hardMultiple Choice
CS0-003 Cloud Audit Logs Practice Question
A cloud tenant shows an unusual spike in IAM policy changes, access key creation, and failed console logons from a new country. Which telemetry set gives the strongest evidence for control-plane compromise? In the evidence source phase, Which evidence source best supports or refutes the detection?
⚠ Common exam trap
The CS0-004 exam often tests the distinction between control-plane and data-plane telemetry, and the trap here is that candidates mistakenly think packet captures or web logs can reveal cloud API activity, when in fact only cloud audit logs provide the necessary API-level detail for identity and policy changes.
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
✓
Cloud audit logs for identity, policy, and key-management API calls
Control-plane operations in cloud environments are managed through APIs for identity (IAM), policy, and key management. Cloud audit logs (e.g., AWS CloudTrail, Azure Activity Log) capture every API call to these services, including who made the call, from which IP address, and what changes were made. The spike in IAM policy changes, access key creation, and failed console logons from a new country is directly recorded in these logs, making them the strongest evidence for a control-plane compromise.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Packet captures from user laptops only
Why it's wrong here
Laptop captures show only endpoint traffic and cannot evidence IAM policy changes, access key creation or console logons, which occur in the cloud control plane. It is tempting because packet capture is a familiar forensic source, and it would be correct when investigating endpoint malware or command-and-control beaconing.
- ✓
Cloud audit logs for identity, policy, and key-management API calls
Why this is correct
Cloud audit logs record control-plane API activity, capturing IAM policy changes, access key creation and console authentication events. These identity and key-management entries directly evidence or refute compromise of the tenant's management plane, unlike data-plane or host telemetry.
- ✗
Web server access logs from the public website
Why it's wrong here
Public web server access logs record HTTP requests to the website, not cloud control-plane API calls like IAM policy changes or key creation. They would be correct when investigating web exploitation or traffic anomalies, but they cannot evidence identity-layer compromise in Microsoft Entra ID.
- ✗
Endpoint antivirus quarantine reports only
Why it's wrong here
Antivirus quarantine reports cover endpoint file detections, not cloud control-plane API activity such as IAM policy changes or access key creation. It would be the right source when investigating malware execution on a host, but it cannot corroborate identity-layer events in Microsoft Entra ID.
Go deeper
Related to this question
Learn chapter
Cloud Vulnerability Management
Key term
AWS CloudTrail
AWS CloudTrail is a service that records every action taken in your AWS account, like a security camera that logs who did what and when.
Key term
IAM
Identity and Access Management (IAM) is a framework of policies and technologies that ensures the right individuals have the appropriate access to technology resources.
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Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
This CS0-004 practice question is part of Courseiva's free CompTIA 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 CS0-004 exam.