Quick Answer
The answer is AWS CloudTrail, which you should enable first for API call logging in any AWS account. CloudTrail captures every API call made via the AWS Management Console, SDKs, CLI, or other services, recording the caller’s identity, source IP, timestamp, and request parameters—this complete audit trail is essential for reconstructing events during incident response. On the AWS Certified Security Specialty SCS-C02 exam, this question tests your understanding that CloudTrail is the foundational logging service, not CloudWatch Logs or VPC Flow Logs, which serve different purposes (metrics and network traffic, respectively). A common trap is confusing CloudTrail with CloudWatch, but remember: CloudTrail logs *who* did *what* and *when*, while CloudWatch monitors *performance* and *metrics*. For a quick memory tip, think “Trail = Trail of API calls,” and always enable it first in a new account to meet security and compliance requirements.
This SCS-C02 practice question tests your understanding of threat detection and incident response. Match the stated requirement to the specific cloud service, access model, or configuration option — many options are valid in isolation but not for this scenario. 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 needs to ensure that all API calls in an AWS account are logged for incident response. Which AWS service should be enabled?
Amazon GuardDuty
Why wrong: GuardDuty is a threat detection service, not a logging service.
VPC Flow Logs
Why wrong: Flow Logs capture IP traffic, not API calls.
AWS Config
Why wrong: Config records resource configuration changes, not API calls.
AWS CloudTrail
CloudTrail logs all API calls for governance and audit.
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
AWS CloudTrail is the correct service because it records all API calls made in an AWS account, including the identity of the caller, the time of the call, the source IP address, and the request parameters. This logging is essential for incident response to reconstruct events and identify unauthorized or malicious activity.
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.
Amazon GuardDuty
Why it's wrong here
GuardDuty is a threat detection service, not a logging service.
VPC Flow Logs
Why it's wrong here
Flow Logs capture IP traffic, not API calls.
AWS Config
Why it's wrong here
Config records resource configuration changes, not API calls.
AWS CloudTrail
Why this is correct
CloudTrail logs all API calls for governance and audit.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
Common exam traps
The trap here is that candidates confuse AWS Config with CloudTrail because both deal with 'logging' and 'compliance,' but Config tracks resource state changes over time, not the API calls that caused those changes.
Detailed technical explanation
CloudTrail delivers log files to an S3 bucket (or CloudWatch Logs) in JSON format, capturing every management event (e.g., CreateInstance, DeleteBucket) and optionally data events (e.g., S3 GetObject, Lambda Invoke). For incident response, enabling CloudTrail Insights can automatically detect unusual API activity, such as spikes in error rates or access denied events, which helps prioritize investigations.
Key takeaway
Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Real-world example
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
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FAQ
Threat Detection and Incident Response — This question tests Threat Detection and Incident Response — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
The correct answer is: AWS CloudTrail — AWS CloudTrail is the correct service because it records all API calls made in an AWS account, including the identity of the caller, the time of the call, the source IP address, and the request parameters. This logging is essential for incident response to reconstruct events and identify unauthorized or malicious activity.
Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
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Courseiva creates original exam-style practice questions with explanations and wrong-answer analysis. It does not publish real exam questions, exam dumps, or protected exam content. Learn why practice questions differ from exam dumps →
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. A company needs to ensure that all API calls in their AWS account are logged and monitored for suspicious activity. Which service should be enabled first?
easyWhy D: AWS CloudTrail records all API calls in the account. GuardDuty uses CloudTrail logs for threat detection, but CloudTrail must be enabled first. AWS Config is for configuration compliance. Amazon Inspector is for host vulnerabilities.
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Last reviewed: Jun 24, 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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