CV0-004 Operations and Support Practice Question
A cloud administrator needs to give the security team read-only visibility into all API activity across an AWS account, including who made each call, when, and from which IP address. The records must be retained for 365 days for compliance. Which service should the administrator use?
⚠ Common exam trap
Many exam-takers confuse configuration-change tracking or log aggregation with full API audit logging.
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
✓
AWS CloudTrail
CloudTrail is the service purpose-built to record API activity in an AWS account, including caller identity, timestamp, and source address. Delivering those events to durable storage with a retention policy of 365 days meets both the visibility and compliance needs described.
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 it's wrong here
CloudWatch Logs stores log data that applications and services emit, but it does not natively capture account-level API calls with caller identity and source IP. Using it alone would not provide the complete API audit trail the security team requires for compliance.
- ✗
AWS Trusted Advisor
Why it's wrong here
Trusted Advisor inspects the account against best-practice checks for cost, security, and limits. It does not log API activity or retain an auditable history of calls, so it cannot satisfy the requirement to track who did what and from where over a year.
- ✗
AWS Config
Why it's wrong here
AWS Config records resource configuration changes and evaluates compliance rules, not the full set of API calls made in the account. It would show that a resource changed but not who invoked the API, from which address, or the request parameters needed for a complete audit trail.
- ✓
AWS CloudTrail
Why this is correct
CloudTrail records API activity in an account, capturing the identity of the caller, the time, the source IP, and the request details. Creating a trail that delivers events to an S3 bucket with a 365-day lifecycle or retention policy satisfies the compliance requirement for long-term audit visibility.
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 |
Go deeper
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JA
Written and reviewed by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
Last reviewed September 2026 · checked against the official CompTIA exam blueprint
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