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GCP Cloud Audit Logs

The GCP Cloud Audit connector streams Cloud Logging audit log entries from a single GCP project into AiSOC. This covers the three Google audit log types: Admin Activity (always on), Data Access (off by default for most services), and System Event.

What you get​

Audit typeLogged by defaultWhat's in it
Admin ActivityYes, alwaysIAM grants, project metadata changes, resource create/delete
Data AccessNo (opt-in per service)Reads against user data — high volume, high signal for exfiltration
System EventYes, alwaysGCP-initiated changes (auto-resize, automatic migration, etc.)

Events are normalized with category: cloud and cloud_provider: gcp.

Prerequisites​

  • A GCP project to monitor.
  • A service account in that project (or an org-level account with project access).
  • The service account must have at minimum the Logs Viewer role (roles/logging.viewer) on the project. For private logs (Data Access for some services), grant Private Logs Viewer (roles/logging.privateLogViewer).
  • A JSON key for that service account.
  • The Project ID (the human-readable one, not the numeric Project Number).

Setup walkthrough​

1. Create the service account​

  1. Open the GCP Console → IAM & Admin → Service Accounts for your project.
  2. Create service account → name it aisoc-cloud-audit-reader. Skip the optional grant step inside the wizard.
  3. Once created, on the project's IAM page, Grant access to the new service account email with role Logs Viewer (and Private Logs Viewer if you want Data Access).

2. Mint a JSON key​

  1. Open the service account → Keys → Add key → Create new key → JSON.
  2. Download the JSON file. Treat it like a password — anyone with this file can read your audit logs.

3. Add the connector in AiSOC​

  1. Connectors → Add connector → GCP Cloud Audit Logs.
  2. project_id = your Project ID (not the number).
  3. service_account_json = paste the entire JSON file contents into the textarea. The connector validates that it parses as JSON and contains a private_key field; it never logs the contents.
  4. Test connection → makes a test entries.list call against cloudaudit.googleapis.com/activity for your project.
  5. Save.

Polling details​

  • Default interval: 300 seconds.
  • The connector calls entries.list with filter='timestamp >= "{since}" AND logName:"cloudaudit.googleapis.com"' to pull all three audit types in one query.
  • Auth: standard GCP service-account JWT bearer flow against https://oauth2.googleapis.com/token.

Severity heuristics​

GCP audit logs do not carry a built-in severity; AiSOC infers from methodName:

PatternSeverity
SetIamPolicy with role grants like roles/owner, roles/iam.securityAdminhigh
SetIamPolicy (other)medium
Delete* on networks, firewalls, KMS keys, sinkshigh
services.disable on cloudaudit.googleapis.com (audit-log tampering)high
Any severity: ERROR returned by GCPbumped one level
Routine Get* / List*dropped

Troubleshooting​

PERMISSION_DENIED: Cloud Logging API has not been used in project ... before or it is disabled — enable the Cloud Logging API in the GCP project (gcloud services enable logging.googleapis.com).

PERMISSION_DENIED: ... does not have logging.logEntries.list — the service account is missing roles/logging.viewer. Re-grant on the project IAM page.

Service account JSON key file is invalid — the file has been re-formatted (e.g. \n in private key got escaped twice). Re-download a fresh key from the GCP console and paste without modification.

events_added: 0 on a busy project — make sure you used the Project ID, not the Project Number. The numeric form does not work with the audit log filter.

  • GCP Security Command Center — pairs perfectly: SCC findings give you posture and threat detection; Cloud Audit gives you the raw control-plane events behind them.
  • Credential vault — the service-account JSON is encrypted at rest in the connector record.