- A
Amazon CloudWatch Logs
Stores and monitors log files.
- B
AWS Config
Tracks configuration changes.
- C
AWS Trusted Advisor
Why wrong: Provides best practice checks, not audit logs.
- D
Amazon GuardDuty
Why wrong: Intelligent threat detection.
- E
AWS CloudTrail
Records API calls.
Question 1,479 of 1,546
SOA-C02 Security and Compliance Practice Question
This SOA-C02 practice question tests your understanding of security and compliance. 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.
A company wants to audit all AWS account activity for compliance. Which THREE AWS services should be used together to achieve this? (Choose three.)
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
✓
Amazon CloudWatch Logs
Amazon CloudWatch Logs is correct because it can aggregate and store log data from various AWS services, including AWS CloudTrail and AWS Config. By centralizing CloudTrail's API activity logs and Config's configuration change logs into CloudWatch Logs, you can create metric filters and alarms to monitor compliance-related events in real time, enabling a comprehensive audit trail.
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.
- ✓
Amazon CloudWatch Logs
Why this is correct
Stores and monitors log files.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
- ✓
AWS Config
Why this is correct
Tracks configuration changes.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
- ✗
AWS Trusted Advisor
Why it's wrong here
Provides best practice checks, not audit logs.
- ✗
Amazon GuardDuty
Why it's wrong here
Intelligent threat detection.
- ✓
AWS CloudTrail
Why this is correct
Records API calls.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
The trap here is that candidates often confuse AWS Trusted Advisor's advisory recommendations with actual audit logging, or they think GuardDuty's threat detection logs are sufficient for compliance auditing, when in fact only CloudTrail, Config, and CloudWatch Logs together provide the necessary historical record of all account activity and configuration changes.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
Under the hood, AWS CloudTrail delivers log files to an S3 bucket in JSON format, which can be streamed to CloudWatch Logs via a CloudTrail-to-CloudWatch Logs integration. AWS Config records configuration changes as configuration items (CIs) and delivers them to an S3 bucket or CloudWatch Logs, enabling you to query historical state using the AWS Config API. In a real-world scenario, you might set up a CloudWatch Logs metric filter to detect unauthorized IAM policy changes and trigger an SNS notification for immediate remediation.
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 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
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.
- →
Security and Compliance — study guide chapter
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FAQ
Questions learners often ask
What does this SOA-C02 question test?
Security and Compliance — This question tests Security and Compliance — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
What is the correct answer to this question?
The correct answer is: Amazon CloudWatch Logs — Amazon CloudWatch Logs is correct because it can aggregate and store log data from various AWS services, including AWS CloudTrail and AWS Config. By centralizing CloudTrail's API activity logs and Config's configuration change logs into CloudWatch Logs, you can create metric filters and alarms to monitor compliance-related events in real time, enabling a comprehensive audit trail.
What should I do if I get this SOA-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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