Quick Answer
The answer is AWS Identity and Access Management (IAM) and AWS CloudTrail. IAM is correct because it provides granular access control through user policies, roles, and S3 bucket policies, ensuring only authorized principals can perform actions like GetObject or PutObject. CloudTrail is correct because it captures all S3 API calls, including data-plane operations when object-level logging is enabled, delivering a complete audit trail for compliance and security analysis. On the AWS Certified Security Specialty SCS-C02 exam, this pairing tests your understanding that access control and logging are complementary—IAM governs who can act, while CloudTrail records what happened. A common trap is selecting S3 server access logs instead of CloudTrail; remember that server access logs are legacy and lack the granularity of CloudTrail’s event history for IAM-based actions. Memory tip: “IAM locks the door, CloudTrail watches who enters.”
This SCS-C02 practice question tests your understanding of data protection. 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 needs to protect data in Amazon S3 by ensuring that only authorized users can access objects, and all access is logged. Which TWO services should be used together? (Choose TWO.)
AWS Identity and Access Management (IAM)
IAM policies define who can access S3 objects.
AWS CloudTrail
CloudTrail logs S3 API calls for auditing.
AWS KMS
Why wrong: KMS provides encryption keys, not access logging.
AWS WAF
Why wrong: WAF is for web application firewalls, not access control.
Amazon CloudWatch
Why wrong: CloudWatch monitors metrics and logs, but CloudTrail is the service that logs API calls.
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 Identity and Access Management (IAM)
AWS Identity and Access Management (IAM) is correct because it enables you to define granular permissions for S3 objects, ensuring that only authorized users or roles can access them via IAM policies or S3 bucket policies. AWS CloudTrail is correct because it logs all API calls made to S3, including object-level operations like GetObject and PutObject, providing an audit trail for access. Together, they satisfy the requirement of controlling access and logging all access.
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 Identity and Access Management (IAM)
Why this is correct
IAM policies define who can access S3 objects.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
AWS CloudTrail
Why this is correct
CloudTrail logs S3 API calls for auditing.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
AWS KMS
Why it's wrong here
KMS provides encryption keys, not access logging.
AWS WAF
Why it's wrong here
WAF is for web application firewalls, not access control.
Amazon CloudWatch
Why it's wrong here
CloudWatch monitors metrics and logs, but CloudTrail is the service that logs API calls.
Common exam traps
The trap here is that candidates often confuse AWS KMS with access control because encryption is related to data protection, but KMS does not authorize user access or log access events, which are the core requirements in this question.
Detailed technical explanation
IAM policies can be attached to users, groups, or roles, and S3 bucket policies are resource-based policies that grant cross-account access; both support conditions like source IP or MFA. CloudTrail logs S3 data events (e.g., GetObject, PutObject) when enabled on a bucket, and these logs are delivered to an S3 bucket or CloudWatch Logs for analysis. A common real-world scenario is enabling CloudTrail data events for a bucket containing sensitive financial records to meet compliance requirements like PCI DSS.
Key takeaway
Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Real-world example
A media company stores terabytes of video archives that are accessed once a year for audit purposes. Moving these objects to a cold storage tier (Azure Archive, S3 Glacier, or Google Nearline) costs a fraction of hot storage. Questions like this test whether you understand storage tiers, access frequency tradeoffs, and retrieval latency requirements.
What to study next
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FAQ
Data Protection — This question tests Data Protection — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
The correct answer is: AWS Identity and Access Management (IAM) — AWS Identity and Access Management (IAM) is correct because it enables you to define granular permissions for S3 objects, ensuring that only authorized users or roles can access them via IAM policies or S3 bucket policies. AWS CloudTrail is correct because it logs all API calls made to S3, including object-level operations like GetObject and PutObject, providing an audit trail for access. Together, they satisfy the requirement of controlling access and logging all access.
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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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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