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 security engineer needs to ensure that all API calls made in an AWS account are captured and retained for auditing purposes. The engineer must be able to query the logs for specific user activity over the past 90 days. Which AWS service should the engineer use to meet these requirements?
AWS CloudTrail
CloudTrail records all API calls and can be stored in S3 for long-term retention and queried with Athena.
Amazon VPC Flow Logs
Why wrong: VPC Flow Logs capture network traffic, not API calls.
Amazon CloudWatch Logs
Why wrong: CloudWatch Logs is for application and service logs, not specifically for auditing API calls.
AWS Config
Why wrong: AWS Config records resource configuration changes, not all API calls.
Answer choices
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 is the correct service because it records all API calls made in an AWS account, including the identity, source IP, request parameters, and response elements. By default, CloudTrail stores event history for the last 90 days, which can be queried via the Event History console or API, meeting the requirement to query logs for specific user activity over the past 90 days without additional configuration.
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.
AWS CloudTrail
Why this is correct
CloudTrail records all API calls and can be stored in S3 for long-term retention and queried with Athena.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
Amazon VPC Flow Logs
Why it's wrong here
VPC Flow Logs capture network traffic, not API calls.
Amazon CloudWatch Logs
Why it's wrong here
CloudWatch Logs is for application and service logs, not specifically for auditing API calls.
AWS Config
Why it's wrong here
AWS Config records resource configuration changes, not all API calls.
Common exam traps
The trap here is that candidates may confuse CloudTrail's default 90-day Event History with the need to create a trail and store logs in S3, but the question explicitly states 'captured and retained for auditing purposes' and 'query the logs for specific user activity over the past 90 days,' which is exactly what the built-in Event History provides without additional configuration.
Detailed technical explanation
CloudTrail Event History retains the last 90 days of management events (e.g., CreateVpc, IAM policy changes) by default, and these events are queryable via the AWS CLI (e.g., `aws cloudtrail lookup-events`) or the console. For data events (e.g., S3 object-level operations), a trail must be created to capture them, but the 90-day retention for management events is built-in and requires no additional storage. A common real-world scenario is investigating a compromised IAM user: CloudTrail's Event History can be filtered by user name, event name, or time range to identify suspicious API calls within the 90-day window.
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: AWS CloudTrail — AWS CloudTrail is the correct service because it records all API calls made in an AWS account, including the identity, source IP, request parameters, and response elements. By default, CloudTrail stores event history for the last 90 days, which can be queried via the Event History console or API, meeting the requirement to query logs for specific user activity over the past 90 days without additional configuration.
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 11, 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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