SCS-C02 Management and Security Governance Practice Question
A security engineer discovers that an IAM user has a policy that allows them to delete any S3 bucket in the account. The engineer wants to audit all delete actions performed by this user. Which AWS service should be used?
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 logs all API calls made to the AWS API, including S3 bucket deletions, and is the appropriate service for auditing user actions. Option C (CloudTrail) is correct. Option A (GuardDuty) is a threat detection service that monitors for malicious activity but does not log all API calls. Option B (AWS Config) evaluates resource configurations and changes but does not log API calls. Option D (CloudWatch Logs) stores logs from various sources but does not capture API calls by default.
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 GuardDuty
Why it's wrong here
GuardDuty detects threats, not audit all actions.
- ✗
AWS Config
Why it's wrong here
Config records resource configuration changes, not API calls.
- ✓
AWS CloudTrail
Why this is correct
CloudTrail records API calls for auditing.
- ✗
Amazon CloudWatch Logs
Why it's wrong here
CloudWatch Logs stores logs, but you need CloudTrail to capture API calls.
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
Related to this question
About these practice questions
Courseiva writes every SCS-C02 question from scratch — 376 in total, each with an explanation and a wrong-answer breakdown. None are copied from real exams or dumps. Learn why practice questions differ from exam dumps →
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.