What is Amazon DynamoDB Streams primarily used for?

Amazon DynamoDB Streams is designed specifically to capture item-level changes in a DynamoDB table. This functionality allows developers to track any insert, modify, or delete operations performed on the items within the table. When a change occurs, a stream record is generated that describes what item was affected and the nature of the change.

This feature is particularly useful for applications that require real-time processing or need to maintain an updated view of changes across distributed systems. For instance, a common use case is to trigger AWS Lambda functions that can listen to stream events and automatically process the data, such as updating another system or analytics dashboard in response to changes in the DynamoDB table.

Other options do not accurately describe the primary focus of DynamoDB Streams. For instance, while creating backups of DynamoDB data, monitoring data access patterns, and enhancing data encryption capabilities are all essential aspects of data management within AWS, they fall outside the specific purview of what DynamoDB Streams is intended to do. The clarity in its role as a change data capture mechanism distinguishes it in the overall AWS ecosystem.