- A
Enable CloudTrail Lake
Why wrong: CloudTrail Lake is an optional managed service but not required; Athena on S3 works.
- B
Stream logs to CloudWatch Logs and use CloudWatch Logs Insights
Why wrong: CloudWatch Logs Insights queries CloudWatch Logs, not S3 objects.
- C
Use Amazon Athena with a table defined over the S3 bucket
Athena can query CloudTrail logs stored in S3 using standard SQL.
- D
Enable Amazon GuardDuty
Why wrong: GuardDuty is for threat detection, not log query.
Question 605 of 1,748
Query CloudTrail Logs in S3 with Amazon Athena — Fast Investigation
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 company uses AWS CloudTrail to log all API calls. During an incident investigation, the security team needs to identify who deleted an S3 bucket. CloudTrail logs are stored in a centralized S3 bucket with server-side encryption using AWS KMS. Which additional step is required to ensure the CloudTrail logs can be queried quickly for this investigation?
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
✓
Use Amazon Athena with a table defined over the S3 bucket
Amazon Athena allows you to query CloudTrail logs directly in S3 using standard SQL without needing to move or transform the data. Since the logs are already in a centralized S3 bucket, defining a table over that location enables fast, ad-hoc queries to identify the specific DeleteBucket event, including who performed it and when. This approach is cost-effective and avoids additional streaming or storage costs.
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 CloudTrail Lake
Why it's wrong here
CloudTrail Lake is an optional managed service but not required; Athena on S3 works.
- ✗
Stream logs to CloudWatch Logs and use CloudWatch Logs Insights
Why it's wrong here
CloudWatch Logs Insights queries CloudWatch Logs, not S3 objects.
- ✓
Use Amazon Athena with a table defined over the S3 bucket
Why this is correct
Athena can query CloudTrail logs stored in S3 using standard SQL.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
- ✗
Enable Amazon GuardDuty
Why it's wrong here
GuardDuty is for threat detection, not log query.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
The trap here is that candidates often assume CloudTrail logs must be streamed to CloudWatch Logs for querying, but Athena provides a more direct and cost-effective solution for querying historical logs stored in S3 without additional streaming overhead.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
Athena uses Presto under the hood to run SQL queries on data stored in S3, and it supports a built-in CloudTrail SerDe (serializer/deserializer) that automatically parses the JSON structure of CloudTrail logs. When you create a table with the correct partition projection, Athena can efficiently scan only the relevant log files by date and region, enabling sub-second query times for targeted investigations. A common real-world scenario is a security team needing to correlate a bucket deletion with an IAM user's session from a specific hour, which Athena can accomplish with a simple SELECT statement filtering on eventName='DeleteBucket' and eventTime.
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 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 exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.
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Threat Detection and Incident Response — study guide chapter
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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: Use Amazon Athena with a table defined over the S3 bucket — Amazon Athena allows you to query CloudTrail logs directly in S3 using standard SQL without needing to move or transform the data. Since the logs are already in a centralized S3 bucket, defining a table over that location enables fast, ad-hoc queries to identify the specific DeleteBucket event, including who performed it and when. This approach is cost-effective and avoids additional streaming or storage costs.
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.
What is the key concept behind this question?
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
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Last reviewed: Jul 4, 2026
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