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Question 893 of 1,748

Threat Detection and Incident Response →easyMultiple ChoiceObjective-mapped

Troubleshooting: CloudWatch Events Rule Not Sending SNS Notification for CloudTrail StopLogging

This SCS-C02 practice question tests your understanding of threat detection and incident response. 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 uses AWS CloudTrail to log all API activity. The security team wants to ensure that any changes to CloudTrail configuration (e.g., disabling the trail, deleting the trail, modifying the log delivery) are detected immediately. They have created a CloudWatch Events rule to capture the event 'StopLogging' and send an SNS notification. During testing, the team stops the trail and does not receive the notification. The CloudWatch Events rule is configured with the correct event pattern. What should the team check?

Clue words in this question

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

Clue: "immediately / without restart"
Why it matters: Time or reboot constraint — the correct answer must take effect right away without requiring a reboot or reload.

A
Verify that the CloudTrail trail is logging management events.
Why wrong: Trails log management events by default, so this is likely not the issue.
B
Ensure that the event pattern includes the correct source and detail-type.
Why wrong: The event pattern is correct if it matches the test event.
C
Confirm that the SNS topic subscription is confirmed.
Why wrong: The subscription confirmation is for email or other endpoints, but the rule publishes to the topic, not to the subscription.
D
Check the IAM role associated with the CloudWatch Events rule to ensure it has permissions to publish to the SNS topic.
The rule must assume a role with sns:Publish permission on the topic.

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

✓

Check the IAM role associated with the CloudWatch Events rule to ensure it has permissions to publish to the SNS topic.

Option D is correct because CloudWatch Events rules require an IAM role with permissions to invoke the target (e.g., publish to SNS). Even if the event pattern matches and the SNS topic exists, without a properly configured IAM role that grants `sns:Publish` to the CloudWatch Events service, the rule cannot deliver the notification. This is a common misconfiguration that causes silent failures.

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.

✗
Verify that the CloudTrail trail is logging management events.
Why it's wrong here
Trails log management events by default, so this is likely not the issue.
✗
Ensure that the event pattern includes the correct source and detail-type.
Why it's wrong here
The event pattern is correct if it matches the test event.
✗
Confirm that the SNS topic subscription is confirmed.
Why it's wrong here
The subscription confirmation is for email or other endpoints, but the rule publishes to the topic, not to the subscription.
✓
Check the IAM role associated with the CloudWatch Events rule to ensure it has permissions to publish to the SNS topic.
Why this is correct
The rule must assume a role with sns:Publish permission on the topic.
Clue confirmation
The clue word "immediately / without restart" in the question point toward this answer.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.

Common exam traps

Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword

The trap here is that candidates assume the event pattern matching is the only requirement for delivery, overlooking the IAM permissions needed for the CloudWatch Events rule to invoke the SNS target.

Detailed technical explanation

How to think about this question

CloudWatch Events (now part of Amazon EventBridge) uses resource-based policies or IAM roles to grant the service permission to invoke targets. For SNS topics, the IAM role attached to the rule must include a statement allowing `sns:Publish` on the specific topic ARN. Without this, the rule matches the event but fails silently when attempting to deliver, and the event is not retried. In real-world scenarios, this often occurs when the rule is created via the console without selecting an existing role or creating one with the correct permissions.

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 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

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.

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FAQ

Questions learners often ask

What does this SCS-C02 question test?

Threat Detection and Incident Response — This question tests Threat Detection and Incident Response — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..

What is the correct answer to this question?

The correct answer is: Check the IAM role associated with the CloudWatch Events rule to ensure it has permissions to publish to the SNS topic. — Option D is correct because CloudWatch Events rules require an IAM role with permissions to invoke the target (e.g., publish to SNS). Even if the event pattern matches and the SNS topic exists, without a properly configured IAM role that grants `sns:Publish` to the CloudWatch Events service, the rule cannot deliver the notification. This is a common misconfiguration that causes silent failures.

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: "immediately / without restart". Time or reboot constraint — the correct answer must take effect right away without requiring a reboot or reload.

What is the key concept behind this question?

Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.

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