SCS-C02 Security Logging and Monitoring Practice Question
A security engineer is responsible for monitoring AWS account activity. The engineer needs to receive real-time notifications when specific API calls are made, such as 'DeleteTrail' or 'UpdateTrail'. The engineer wants to use AWS services to achieve this with minimal latency. Which combination of services should the engineer use?
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
✓
CloudTrail -> CloudWatch Logs -> CloudWatch metric filter -> CloudWatch alarm -> Amazon SNS
The correct solution is to send CloudTrail logs to CloudWatch Logs, create a metric filter to match the specific API calls (e.g., 'DeleteTrail', 'UpdateTrail'), and set up a CloudWatch alarm on that metric that publishes to an SNS topic. This provides near-real-time alerts. Option D is correct. Option A is incorrect because while CloudTrail can send events to EventBridge, the event delivery is not as immediate as CloudWatch Logs metric filter approach for this use case. Option B is incorrect because S3 event notifications are for object-level events and not suitable for monitoring CloudTrail API calls. Option C is incorrect because CloudWatch Logs subscription filters are for streaming logs to other destinations, not for directly triggering alarms.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
CloudTrail -> Amazon EventBridge -> Amazon SNS
Why it's wrong here
EventBridge can be used, but CloudTrail does not automatically send events to EventBridge; a rule must be set up and it may have slight delay.
- ✗
CloudTrail -> Amazon S3 -> S3 event notification -> AWS Lambda -> Amazon SNS
Why it's wrong here
S3 event notifications are not real-time and are designed for object-level events, not API calls.
- ✗
CloudTrail -> CloudWatch Logs -> CloudWatch Logs subscription filter -> AWS Lambda -> Amazon SNS
Why it's wrong here
This adds unnecessary complexity and latency compared to using a metric filter and alarm.
- ✓
CloudTrail -> CloudWatch Logs -> CloudWatch metric filter -> CloudWatch alarm -> Amazon SNS
Why this is correct
This architecture provides near real-time alerting based on 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
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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.