Quick Answer
The answer is Amazon Inspector, AWS Security Hub, and Amazon GuardDuty. These three services work together to detect anomalous behavior by providing continuous monitoring, vulnerability scanning, and intelligent threat detection across your AWS environment. Amazon Inspector automates vulnerability assessments on EC2 instances and container workloads, while GuardDuty uses machine learning and integrated threat intelligence to identify suspicious API calls and network traffic. Security Hub then aggregates and correlates findings from both services, along with third-party tools, to give a unified view of security alerts and compliance posture. On the SCS-C02 exam, this triad tests your understanding of how threat detection services complement rather than duplicate each other—a common trap is confusing Amazon Macie (which focuses on sensitive data discovery) with GuardDuty. Remember the mnemonic “SIG” for Security Hub, Inspector, and GuardDuty as the core threat detection trio, with Macie reserved for data classification.
This SCS-C02 practice question tests your understanding of threat detection and incident response. Match the stated requirement to the specific cloud service, access model, or configuration option — many options are valid in isolation but not for this scenario. 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 detect anomalous behavior in their AWS environment. Which THREE AWS services can be used for threat detection? (Choose THREE.)
AWS Trusted Advisor
Why wrong: Cost optimization and best practices.
AWS Security Hub
Aggregates findings from multiple detection services.
AWS Config
Why wrong: Configuration compliance, not threat detection.
Amazon GuardDuty
Threat detection service.
Amazon Inspector
Vulnerability management.
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 Security Hub
AWS Security Hub is correct because it aggregates and prioritizes security findings from multiple AWS services (like GuardDuty, Inspector, and Macie) and third-party tools, providing a comprehensive view of security alerts and compliance status. It uses integrated findings to detect anomalous behavior across accounts and regions, making it a central threat detection service.
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 Trusted Advisor
Why it's wrong here
Cost optimization and best practices.
AWS Security Hub
Why this is correct
Aggregates findings from multiple detection services.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
AWS Config
Why it's wrong here
Configuration compliance, not threat detection.
Amazon GuardDuty
Why this is correct
Threat detection service.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
Amazon Inspector
Why this is correct
Vulnerability management.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
Common exam traps
The trap here is that candidates often confuse AWS Trusted Advisor's security checks (like open port alerts) with threat detection, but Trusted Advisor is a best-practice advisor, not a real-time threat detection service—it lacks the ML-based anomaly detection and threat intelligence that GuardDuty and Security Hub provide.
Detailed technical explanation
Under the hood, Amazon GuardDuty uses machine learning models (e.g., neural networks for anomaly detection) and integrated threat intelligence feeds (e.g., from CrowdStrike and Proofpoint) to analyze VPC Flow Logs, DNS query logs, and CloudTrail management events. Amazon Inspector performs automated vulnerability assessments by scanning EC2 instances and container images for CVEs and network reachability issues, using a knowledge base updated daily. Security Hub normalizes findings using the AWS Security Finding Format (ASFF), enabling cross-service correlation and automated response via EventBridge.
Key takeaway
Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Real-world example
A cloud solutions architect for a retail company is evaluating services for a new workload. The correct answer here reflects best practice for the specific scenario described — not a general cloud recommendation. Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option. Cloud exam questions reward reading the constraint carefully: the same technology can be right or wrong depending on the use case.
What to study next
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FAQ
Threat Detection and Incident Response — This question tests Threat Detection and Incident Response — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
The correct answer is: AWS Security Hub — AWS Security Hub is correct because it aggregates and prioritizes security findings from multiple AWS services (like GuardDuty, Inspector, and Macie) and third-party tools, providing a comprehensive view of security alerts and compliance status. It uses integrated findings to detect anomalous behavior across accounts and regions, making it a central threat detection service.
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.
About these practice questions
Courseiva creates original exam-style practice questions with explanations and wrong-answer analysis. It does not publish real exam questions, exam dumps, or protected exam content. Learn why practice questions differ from exam dumps →
Same concept, more angles
These questions test the same concept from different angles. Work through them to make sure you can recognise it however the exam phrases it.
Variation 1. Which TWO AWS services can be used to detect anomalous behavior in an AWS environment?
easyWhy B: Amazon GuardDuty and AWS Security Hub both provide anomaly detection. GuardDuty uses machine learning to detect threats. Security Hub aggregates findings and can detect anomalies through integrated services. AWS Config is for compliance. AWS CloudTrail is logging. Amazon Inspector is for vulnerabilities.
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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