Collect Google Cloud Monitoring alerting activity logs

Supported in:

Google secops SIEM

Note: This feature is covered by Pre-GA Offerings Terms of the Google Security Operations Service Specific Terms. Pre-GA features might have limited support, and changes to pre-GA features might not be compatible with other pre-GA versions. For more information, see the Google SecOps Technical Support Service guidelines and the Google SecOps Service Specific Terms.

This document explains how to ingest Cloud Logging logs related to Cloud Monitoring alerting activity to Google Security Operations using Google Cloud Storage V2.

Cloud Monitoring provides alerting capabilities for Google Cloud resources. Log-based alerting policies notify you when a particular message appears in your logs. When a log entry meets the condition of the alerting policy, an incident is opened in Cloud Monitoring and you receive a notification for the incident. This integration lets you export Cloud Logging entries to Google Security Operations for security analysis and correlation.

Before you begin

Ensure that you have the following prerequisites:

• A Google SecOps instance
• Google Cloud project with Cloud Storage API enabled
• Permissions to create and manage GCS buckets
• Permissions to manage IAM policies on GCS buckets
• Permissions to configure Cloud Logging sinks

Create Google Cloud Storage bucket

Using Google Cloud Console

1. Go to the Google Cloud Console.
2. Select your project or create a new one.
3. In the navigation menu, go to Cloud Storage > Buckets.
4. Click Create bucket.

5. Provide the following configuration details:

   Setting	Value
   Name your bucket	Enter a globally unique name (for example, monitoring-logs-export)
   Location type	Choose based on your needs (Region, Dual-region, Multi-region)
   Location	Select the location (for example, us-central1)
   Storage class	Standard (recommended for frequently accessed logs)
   Access control	Uniform (recommended)
   Protection tools	Optional: Enable object versioning or retention policy

6. Click Create.

Using gcloud command-line tool

• Alternatively, create a bucket using the gcloud command:

  gcloud storage buckets create gs://monitoring-logs-export \
      --location=us-central1 \
      --default-storage-class=STANDARD
  

  • Replace:
    • monitoring-logs-export: Your required bucket name (globally unique).
    • us-central1: Your preferred region.

Configure Cloud Logging to export logs to GCS

Log entries are stored as JSON files when routed to Cloud Storage. You can export logs related to Cloud Monitoring alerting activity, such as audit logs for alert policy management.

Create a log sink

1. In the Google Cloud Console, go to Logging > Logs Router.
2. Click Create sink.
3. Provide the following configuration details:
   • Sink name: Enter a descriptive name (for example, monitoring-alerts-to-gcs).
   • Sink description: Optional description.
4. Click Next.
5. In the Select sink service section:
   • Sink service: Select Cloud Storage bucket.
   • Select Cloud Storage bucket: Select the bucket (for example, monitoring-logs-export) from the list.
6. Click Next.

7. In the Choose logs to include in sink section, enter a filter query to select the logs you want to export.

   • Example filter for Cloud Monitoring audit logs:

     protoPayload.serviceName="monitoring.googleapis.com"
     logName:"cloudaudit.googleapis.com/activity"
     

     Note: Cloud Monitoring audit logs use the service name monitoring.googleapis.com. This filter captures Cloud Monitoring API activity logs including alert policy creation, updates, and deletions.

   • Example filter for log-based alerting policy triggers:

     If you want to export the underlying logs that trigger your log-based alerting policies, use a filter that matches those specific logs. For example:

     severity >= ERROR
     resource.type="gce_instance"
     

     Note: For log-based alerting policies, this exports the underlying log entries that trigger incidents, not the Cloud Monitoring incident records themselves. Incidents are created in Cloud Monitoring when conditions are met, and they evaluate log entry data stored in individual logs in Cloud Logging.

8. Click Next.

9. Optional: Configure exclusion filters if needed.

10. Click Create sink.

New sinks that route log data to Cloud Storage buckets might take several hours to start routing log entries. Routed log entries are saved to Cloud Storage buckets in hourly batches. It might take from 2 to 3 hours before the first entries begin to appear.

Retrieve the Google SecOps service account

Google SecOps uses a unique service account to read data from your GCS bucket. You must grant this service account access to your bucket.

Configure a feed in Google SecOps to ingest Cloud Monitoring logs

1. Go to SIEM Settings > Feeds.
2. Click Add New Feed.
3. Click Configure a single feed.
4. In the Feed name field, enter a name for the feed (for example, Google Cloud Monitoring Alerts Logs).
5. Select Google Cloud Storage V2 as the Source type.

6. Select GCP_MONITORING_ALERTS as the Log type.

7. Click Get Service Account. A unique service account email will be displayed, for example:

   [e-mail]
   

8. Copy this email address for use in the next step.

   Note: Each Google SecOps instance has a unique service account. Don't use service accounts from other documentation or examples.

9. Click Next.

10. Specify values for the following input parameters:

    • Storage bucket URL: Enter the GCS bucket URI:

      gs://monitoring-logs-export/
      

      • Replace monitoring-logs-export with your GCS bucket name.
    Note: Always include the trailing slash (/) at the end of the URI.

    • Source deletion option: Select the deletion option according to your preference:

      • Never: Never deletes any files after transfers (recommended for testing).
      • Delete transferred files: Deletes files after successful transfer.

      • Delete transferred files and empty directories: Deletes files and empty directories after successful transfer.

        Note: If you select a deletion option, the service account must have Storage Object Admin role instead of Storage Object Viewer. Update IAM permissions accordingly.

    • Maximum File Age: Include files modified in the last number of days. Default is 180 days.

    • Asset namespace: The asset namespace.

    • Ingestion labels: The label to be applied to the events from this feed.

11. Click Next.

12. Review your new feed configuration in the Finalize screen, and then click Submit.

Grant IAM permissions to the Google SecOps service account

The Google SecOps service account needs Storage Object Viewer role on your GCS bucket.

Using Google Cloud Console

1. Go to Cloud Storage > Buckets.
2. Click the bucket name (for example, monitoring-logs-export).
3. Go to the Permissions tab.
4. Click Grant access.
5. Provide the following configuration details:
   • Add principals: Paste the Google SecOps service account email.
   • Assign roles: Select Storage Object Viewer.
6. Click Save.

Using gcloud command-line tool

• Alternatively, grant permissions using the gcloud command:

  gcloud storage buckets add-iam-policy-binding gs://monitoring-logs-export \
      --member="serviceAccount:SECOPS_SERVICE_ACCOUNT_EMAIL" \
      --role="roles/storage.objectViewer"
  

  • Replace:
    • monitoring-logs-export: Your bucket name.
    • SECOPS_SERVICE_ACCOUNT_EMAIL: The Google SecOps service account email.

Using gsutil command-line tool (legacy)

• Grant the SecOps service account the necessary permissions to read objects within your destination bucket:

  gsutil iam ch serviceAccount:SECOPS_SERVICE_ACCOUNT_EMAIL:objectViewer \
      gs://monitoring-logs-export
  

Verify permissions

• To verify the permissions were granted correctly:

  gcloud storage buckets get-iam-policy gs://monitoring-logs-export \
      --flatten="bindings[].members" \
      --filter="bindings.role:roles/storage.objectViewer"
  

  You should see the Google SecOps service account email in the output.

Note: If you plan to use the deletion option "Delete transferred files" or "Delete transferred files and empty directories," grant Storage Object Admin role instead of Storage Object Viewer.

UDM mapping table

Log Field	UDM Mapping	Logic
jsonPayload.type_1	additional.fields.jsonPayload_type_1	Value copied directly
jsonPayload.debugInfo	additional.fields.number	Extracted from jsonPayload.debugInfo using grok pattern
jsonPayload.scheduledTime, receiveTimestamp, timestamp	metadata.event_timestamp	Value from jsonPayload.scheduledTime if not empty, else receiveTimestamp if not empty, else timestamp if not empty, converted using date match
event_type	metadata.event_type	Value from event_type if not empty, else set to "GENERIC_EVENT"
insertId	metadata.product_log_id	Value copied directly
jsonPayload.targetType	network.application_protocol	Value copied directly
httpRequest.status	network.http.response_code	Converted to integer
resource.labels.location	principal.location.name	Value copied directly
jsonPayload.jobName	principal.url	Value copied directly
jsonPayload.status	security_result.action	Set to "BLOCK" if jsonPayload.status == "PERMISSION_DENIED"
severity	security_result.severity	Set to INFORMATIONAL if severity =~ (?i)INFO; LOW if severity == "LOW"; MEDIUM if severity == "MEDIUM"; HIGH if severity == "HIGH"; CRITICAL if severity == "VERY-HIGH"
jsonPayload.debugInfo	security_result.summary	Extracted from jsonPayload.debugInfo using grok pattern
logName	src.url	Value copied directly
resource.labels.project_id	target.resource.attribute.labels.project_id	Value copied directly
resource.labels.job_id	target.resource.attribute.labels.resource_labels_job_id	Value copied directly
resource.type	target.resource.resource_subtype	Value copied directly
jsonPayload.url	target.url	Value copied directly
	metadata.product_name	Set to "Gcp_monitoring_alerts"
	metadata.vendor_name	Set to "GCP_MONITORING_ALERTS"

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