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Question 487 of 1,748

Security Logging and Monitoring →mediumMultiple ChoiceObjective-mapped

Why Are Logs Not Appearing from Member Accounts? Missing Service-Linked Roles

This SCS-C02 practice question tests your understanding of security logging and monitoring. The scenario asks you to isolate a root cause — eliminate options that address a different problem before choosing. 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 has a multi-account AWS environment managed by AWS Organizations. The security team wants to enable a centralized logging solution where all VPC flow logs, CloudTrail logs, and AWS Config configuration items are sent to a single S3 bucket in the security account. The team has already created the S3 bucket with appropriate bucket policies to allow cross-account writes. However, logs are not appearing from all accounts. What is the MOST likely reason for this issue?

Clue words in this question

Noticing these words before you look at the options changes how you read each choice.

Clue: "most likely"
Why it matters: Probability qualifier — the question wants the most probable cause or outcome, not a guaranteed one. Eliminate low-probability options.

A
The security account is not the master account of the AWS Organization.
Why wrong: The central logging account does not need to be the master account.
B
The S3 bucket policy does not grant write access to the root user of each member account.
Why wrong: The bucket policy should grant permissions to the logging service, not to the root user.
C
The member accounts do not have the required IAM roles to allow the logging services to write to the central bucket.
Each member account needs a service-linked role (e.g., AWSServiceRoleForCloudTrail) to enable cross-account logging.
D
The S3 bucket is encrypted with SSE-KMS and the KMS key policy does not allow cross-account access.
Why wrong: SSE-KMS is not required; SSE-S3 can be used for cross-account logging without additional key policies.

Full breakdown with real-world context →

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

✓

The member accounts do not have the required IAM roles to allow the logging services to write to the central bucket.

The most likely reason logs are not appearing from all accounts is that the member accounts lack the required IAM roles (service-linked roles) that allow the logging services (CloudTrail, Config, VPC Flow Logs) to assume permissions to write to the central S3 bucket. Even with a correct bucket policy, the logging services in each member account need an appropriate IAM role (e.g., AWSServiceRoleForCloudTrail, AWSServiceRoleForConfig) to be present and properly configured. Without these roles, the services cannot perform the cross-account write. Option C is correct because these roles must exist in each member account. Options A, B, and D are incorrect: A - The security account does not need to be the master account; any designated account can serve as the central logging account. B - The bucket policy should grant permissions to the logging service principal (e.g., config.amazonaws.com, cloudtrail.amazonaws.com), not the root user of member accounts. D - While KMS key policies can cause issues, the question states the S3 bucket is already configured with appropriate bucket policies, and the most common cause of missing logs is missing IAM roles, not KMS encryption.

Key principle: Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.

Answer analysis

Option-by-option breakdown

For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.

✗
The security account is not the master account of the AWS Organization.
Why it's wrong here
The central logging account does not need to be the master account.
✗
The S3 bucket policy does not grant write access to the root user of each member account.
Why it's wrong here
The bucket policy should grant permissions to the logging service, not to the root user.
✓
The member accounts do not have the required IAM roles to allow the logging services to write to the central bucket.
Why this is correct
Each member account needs a service-linked role (e.g., AWSServiceRoleForCloudTrail) to enable cross-account logging.
Clue confirmation
The clue word "most likely" in the question point toward this answer.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
✗
The S3 bucket is encrypted with SSE-KMS and the KMS key policy does not allow cross-account access.
Why it's wrong here
SSE-KMS is not required; SSE-S3 can be used for cross-account logging without additional key policies.

Common exam traps

Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword

Many certification questions include familiar terms but test a specific constraint. Read the exact wording before choosing an answer that is generally true but wrong for this case.

Detailed technical explanation

How to think about this question

This question should be treated as a scenario, not a definition check. Identify the problem, the constraint and the best action. Then compare each option against those facts.

KKey Concepts to Remember

Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
Find the constraint that changes the correct option.
Eliminate answers that are true in general but not in this case.
Use explanations to understand the rule behind the answer.

TExam Day Tips

Underline the problem statement mentally.
Watch for words such as best, first, most likely and least administrative effort.
Review why wrong options are wrong, not only why the correct option is correct.

Key takeaway

Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.

Real-world example

How this comes up in practice

A media company stores terabytes of video archives that are accessed once a year for audit purposes. Moving these objects to a cold storage tier (Azure Archive, S3 Glacier, or Google Nearline) costs a fraction of hot storage. Questions like this test whether you understand storage tiers, access frequency tradeoffs, and retrieval latency requirements.

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

What to study next

Got this wrong? Here's your next step.

Identify which SCS-C02 exam domain this question belongs to, then review the specific concept being tested. Practise related questions in that domain and focus on understanding why each wrong answer is tempting — not just why the correct answer is right.

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FAQ

Questions learners often ask

What does this SCS-C02 question test?

Security Logging and Monitoring — This question tests Security Logging and Monitoring — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..

What is the correct answer to this question?

The correct answer is: The member accounts do not have the required IAM roles to allow the logging services to write to the central bucket. — The most likely reason logs are not appearing from all accounts is that the member accounts lack the required IAM roles (service-linked roles) that allow the logging services (CloudTrail, Config, VPC Flow Logs) to assume permissions to write to the central S3 bucket. Even with a correct bucket policy, the logging services in each member account need an appropriate IAM role (e.g., AWSServiceRoleForCloudTrail, AWSServiceRoleForConfig) to be present and properly configured. Without these roles, the services cannot perform the cross-account write. Option C is correct because these roles must exist in each member account. Options A, B, and D are incorrect: A - The security account does not need to be the master account; any designated account can serve as the central logging account. B - The bucket policy should grant permissions to the logging service principal (e.g., config.amazonaws.com, cloudtrail.amazonaws.com), not the root user of member accounts. D - While KMS key policies can cause issues, the question states the S3 bucket is already configured with appropriate bucket policies, and the most common cause of missing logs is missing IAM roles, not KMS encryption.

What should I do if I get this SCS-C02 question wrong?

Are there clue words in this question I should notice?

Yes — watch for: "most likely". Probability qualifier — the question wants the most probable cause or outcome, not a guaranteed one. Eliminate low-probability options.

What is the key concept behind this question?

Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.

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