CCSP Cloud Security Operations Practice Question
An organization wants to detect potential crypto mining activity on their AWS EC2 instances. Which AWS service uses machine learning to identify such threats?
⚠ Common exam trap
Test-takers frequently confuse Amazon Inspector (a vulnerability scanner) with GuardDuty (a threat detection service), mistakenly thinking Inspector's agent-based monitoring can detect runtime threats like crypto mining, when in fact Inspector only assesses configuration and software vulnerabilities.
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 GuardDuty
Amazon GuardDuty is a threat detection service that uses machine learning, anomaly detection, and integrated threat intelligence to continuously monitor for malicious activity, including cryptocurrency mining (e.g., connections to known mining pools or unusual compute resource spikes). It analyzes AWS CloudTrail logs, VPC Flow Logs, and DNS logs to identify behavioral patterns indicative of crypto mining, such as sustained outbound traffic to mining pool IPs or unusual EC2 instance launches.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
AWS WAF
Why it's wrong here
WAF is a web application firewall.
- ✓
Amazon GuardDuty
Why this is correct
Amazon GuardDuty applies machine learning models to analyse VPC Flow Logs, DNS query logs, and CloudTrail management events for behavioural anomalies indicative of crypto mining, such as sustained outbound connections to known mining pools or unusual CPU utilisation patterns. This satisfies the constraint of detecting crypto mining on EC2 instances without requiring agent installation, as it relies on passive network and account-level telemetry.
- ✗
Amazon Inspector
Why it's wrong here
Inspector is for vulnerability assessment, not threat detection.
- ✗
AWS Shield
Why it's wrong here
Shield protects against DDoS attacks.
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JA
Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
This CCSP practice question is part of Courseiva's free ISC2 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 CCSP exam.