.
Key takeaway
Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Real-world example
A company's IT admin needs to give a contractor read-only access to production logs without sharing account credentials. Using role-based access control (RBAC) and temporary scoped permissions — not a permanent shared password — is the correct pattern. Questions like this test whether you can apply least-privilege access across cloud identity services.
What to study next
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FAQ
Security Logging and Monitoring — This question tests Security Logging and Monitoring — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
The correct answer is: Amazon CloudWatch Logs with the unified CloudWatch agent — Amazon CloudWatch Logs with the unified CloudWatch agent is the correct choice because the agent can be configured to collect and forward system log files, such as /var/log/secure (Amazon Linux) or /var/log/auth.log (Ubuntu), which record SSH authentication attempts including failures. This allows centralized monitoring and analysis of failed SSH logins via CloudWatch Logs Insights or metric filters.
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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