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 security engineer is configuring a multi-account CloudTrail setup. The above bucket policy is attached to the central logging bucket. Despite the policy, CloudTrail in the member account (123456789012) cannot deliver logs. What is the MOST likely 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.
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
The condition s3:x-amz-acl is not required; CloudTrail does not set that ACL.
CloudTrail does not set the s3:x-amz-acl condition key when delivering log files to S3. The bucket policy incorrectly includes this condition, which causes the S3 authorization to fail because the condition key is not present in the CloudTrail PutObject request. Removing the condition or adjusting the policy to not require it resolves the delivery failure.
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 Principal should be the CloudTrail service principal of the member account.
Why it's wrong here
The service principal is correct for all accounts.
✓
The condition s3:x-amz-acl is not required; CloudTrail does not set that ACL.
Why this is correct
CloudTrail uses a different ACL; removing the condition solves the issue.
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 Action should be s3:PutObjectAcl instead of s3:PutObject.
Why it's wrong here
CloudTrail uses PutObject to deliver logs.
✗
The resource ARN must include the source account ID in the path.
Why it's wrong here
It already includes the account ID.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
The trap here is that candidates assume the condition s3:x-amz-acl is always required for CloudTrail delivery, but CloudTrail does not set this condition key by default; the policy must match the actual request attributes, and misconfiguring conditions is a common cause of silent delivery failures.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
When CloudTrail delivers logs, it sends a PutObject request with the x-amz-acl header set to bucket-owner-full-control to ensure the bucket owner retains full control. The s3:x-amz-acl condition key in a bucket policy evaluates this header, but if the policy requires a specific value that CloudTrail does not send (or if the condition is misconfigured), the request fails. In multi-account setups, the bucket policy must allow the CloudTrail service principal from the member account to write objects, and the condition should match the actual ACL header value (bucket-owner-full-control) if used.
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.
TExam Day Tips
→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.
Visual reference
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 exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.
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 condition s3:x-amz-acl is not required; CloudTrail does not set that ACL. — CloudTrail does not set the s3:x-amz-acl condition key when delivering log files to S3. The bucket policy incorrectly includes this condition, which causes the S3 authorization to fail because the condition key is not present in the CloudTrail PutObject request. Removing the condition or adjusting the policy to not require it resolves the delivery failure.
What should I do if I get this SCS-C02 question wrong?
Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.
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.
About these practice questions
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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. A security engineer configured the S3 bucket policy shown above for CloudTrail log delivery, but CloudTrail is not delivering logs. What is the MOST likely reason?
medium
✓ A.The policy does not include s3:GetBucketAcl permission.
B.The bucket is in the wrong region.
C.The resource ARN is incorrect.
D.The bucket does not have default encryption enabled.
Why A: CloudTrail requires the s3:GetBucketAcl permission on the destination S3 bucket to verify that the bucket policy grants the necessary access. Without this permission, CloudTrail cannot confirm it has write access and will fail to deliver logs. The bucket policy must explicitly allow the CloudTrail service principal to perform GetBucketAcl and PutObject actions.
Variation 2. Refer to the exhibit. A security engineer configured the above bucket policy for CloudTrail log delivery. However, logs are not being delivered. What is the most likely cause?
hard
A.The Action should be 's3:PutObjectAcl' instead of 's3:PutObject'.
B.The Principal is incorrect; it should be the CloudTrail service principal for the region.
✓ C.The condition requires 'bucket-owner-full-control' ACL, but CloudTrail does not set this ACL when delivering to the same account.
D.The Resource ARN is missing the account ID in the path.
Why C: Option C is correct because when CloudTrail delivers logs to an S3 bucket in the same AWS account, it does not set the 'bucket-owner-full-control' canned ACL on the objects. The bucket policy condition requiring 's3:x-amz-acl': 'bucket-owner-full-control' will fail, as CloudTrail uses the default ACL (bucket-owner-full-control is only set for cross-account deliveries). This mismatch prevents log delivery.
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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.
Question Discussion
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