Quick Answer
The answer is AWS Security Hub, Amazon GuardDuty, and AWS CloudTrail. These three services work together to detect suspicious API activity in AWS: GuardDuty continuously monitors for threats like unusual API calls or compromised credentials, CloudTrail records all API activity and its Insights feature automatically identifies anomalous patterns, and Security Hub aggregates and prioritizes findings from both services into a single dashboard. On the AWS Certified Security Specialty SCS-C02 exam, this question tests your understanding of detective controls versus configuration or vulnerability tools—a common trap is selecting AWS Config (which evaluates resource configurations, not activity) or Amazon Inspector (which scans for software vulnerabilities). Remember that detecting suspicious API activity requires monitoring behavior and logs, not static state. A useful memory tip is “GCI” for GuardDuty, CloudTrail, and Security Hub—think of it as “Guard the Cloud Insights” to recall the trio that catches anomalous API calls.
This SCS-C02 practice question tests your understanding of management and security governance. This is a configuration task: choose the command set that satisfies every stated requirement. Small differences — like 'secret' vs 'password' or 'transport input ssh' vs 'all' — change whether the answer is correct. 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.
Which THREE AWS services can be used to detect and alert on suspicious API activity in an AWS account? (Choose three.)
AWS CloudTrail Insights
Identifies unusual API activity patterns.
Amazon Inspector
Why wrong: Scans for vulnerabilities, not API activity.
Amazon GuardDuty
Detects suspicious activity using threat intelligence.
AWS Config
Why wrong: Evaluates resource configurations, not API activity.
AWS Security Hub
Aggregates and alerts on findings from GuardDuty, etc.
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 CloudTrail Insights
GuardDuty identifies threats, CloudTrail logs API calls (with Insights for anomalous activity), and Security Hub aggregates findings. Config evaluates configuration, not activity; Inspector scans for vulnerabilities.
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 CloudTrail Insights
Why this is correct
Identifies unusual API activity patterns.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
Amazon Inspector
Why it's wrong here
Scans for vulnerabilities, not API activity.
Amazon GuardDuty
Why this is correct
Detects suspicious activity using threat intelligence.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
AWS Config
Why it's wrong here
Evaluates resource configurations, not API activity.
AWS Security Hub
Why this is correct
Aggregates and alerts on findings from GuardDuty, etc.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
Common exam traps
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
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.
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
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.
Management and Security Governance — study guide chapter
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Management and Security Governance practice questions
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FAQ
Management and Security Governance — This question tests Management and Security Governance — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
The correct answer is: AWS CloudTrail Insights — GuardDuty identifies threats, CloudTrail logs API calls (with Insights for anomalous activity), and Security Hub aggregates findings. Config evaluates configuration, not activity; Inspector scans for vulnerabilities.
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.
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
About these practice questions
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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 and alert on suspicious API activity in real-time? (Choose two.)
easyWhy A: Options B and C are correct. Option A is wrong because VPC Flow Logs are for network traffic. Option D is wrong because Config is for compliance. Option E is wrong because S3 is storage.
Variation 2. Which TWO AWS services can be used to detect and alert on unauthorized API calls in real time?
easyWhy A: Options B and D are correct. Option B is correct because CloudTrail delivers events to CloudWatch Logs, and CloudWatch Alarms can trigger on metric filters. Option D is correct because EventBridge can process CloudTrail events and trigger alerts. Option A is wrong because IAM is for identity management, not monitoring. Option C is wrong because Config is for compliance evaluation, not real-time alerting on API calls. Option E is wrong because KMS is for encryption key management.
Variation 3. A security engineer needs to implement a solution to detect and alert on suspicious API calls in an AWS account. Which TWO AWS services should be integrated to achieve this? (Choose two.)
mediumWhy C: Option A and Option C are correct. Amazon GuardDuty can analyze CloudTrail events to detect suspicious API calls. Option B is wrong because AWS Config evaluates configurations, not API calls. Option D is wrong because Amazon Inspector assesses EC2 vulnerabilities. Option E is wrong because AWS Trusted Advisor provides best-practice checks.
Last reviewed: Jun 20, 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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