Question 917 of 247
How to Get Immediate Notification When an S3 Object is Deleted
A company has an S3 bucket that stores sensitive data. The security team requires an alert whenever an object in the bucket is deleted. What is the MOST efficient way to achieve this?
Quick Answer
The answer is to enable S3 event notifications and send them directly to Amazon EventBridge, then create a rule that publishes to an SNS topic. This is the most efficient approach because EventBridge acts as a serverless event bus that receives S3 object deletion events in real time, allowing you to route them to SNS without needing to poll CloudTrail logs or set up a separate Lambda function for filtering. On the AWS Certified SysOps Administrator Associate SOA-C02 exam, this scenario tests your understanding of native S3 integration with EventBridge versus less efficient methods like CloudTrail log analysis or S3 inventory reports. A common trap is choosing S3 event notifications to Lambda or SQS directly, but EventBridge offers more flexible filtering and routing with lower latency for immediate alerts. Memory tip: think "S3 to EB to SNS" as the express lane for deletion alerts—no logs, no polling, just instant notification.
⚠ Common exam trap
Test-takers frequently assume CloudTrail data events (Option C) are the best for monitoring S3 operations, but they overlook the latency and cost implications, whereas S3 event notifications via EventBridge provide the most efficient real-time alerting for object deletions.
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
✓
Enable S3 event notifications and send them to Amazon EventBridge, then create a rule to publish to SNS.
S3 event notifications can be sent directly to Amazon EventBridge, which allows you to create a rule that triggers an SNS topic for real-time alerts on object deletions. This approach is the most efficient as it avoids the overhead of log analysis or polling, providing immediate notification with minimal latency.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Configure S3 access logs and stream them to CloudWatch Logs, then create a metric filter.
Why it's wrong here
Access logs are not real-time and require log analysis.
- ✗
Use S3 Inventory to generate a daily report and check for deletes.
Why it's wrong here
Inventory is not real-time and does not provide event-driven alerts.
- ✗
Enable AWS CloudTrail data events for the S3 bucket and create a CloudWatch metric filter.
Why it's wrong here
CloudTrail data events can be expensive and require additional setup for alerting.
- ✓
Enable S3 event notifications and send them to Amazon EventBridge, then create a rule to publish to SNS.
Why this is correct
S3 events can be sent to EventBridge with low overhead and trigger notifications.
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 |
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Same concept, more angles
1 more way this is tested on SOA-C02
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 stores critical data in an S3 bucket and wants to be notified immediately when any object is deleted from the bucket. Which combination of services should the SysOps administrator use?
easy- ✓ A.Configure an S3 event notification for 's3:ObjectRemoved:*' events to send to an SNS topic.
- B.Enable S3 server access logging and send logs to CloudWatch Logs, then create a metric filter and alarm.
- C.Use S3 event notifications to invoke a Lambda function that checks the object and sends an email.
- D.Use AWS CloudTrail to log DeleteObject calls and create a CloudWatch Events rule to send an SNS notification.
Why A: S3 event notifications can be configured to trigger on 's3:ObjectRemoved:*' events, which cover both permanent and versioned object deletions. These notifications can be sent directly to an SNS topic, enabling immediate notification without additional compute or logging overhead. This is the simplest and most direct approach for real-time alerts on object deletions.
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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