This SOA-C02 practice question tests your understanding of monitoring, logging, and remediation. 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 SysOps administrator needs to track changes to security group rules in a VPC. Which AWS services can be used to monitor and log these changes? (Choose TWO.)
VPC Flow Logs.
Why wrong: Flow logs capture network traffic, not configuration changes.
AWS Trusted Advisor.
Why wrong: Trusted Advisor provides recommendations, not change logging.
AWS CloudTrail.
CloudTrail logs API calls that modify security groups.
AWS Config.
Config records configuration changes and can evaluate rules.
Amazon CloudWatch Logs.
Why wrong: CloudWatch Logs is not a change tracker.
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 correct because it records API calls made to the Amazon EC2 service, including AuthorizeSecurityGroupIngress, RevokeSecurityGroupEgress, and CreateSecurityGroup. These events capture the identity, source IP, and timestamp of every change to security group rules, providing an audit trail for compliance and troubleshooting.
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.
VPC Flow Logs.
Why it's wrong here
Flow logs capture network traffic, not configuration changes.
AWS Trusted Advisor.
Why it's wrong here
Trusted Advisor provides recommendations, not change logging.
AWS CloudTrail.
Why this is correct
CloudTrail logs API calls that modify security groups.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
AWS Config.
Why this is correct
Config records configuration changes and can evaluate rules.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
Amazon CloudWatch Logs.
Why it's wrong here
CloudWatch Logs is not a change tracker.
Common exam traps
The trap here is that candidates confuse VPC Flow Logs (which monitor traffic flows) with CloudTrail (which monitors API calls), or assume CloudWatch Logs alone can capture changes without a source like CloudTrail or Config.
Detailed technical explanation
AWS Config continuously evaluates and records configuration changes to AWS resources, including security group rules, by tracking resource relationships and compliance against desired rules. CloudTrail logs the underlying API calls (e.g., ec2:AuthorizeSecurityGroupIngress) with detailed request parameters, enabling forensic analysis of who made the change and when. Together, they provide both the configuration state history (Config) and the event-driven audit trail (CloudTrail) for security group modifications.
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
Monitoring, Logging, and Remediation — This question tests Monitoring, Logging, and Remediation — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
The correct answer is: AWS CloudTrail. — AWS CloudTrail is correct because it records API calls made to the Amazon EC2 service, including AuthorizeSecurityGroupIngress, RevokeSecurityGroupEgress, and CreateSecurityGroup. These events capture the identity, source IP, and timestamp of every change to security group rules, providing an audit trail for compliance and troubleshooting.
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 SOA-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 SOA-C02 exam.
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