The correct answer involves configuring CloudTrail to deliver logs to CloudWatch Logs in each account, creating a CloudWatch Logs metric filter that matches the 'CreateUser' event, and setting a CloudWatch alarm on that metric to publish to an SNS topic. This works because the metric filter parses the centralized CloudTrail logs for the specific IAM user creation event, generating a metric that triggers the alarm, which then sends notifications via SNS to the security team. On the AWS Certified SysOps Administrator Associate SOA-C02 exam, this scenario tests your understanding of cross-account monitoring using CloudWatch Logs and metric filters, a common trap being that you must enable CloudTrail-to-CloudWatch Logs delivery in each source account, not just the central logging account. A helpful memory tip is "Filter, Alarm, Notify" — think of the metric filter as the detective, the alarm as the trigger, and SNS as the messenger.
SOA-C02 Monitoring, Logging, and Remediation Practice Question
This SOA-C02 practice question tests your understanding of monitoring, logging, and remediation. 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 has a centralized logging solution where CloudTrail logs from multiple accounts are delivered to a single S3 bucket. The security team needs to be alerted when an IAM user is created in any of the accounts. Which steps should be taken? (Choose THREE.)
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
Create a CloudWatch Logs metric filter for 'CreateUser' event.
Option A is correct because a CloudWatch Logs metric filter can parse CloudTrail logs delivered to CloudWatch Logs and match the 'CreateUser' event pattern. This filter creates a metric that can be used to trigger an alarm. Option B is correct because CloudTrail must be configured to deliver logs to CloudWatch Logs in each account so that the metric filter can be applied to the log group. Option E is correct because a CloudWatch alarm on the metric filter can publish to an SNS topic, which sends notifications (e.g., email, SMS) to the security team when an IAM user is created.
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.
✓
Create a CloudWatch Logs metric filter for 'CreateUser' event.
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
✗
Create an AWS Config rule to detect IAM user creation.
Why it's wrong here
Config is not real-time and uses configuration changes, not API calls.
✗
Configure S3 event notification on the central bucket to trigger a Lambda function.
Why it's wrong here
S3 events fire on object creation, but parsing the log is more complex.
✓
Create a CloudWatch alarm on the metric filter that publishes to an SNS topic.
Why this is correct
Alarm triggers notification.
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 confuse AWS Config rules (which assess resource compliance) with CloudWatch metric filters (which monitor log events), leading them to select Config for event detection instead of the correct CloudWatch-based approach.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
CloudTrail logs are delivered as gzipped JSON files to S3; to use metric filters, you must first stream these logs to CloudWatch Logs via a CloudTrail configuration that specifies a log group. The metric filter pattern uses JSON syntax (e.g., { ($.eventName = "CreateUser") }) and is case-sensitive. The alarm then evaluates the metric over a specified period (e.g., 1 minute) and triggers an SNS notification when the threshold (e.g., >= 1) is breached, ensuring near-real-time detection.
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 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
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.
Monitoring, Logging, and Remediation — This question tests Monitoring, Logging, and Remediation — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
What is the correct answer to this question?
The correct answer is: Create a CloudWatch Logs metric filter for 'CreateUser' event. — Option A is correct because a CloudWatch Logs metric filter can parse CloudTrail logs delivered to CloudWatch Logs and match the 'CreateUser' event pattern. This filter creates a metric that can be used to trigger an alarm. Option B is correct because CloudTrail must be configured to deliver logs to CloudWatch Logs in each account so that the metric filter can be applied to the log group. Option E is correct because a CloudWatch alarm on the metric filter can publish to an SNS topic, which sends notifications (e.g., email, SMS) to the security team when an IAM user is created.
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.
About these practice questions
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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 wants to ensure that all IAM user changes are logged and that an alert is sent when a new IAM user is created. Which services should be used together to achieve this? (Select THREE.)
medium
✓ A.Amazon CloudWatch Logs
B.AWS Config
✓ C.Amazon CloudWatch Alarms
D.Amazon S3
✓ E.AWS CloudTrail
Why A: Amazon CloudWatch Logs is correct because it can receive and store log events from AWS CloudTrail, which records all IAM user changes including user creation. By sending CloudTrail logs to CloudWatch Logs, you can then create metric filters to detect specific API calls like 'CreateUser' and trigger CloudWatch Alarms to send notifications via SNS.
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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.
Question Discussion
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