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Question 956 of 1,748

Management and Security Governance →mediumMultiple ChoiceObjective-mapped

SCS-C02 Management and Security Governance Practice Question

This SCS-C02 practice question tests your understanding of management and security governance. 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 financial services company uses AWS Organizations to manage multiple accounts. The Security team has enabled AWS CloudTrail in all accounts and logs are delivered to a central S3 bucket in the management account. The company has a requirement to detect and alert on any IAM user or role that performs a console login without multi-factor authentication (MFA) across all accounts. Currently, the team manually reviews CloudTrail logs, which is time-consuming and error-prone. They want an automated solution that uses AWS services and follows AWS best practices for security governance. The solution must be cost-effective and should not require custom code or third-party tools. What should the Security team do to meet this requirement?

Clue words in this question

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

Clue: "best"
Why it matters: Signals that multiple options may be partially correct. Choose the option that most directly solves the exact problem described, not the one that sounds most complete.

A
Enable Amazon GuardDuty and create a custom rule to detect console logins without MFA.
Why wrong: GuardDuty does not support custom rules for specific IAM events like MFA usage. It uses machine learning and threat intelligence for anomaly detection.
B
Configure CloudTrail to deliver logs to Amazon CloudWatch Logs. Create a metric filter for the event name 'ConsoleLogin' with additionalEventData.MFAUsed != 'Yes'. Create a CloudWatch Alarm on the metric to send a notification via Amazon SNS.
This solution uses CloudTrail logs, CloudWatch Logs metric filter, and CloudWatch Alarm to detect and alert on console logins without MFA. It is automated, cost-effective, and requires no custom code.
C
Create an AWS Config managed rule to check for console logins without MFA across all accounts.
Why wrong: AWS Config rules evaluate resource configurations (e.g., whether MFA is enabled on IAM users), not real-time events like console login MFA status.
D
Use AWS IAM Access Analyzer to generate findings when IAM users log in without MFA.
Why wrong: IAM Access Analyzer analyzes resource-based policies for external access, not user login events or MFA compliance.

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

✓

Configure CloudTrail to deliver logs to Amazon CloudWatch Logs. Create a metric filter for the event name 'ConsoleLogin' with additionalEventData.MFAUsed != 'Yes'. Create a CloudWatch Alarm on the metric to send a notification via Amazon SNS.

Option B is correct because it uses AWS CloudTrail with Amazon CloudWatch Logs and a metric filter to detect console logins without MFA, and then creates a CloudWatch Alarm to trigger an SNS notification. This approach is automated, serverless, and follows AWS best practices without custom code. Option A is incorrect because AWS Config managed rules can evaluate resource configurations but cannot evaluate CloudTrail events like console login MFA status. Option C is incorrect because Amazon GuardDuty focuses on threat detection (e.g., unusual API calls, compromised instances), not IAM MFA compliance. Option D is incorrect because AWS IAM Access Analyzer analyzes resource policies for external access, not user behavior such as MFA usage during login.

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.

✗
Enable Amazon GuardDuty and create a custom rule to detect console logins without MFA.
Why it's wrong here
GuardDuty does not support custom rules for specific IAM events like MFA usage. It uses machine learning and threat intelligence for anomaly detection.
✓
Configure CloudTrail to deliver logs to Amazon CloudWatch Logs. Create a metric filter for the event name 'ConsoleLogin' with additionalEventData.MFAUsed != 'Yes'. Create a CloudWatch Alarm on the metric to send a notification via Amazon SNS.
Why this is correct
This solution uses CloudTrail logs, CloudWatch Logs metric filter, and CloudWatch Alarm to detect and alert on console logins without MFA. It is automated, cost-effective, and requires no custom code.
Clue confirmation
The clue word "best" in the question point toward this answer.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
✗
Create an AWS Config managed rule to check for console logins without MFA across all accounts.
Why it's wrong here
AWS Config rules evaluate resource configurations (e.g., whether MFA is enabled on IAM users), not real-time events like console login MFA status.
✗
Use AWS IAM Access Analyzer to generate findings when IAM users log in without MFA.
Why it's wrong here
IAM Access Analyzer analyzes resource-based policies for external access, not user login events or MFA compliance.

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 startup's cloud architect reviews their monthly bill and notices costs are higher than expected for a long-running batch job. Switching from on-demand instances to Reserved Instances — or using Spot/Preemptible VMs — can reduce compute costs by up to 72 %. Questions like this test whether you understand the tradeoffs between commitment, flexibility, and cost across cloud pricing models.

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?

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

What is the correct answer to this question?

The correct answer is: Configure CloudTrail to deliver logs to Amazon CloudWatch Logs. Create a metric filter for the event name 'ConsoleLogin' with additionalEventData.MFAUsed != 'Yes'. Create a CloudWatch Alarm on the metric to send a notification via Amazon SNS. — Option B is correct because it uses AWS CloudTrail with Amazon CloudWatch Logs and a metric filter to detect console logins without MFA, and then creates a CloudWatch Alarm to trigger an SNS notification. This approach is automated, serverless, and follows AWS best practices without custom code. Option A is incorrect because AWS Config managed rules can evaluate resource configurations but cannot evaluate CloudTrail events like console login MFA status. Option C is incorrect because Amazon GuardDuty focuses on threat detection (e.g., unusual API calls, compromised instances), not IAM MFA compliance. Option D is incorrect because AWS IAM Access Analyzer analyzes resource policies for external access, not user behavior such as MFA usage during login.

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: "best". Signals that multiple options may be partially correct. Choose the option that most directly solves the exact problem described, not the one that sounds most complete.

What is the key concept behind this question?

Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.

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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.