Cloud activity record (CloudTrail): what it is and how it is attacked
The provider's own record of every change made to the cloud, and of who made it.
Also known as
- CloudTrail
- activity log
- control plane log
- audit trail
Typing any of them into the editor finds this object.
Why it matters on a security diagram
It is the first thing anyone investigating a cloud incident asks for, and the answer decides whether the rest of the investigation is possible at all. The service-side record cannot be rewritten, though whoever controls an account can delete the copies already delivered into it, which is why a gap in it is a finding in its own right.
How it gets attacked, and what reduces it
How it gets attacked
- Switched off, or never switched on, in an account or a location nobody was watching
- Recording changes to a store but not reads from it, so a copy taken leaves no trace
- Kept only inside the account it describes, where whoever controls the account controls the evidence
What reduces it
- Switch it on in every account and every region, enforced by an account-wide rule
- Enable data-level read logging separately; change logging alone will not show a copy taken
- Write it to an account the recorded one cannot reach, and alert on it stopping
Where it sits
- Group
- Security and edge · The things that sit in front of something else and check what is trying to reach it.
- Whose side, by default
- Ours · Belongs to the organisation the diagram is about.
- Catalogue identifier
- cloud-audit-log
Reviewed . CC BY 4.0.
Others in security and edge
- FirewallNGFW · packet filterDecides which connections are allowed between two networks.
- Web app shieldWAF · web application firewallChecks visits to your website and blocks the ones that look like an attack.
- Outbound web filterforward proxy · secure web gateway · SWG · web filter · web proxyChecks and records everything staff and servers send out to the internet.
- Traffic splitterload balancer · LB · ADCSpreads incoming requests across several servers.
- Global content cacheCDN · content delivery network · edge cacheCopies your content to servers worldwide so pages load faster.
- API front doorAPI gatewayOne controlled entrance for the automatic requests other software makes of yours, without a person involved.
- Endpoint protectionEDR · antivirus · AV · XDRSoftware on each computer watching for hostile behaviour.
- Log collectorSIEM · log server · syslogCollects the records of what happened, from every computer and system, into one place.
- Secrets storevault · secrets manager · credential store · password safeThe safe where passwords, keys and certificates are kept.
- Encryption key serviceKMS · key management service · key vault · HSM · customer-managed keyThe service that holds the keys used to scramble stored data, and decides who may use them.
- Remote support toolRMM · remote monitoring and management · ScreenConnect · ConnectWise · AnyDesk · TeamViewer · Splashtop · remote support · screen sharing toolSoftware that lets somebody else take control of a machine over the internet, usually a support company.
- Inbound mail filteremail gateway · secure email gateway · SEG · Mimecast · Proofpoint · spam filter · mail securityThe thing that inspects email on the way in and decides what reaches somebody's inbox.
- Network monitoring sensorIDS · IPS · NDR · intrusion detection · intrusion prevention · packet capture · network detection · SPAN · TAPSomething watching the traffic on a segment and recording or alerting on what it sees.
The security and edge group lists all 14 of them side by side.
Cloud activity record on your own diagram
Open the editor, press N, and type CloudTrail. The object is placed and connected to whatever was selected, and Tab adds the next one already joined to it. Nothing is uploaded: the page is served with a Content Security Policy that forbids the browser from making any outbound request at all.
Open the diagram maker