Understanding CloudTrail events - Amazon CloudTrail
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Understanding CloudTrail events

An event in CloudTrail is the record of an activity in an Amazon account. This activity can be an action taken by an IAM identity, or service that is monitorable by CloudTrail. CloudTrail events provide a history of both API and non-API account activity made through the Amazon Web Services Management Console, Amazon SDKs, command line tools, and other Amazon Web Services services.

CloudTrail log files aren't an ordered stack trace of the public API calls, so events don't appear in any specific order.

There are four types of CloudTrail events:

By default, trails and event data stores log management events, but not data events, network activity events, or Insights events.

All event types use a CloudTrail JSON log format. The log contains information about requests for resources in your account, such as who made the request, the services used, the actions performed, and parameters for the action. The event data is enclosed in a Records array.

For information about CloudTrail event record fields, see CloudTrail record contents.

Management events

Management events provide information about management operations that are performed on resources in your Amazon account. These are also known as control plane operations.

Example management events include:

  • Configuring security (for example, Amazon Identity and Access Management AttachRolePolicy API operations).

  • Registering devices (for example, Amazon EC2 CreateDefaultVpc API operations).

  • Configuring rules for routing data (for example, Amazon EC2 CreateSubnet API operations).

  • Setting up logging (for example, Amazon CloudTrail CreateTrail API operations).

Management events can also include non-API events that occur in your account. For example, when a user signs in to your account, CloudTrail logs the ConsoleLogin event. For more information, see Non-API events captured by CloudTrail.

By default, CloudTrail trails and CloudTrail Lake event data stores log management events. For more information about logging management events, see Logging management events.

The following example shows a single log record of a management event. In this event, an IAM user named Mary_Major ran the aws cloudtrail start-logging command to call the CloudTrail StartLogging action to start the logging process on a trail named myTrail.

{ "eventVersion": "1.09", "userIdentity": { "type": "IAMUser", "principalId": "EXAMPLE6E4XEGITWATV6R", "arn": "arn:aws:iam::123456789012:user/Mary_Major", "accountId": "123456789012", "accessKeyId": "AKIAIOSFODNN7EXAMPLE", "userName": "Mary_Major", "sessionContext": { "attributes": { "creationDate": "2023-07-19T21:11:57Z", "mfaAuthenticated": "false" } } }, "eventTime": "2023-07-19T21:33:41Z", "eventSource": "cloudtrail.amazonaws.com", "eventName": "StartLogging", "awsRegion": "us-east-1", "sourceIPAddress": "192.0.2.0", "userAgent": "aws-cli/2.13.5 Python/3.11.4 Linux/4.14.255-314-253.539.amzn2.x86_64 exec-env/CloudShell exe/x86_64.amzn.2 prompt/off command/cloudtrail.start-logging", "requestParameters": { "name": "myTrail" }, "responseElements": null, "requestID": "9d478fc1-4f10-490f-a26b-EXAMPLE0e932", "eventID": "eae87c48-d421-4626-94f5-EXAMPLEac994", "readOnly": false, "eventType": "AwsApiCall", "managementEvent": true, "recipientAccountId": "123456789012", "eventCategory": "Management", "tlsDetails": { "tlsVersion": "TLSv1.2", "cipherSuite": "ECDHE-RSA-AES128-GCM-SHA256", "clientProvidedHostHeader": "cloudtrail.us-east-1.amazonaws.com" }, "sessionCredentialFromConsole": "true" }

In this next example, an IAM user user named Paulo_Santos ran the aws cloudtrail start-event-data-store-ingestion command to call the StartEventDataStoreIngestion action to start ingestion on an event data store.

{ "eventVersion": "1.09", "userIdentity": { "type": "IAMUser", "principalId": "EXAMPLEPHCNW5EQV7NA54", "arn": "arn:aws:iam::123456789012:user/Paulo_Santos", "accountId": "123456789012", "accessKeyId": "(AKIAIOSFODNN7EXAMPLE", "userName": "Paulo_Santos", "sessionContext": { "attributes": { "creationDate": "2023-07-21T21:55:30Z", "mfaAuthenticated": "false" } } }, "eventTime": "2023-07-21T21:57:28Z", "eventSource": "cloudtrail.amazonaws.com", "eventName": "StartEventDataStoreIngestion", "awsRegion": "us-east-1", "sourceIPAddress": "192.0.2.0", "userAgent": "aws-cli/2.13.1 Python/3.11.4 Linux/4.14.255-314-253.539.amzn2.x86_64 exec-env/CloudShell exe/x86_64.amzn.2 prompt/off command/cloudtrail.start-event-data-store-ingestion", "requestParameters": { "eventDataStore": "arn:aws:cloudtrail:us-east-1:123456789012:eventdatastore/2a8f2138-0caa-46c8-a194-EXAMPLE87d41" }, "responseElements": null, "requestID": "f62a3494-ba4e-49ee-8e27-EXAMPLE4253f", "eventID": "d97ca7e2-04fe-45b4-882d-EXAMPLEa9b2c", "readOnly": false, "eventType": "AwsApiCall", "managementEvent": true, "recipientAccountId": "123456789012", "eventCategory": "Management", "tlsDetails": { "tlsVersion": "TLSv1.2", "cipherSuite": "ECDHE-RSA-AES128-GCM-SHA256", "clientProvidedHostHeader": "cloudtrail.us-east-1.amazonaws.com" }, "sessionCredentialFromConsole": "true" }

Data events

Data events provide information about the resource operations performed on or in a resource. These are also known as data plane operations. Data events are often high-volume activities.

Example data events include:

The following table shows the data event types available for trails. The Data event type (console) column shows the appropriate selection in the console. The resources.type value column shows the resources.type value that you would specify to include data events of that type in your trail using the Amazon CLI or CloudTrail APIs.

For trails, you can use basic or advanced event selectors to log data events for Amazon S3 objects in general purpose buckets, Lambda functions, and DynamoDB tables (shown in the first three rows of the table). You can use only advanced event selectors to log the data event types shown in the remaining rows.

Amazon Web Services service Description Data event type (console) resources.type value
Amazon DynamoDB

Amazon DynamoDB item-level API activity on tables (for example, PutItem, DeleteItem, and UpdateItem API operations).

Note

For tables with streams enabled, the resources field in the data event contains both AWS::DynamoDB::Stream and AWS::DynamoDB::Table. If you specify AWS::DynamoDB::Table for the resources.type, it will log both DynamoDB table and DynamoDB streams events by default. To exclude streams events, add a filter on the eventName field.

DynamoDB

AWS::DynamoDB::Table

Amazon Lambda

Amazon Lambda function execution activity (the Invoke API).

Lambda AWS::Lambda::Function
Amazon S3

Amazon S3 object-level API activity (for example, GetObject, DeleteObject, and PutObject API operations) on objects in general purpose buckets.

S3 AWS::S3::Object
Amazon AppConfig

Amazon AppConfig API activity for configuration operations such as calls to StartConfigurationSession and GetLatestConfiguration.

Amazon AppConfig AWS::AppConfig::Configuration
Amazon B2B Data Interchange

B2B Data Interchange API activity for Transformer operations such as calls to GetTransformerJob and StartTransformerJob.

B2B Data Interchange AWS::B2BI::Transformer
Amazon Bedrock Amazon Bedrock API activity on an agent alias. Bedrock agent alias AWS::Bedrock::AgentAlias
Amazon Bedrock Amazon Bedrock API activity on a flow alias. Bedrock flow alias AWS::Bedrock::FlowAlias
Amazon Bedrock Amazon Bedrock API activity on guardrails. Bedrock guardrail AWS::Bedrock::Guardrail
Amazon Bedrock Amazon Bedrock API activity on a knowledge base. Bedrock knowledge base AWS::Bedrock::KnowledgeBase
Amazon Bedrock Amazon Bedrock API activity on models. Bedrock model AWS::Bedrock::Model
Amazon CloudFront

CloudFront API activity on a KeyValueStore.

CloudFront KeyValueStore AWS::CloudFront::KeyValueStore
Amazon Cloud Map Amazon Cloud Map API activity on a namespace. Amazon Cloud Map namespace AWS::ServiceDiscovery::Namespace
Amazon Cloud Map Amazon Cloud Map API activity on a service. Amazon Cloud Map service AWS::ServiceDiscovery::Service
Amazon CloudTrail

CloudTrail PutAuditEvents activity on a CloudTrail Lake channel that is used to log events from outside Amazon.

CloudTrail channel AWS::CloudTrail::Channel
Amazon CloudWatch

Amazon CloudWatch API activity on metrics.

CloudWatch metric AWS::CloudWatch::Metric
Amazon CloudWatch RUM

Amazon CloudWatch RUM API activity on app monitors.

RUM app monitor AWS::RUM::AppMonitor
Amazon CodeWhisperer Amazon CodeWhisperer API activity on a customization. CodeWhisperer customization AWS::CodeWhisperer::Customization
Amazon CodeWhisperer Amazon CodeWhisperer API activity on a profile. CodeWhisperer AWS::CodeWhisperer::Profile
Amazon Cognito

Amazon Cognito API activity on Amazon Cognito identity pools.

Cognito Identity Pools AWS::Cognito::IdentityPool
Amazon Web Services Data Exchange

Amazon Web Services Data Exchange API activity on assets.

Data Exchange asset

AWS::DataExchange::Asset

Amazon DynamoDB

Amazon DynamoDB API activity on streams.

DynamoDB Streams AWS::DynamoDB::Stream
Amazon Elastic Block Store

Amazon Elastic Block Store (EBS) direct APIs, such as PutSnapshotBlock, GetSnapshotBlock, and ListChangedBlocks on Amazon EBS snapshots.

Amazon EBS direct APIs AWS::EC2::Snapshot
Amazon EMR Amazon EMR API activity on a write-ahead log workspace. EMR write-ahead log workspace AWS::EMRWAL::Workspace
Amazon FinSpace

Amazon FinSpace API activity on environments.

FinSpace AWS::FinSpace::Environment
Amazon Glue

Amazon Glue API activity on tables that were created by Lake Formation.

Lake Formation AWS::Glue::Table
Amazon GuardDuty

Amazon GuardDuty API activity for a detector.

GuardDuty detector AWS::GuardDuty::Detector
Amazon HealthImaging

Amazon HealthImaging API activity on data stores.

MedicalImaging data store AWS::MedicalImaging::Datastore
Amazon IoT

Amazon IoT API activity on certificates.

IoT certificate AWS::IoT::Certificate
Amazon IoT

Amazon IoT API activity on things.

IoT thing AWS::IoT::Thing
Amazon IoT Greengrass Version 2

Greengrass API activity from a Greengrass core device on a component version.

Note

Greengrass doesn't log access denied events.

IoT Greengrass component version AWS::GreengrassV2::ComponentVersion
Amazon IoT Greengrass Version 2

Greengrass API activity from a Greengrass core device on a deployment.

Note

Greengrass doesn't log access denied events.

IoT Greengrass deployment AWS::GreengrassV2::Deployment
Amazon IoT SiteWise

IoT SiteWise API activity on assets.

IoT SiteWise asset AWS::IoTSiteWise::Asset
Amazon IoT SiteWise

IoT SiteWise API activity on time series.

IoT SiteWise time series AWS::IoTSiteWise::TimeSeries
Amazon IoT TwinMaker

IoT TwinMaker API activity on an entity.

IoT TwinMaker entity AWS::IoTTwinMaker::Entity
Amazon IoT TwinMaker

IoT TwinMaker API activity on a workspace.

IoT TwinMaker workspace AWS::IoTTwinMaker::Workspace
Amazon Kendra Intelligent Ranking

Amazon Kendra Intelligent Ranking API activity on rescore execution plans.

Kendra Ranking AWS::KendraRanking::ExecutionPlan
Amazon Keyspaces (for Apache Cassandra) Amazon Keyspaces API activity on a table. Cassandra table AWS::Cassandra::Table
Amazon Kinesis Data Streams Kinesis Data Streams API activity on streams. Kinesis stream AWS::Kinesis::Stream
Amazon Kinesis Data Streams Kinesis Data Streams API activity on stream consumers. Kinesis stream consumer AWS::Kinesis::StreamConsumer
Amazon Kinesis Video Streams Kinesis Video Streams API activity on video streams, such as calls to GetMedia and PutMedia. Kinesis video stream AWS::KinesisVideo::Stream
Amazon Machine Learning Machine Learning API activity on ML models. Maching Learning MlModel AWS::MachineLearning::MlModel
Amazon Managed Blockchain

Amazon Managed Blockchain API activity on a network.

Managed Blockchain network AWS::ManagedBlockchain::Network
Amazon Managed Blockchain

Amazon Managed Blockchain JSON-RPC calls on Ethereum nodes, such as eth_getBalance or eth_getBlockByNumber.

Managed Blockchain AWS::ManagedBlockchain::Node
Amazon Neptune Graph

Data API activities, for example queries, algorithms, or vector search, on a Neptune Graph.

Neptune Graph AWS::NeptuneGraph::Graph
Amazon One Enterprise

Amazon One Enterprise API activity on a UKey.

Amazon One UKey AWS::One::UKey
Amazon One Enterprise

Amazon One Enterprise API activity on users.

Amazon One User AWS::One::User
Amazon Payment Cryptography Amazon Payment Cryptography API activity on aliases. Payment Cryptography Alias AWS::PaymentCryptography::Alias
Amazon Payment Cryptography Amazon Payment Cryptography API activity on keys. Payment Cryptography Key AWS::PaymentCryptography::Key
Amazon Private CA

Amazon Private CA Connector for Active Directory API activity.

Amazon Private CA Connector for Active Directory AWS::PCAConnectorAD::Connector
Amazon Private CA

Amazon Private CA Connector for SCEP API activity.

Amazon Private CA Connector for SCEP AWS::PCAConnectorSCEP::Connector
Amazon Q Apps

Data API activity on Amazon Q Apps.

Amazon Q Apps AWS::QApps:QApp
Amazon Q Business

Amazon Q Business API activity on an application.

Amazon Q Business application AWS::QBusiness::Application
Amazon Q Business

Amazon Q Business API activity on a data source.

Amazon Q Business data source AWS::QBusiness::DataSource
Amazon Q Business

Amazon Q Business API activity on an index.

Amazon Q Business index AWS::QBusiness::Index
Amazon Q Business

Amazon Q Business API activity on a web experience.

Amazon Q Business web experience AWS::QBusiness::WebExperience
Amazon RDS

Amazon RDS API activity on a DB Cluster.

RDS Data API - DB Cluster AWS::RDS::DBCluster
Amazon S3

Amazon S3 API activity on access points.

S3 Access Point AWS::S3::AccessPoint
Amazon S3

Amazon S3 object-level API activity (for example, GetObject, DeleteObject, and PutObject API operations) on objects in directory buckets.

S3 Express AWS::S3Express::Object
Amazon S3

Amazon S3 Object Lambda access points API activity, such as calls to CompleteMultipartUpload and GetObject.

S3 Object Lambda AWS::S3ObjectLambda::AccessPoint
Amazon S3 on Outposts

Amazon S3 on Outposts object-level API activity.

S3 Outposts AWS::S3Outposts::Object
Amazon SageMaker Amazon SageMaker InvokeEndpointWithResponseStream activity on endpoints. SageMaker endpoint AWS::SageMaker::Endpoint
Amazon SageMaker

Amazon SageMaker API activity on feature stores.

SageMaker feature store AWS::SageMaker::FeatureGroup
Amazon SageMaker

Amazon SageMaker API activity on experiment trial components.

SageMaker metrics experiment trial component AWS::SageMaker::ExperimentTrialComponent
Amazon SNS

Amazon SNS Publish API operations on platform endpoints.

SNS platform endpoint AWS::SNS::PlatformEndpoint
Amazon SNS

Amazon SNS Publish and PublishBatch API operations on topics.

SNS topic AWS::SNS::Topic
Amazon SQS

Amazon SQS API activity on messages.

SQS AWS::SQS::Queue
Amazon Step Functions

Step Functions API activity on a state machine.

Step Functions state machine AWS::StepFunctions::StateMachine
Amazon Supply Chain

Amazon Supply Chain API activity on an instance.

Supply Chain AWS::SCN::Instance
Amazon SWF

Amazon SWF API activity on domains.

SWF domain AWS::SWF::Domain
Amazon Systems Manager Systems Manager API activity on control channels. Systems Manager AWS::SSMMessages::ControlChannel
Amazon Systems Manager Systems Manager API activity on managed nodes. Systems Manager managed node AWS::SSM::ManagedNode
Amazon Timestream Amazon Timestream Query API activity on databases. Timestream database AWS::Timestream::Database
Amazon Timestream Amazon Timestream Query API activity on tables. Timestream table AWS::Timestream::Table
Amazon Verified Permissions

Amazon Verified Permissions API activity on a policy store.

Amazon Verified Permissions AWS::VerifiedPermissions::PolicyStore
Amazon WorkSpaces Thin Client WorkSpaces Thin Client API activity on a Device. Thin Client Device AWS::ThinClient::Device
Amazon WorkSpaces Thin Client WorkSpaces Thin Client API activity on an Environment. Thin Client Environment AWS::ThinClient::Environment
Amazon X-Ray

X-Ray API activity on traces.

X-Ray trace AWS::XRay::Trace

Data events are not logged by default when you create a trail. To record CloudTrail data events, you must explicitly add the supported resources or resource types for which you want to collect activity. For more information, see Creating a trail with the CloudTrail console.

Additional charges apply for logging data events. For CloudTrail pricing, see Amazon CloudTrail Pricing.

The following example shows a single log record of a data event for the Amazon SNS Publish action.

{ "eventVersion": "1.09", "userIdentity": { "type": "AssumedRole", "principalId": "EX_PRINCIPAL_ID", "arn": "arn:aws:iam::123456789012:user/Bob", "accountId": "123456789012", "accessKeyId": "AKIAIOSFODNN7EXAMPLE", "sessionContext": { "sessionIssuer": { "type": "Role", "principalId": "AKIAIOSFODNN7EXAMPLE", "arn": "arn:aws:iam::123456789012:role/Admin", "accountId": "123456789012", "userName": "ExampleUser" }, "attributes": { "creationDate": "2023-08-21T16:44:05Z", "mfaAuthenticated": "false" } } }, "eventTime": "2023-08-21T16:48:37Z", "eventSource": "sns.amazonaws.com", "eventName": "Publish", "awsRegion": "us-east-1", "sourceIPAddress": "192.0.2.0", "userAgent": "aws-cli/1.29.16 md/Botocore#1.31.16 ua/2.0 os/linux#5.4.250-173.369.amzn2int.x86_64 md/arch#x86_64 lang/python#3.8.17 md/pyimpl#CPython cfg/retry-mode#legacy botocore/1.31.16", "requestParameters": { "topicArn": "arn:aws:sns:us-east-1:123456789012:ExampleSNSTopic", "message": "HIDDEN_DUE_TO_SECURITY_REASONS", "subject": "HIDDEN_DUE_TO_SECURITY_REASONS", "messageStructure": "json", "messageAttributes": "HIDDEN_DUE_TO_SECURITY_REASONS" }, "responseElements": { "messageId": "0787cd1e-d92b-521c-a8b4-90434e8ef840" }, "requestID": "0a8ab208-11bf-5e01-bd2d-ef55861b545d", "eventID": "bb3496d4-5252-4660-9c28-3c6aebdb21c0", "readOnly": false, "resources": [{ "accountId": "123456789012", "type": "AWS::SNS::Topic", "ARN": "arn:aws:sns:us-east-1:123456789012:ExampleSNSTopic" }], "eventType": "AwsApiCall", "managementEvent": false, "recipientAccountId": "123456789012", "eventCategory": "Data", "tlsDetails": { "tlsVersion": "TLSv1.2", "cipherSuite": "ECDHE-RSA-AES128-GCM-SHA256", "clientProvidedHostHeader": "sns.us-east-1.amazonaws.com" } }

The next example shows a single log record of a data event for the Amazon Cognito GetCredentialsForIdentity action.

{ "eventVersion": "1.08", "userIdentity": { "type": "Unknown" }, "eventTime": "2023-01-19T16:55:08Z", "eventSource": "cognito-identity.amazonaws.com", "eventName": "GetCredentialsForIdentity", "awsRegion": "us-east-1", "sourceIPAddress": "192.0.2.4", "userAgent": "aws-cli/2.7.25 Python/3.9.11 Darwin/21.6.0 exe/x86_64 prompt/off command/cognito-identity.get-credentials-for-identity", "requestParameters": { "logins": { "cognito-idp.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/us-east-1_aaaaaaaaa": "HIDDEN_DUE_TO_SECURITY_REASONS" }, "identityId": "us-east-1:1cf667a2-49a6-454b-9e45-23199EXAMPLE" }, "responseElements": { "credentials": { "accessKeyId": "ASIAIOSFODNN7EXAMPLE", "sessionToken": "aAaAaAaAaAaAab1111111111EXAMPLE", "expiration": "Jan 19, 2023 5:55:08 PM" }, "identityId": "us-east-1:1cf667a2-49a6-454b-9e45-23199EXAMPLE" }, "requestID": "659dfc23-7c4e-4e7c-858a-1abce884d645", "eventID": "6ad1c766-5a41-4b28-b5ca-e223ccb00f0d", "readOnly": false, "resources": [{ "accountId": "111122223333", "type": "AWS::Cognito::IdentityPool", "ARN": "arn:aws:cognito-identity:us-east-1:111122223333:identitypool/us-east-1:2dg778b3-50b7-565c-0f56-34200EXAMPLE" }], "eventType": "AwsApiCall", "managementEvent": false, "recipientAccountId": "111122223333", "eventCategory": "Data" }

Network activity events

Note

Network activity events is in preview release for CloudTrail and is subject to change.

CloudTrail network activity events enable VPC endpoint owners to record Amazon API calls made using their VPC endpoints from a private VPC to the Amazon Web Services service. Network activity events provide visibility into the resource operations performed within a VPC.

You can log network activity events for the following services:

  • Amazon CloudTrail

  • Amazon EC2

  • Amazon KMS

  • Amazon Secrets Manager

Network activity events are not logged by default when you create a trail or event data store. To record CloudTrail network activity events, you must explicitly set the event source for which you want to collect activity. For more information, see Logging network activity events.

Additional charges apply for logging network activity events. For CloudTrail pricing, see Amazon CloudTrail Pricing.

The following example shows a successful Amazon KMS ListKeys event that traversed a VPC endpoint. The vpcEndpointId field shows the ID of the VPC endpoint. The vpcEndpointAccountId field shows the account ID of the VPC endpoint owner. In this example, the request was made by the VPC endpoint owner.

{ "eventVersion": "1.09", "userIdentity": { "type": "AssumedRole", "principalId": "ASIAIOSFODNN7EXAMPLE:role-name", "arn": "arn:aws:sts::123456789012:assumed-role/Admin/role-name", "accountId": "123456789012", "accessKeyId": "ASIAIOSFODNN7EXAMPLE", "sessionContext": { "sessionIssuer": { "type": "Role", "principalId": "ASIAIOSFODNN7EXAMPLE", "arn": "arn:aws:iam::123456789012:role/Admin", "accountId": "123456789012", "userName": "Admin" }, "attributes": { "creationDate": "2024-06-04T23:10:46Z", "mfaAuthenticated": "false" } } }, "eventTime": "2024-06-04T23:12:50Z", "eventSource": "kms.amazonaws.com", "eventName": "ListKeys", "awsRegion": "us-east-1", "sourceIPAddress": "192.0.2.0", "requestID": "16bcc089-ac49-43f1-9177-EXAMPLE23731", "eventID": "228ca3c8-5f95-4a8a-9732-EXAMPLE60ed9", "eventType": "AwsVpceEvent", "recipientAccountId": "123456789012", "sharedEventID": "a1f3720c-ef19-47e9-a5d5-EXAMPLE8099f", "vpcEndpointId": "vpce-EXAMPLE08c1b6b9b7", "vpcEndpointAccountId": "123456789012", "eventCategory": "NetworkActivity" }

The next example shows an unsuccessful Amazon KMS ListKeys event with a VPC endpoint policy violation. Because a VPC policy violation occurred, both the errorCode and errorMessage fields are present. The account ID in the recipientAccountId and vpcEndpointAccountId fields is the same, which indicates the event was sent to the VPC endpoint owner. The accountId in the userIdentity element is not the vpcEndpointAccountId, which indicates that the user making the request is not the VPC endpoint owner.

{ "eventVersion": "1.09", "userIdentity": { "type": "AWSAccount", "principalId": "AKIAIOSFODNN7EXAMPLE", "accountId": "777788889999" }, "eventTime": "2024-07-15T23:57:12Z", "eventSource": "kms.amazonaws.com", "eventName": "ListKeys", "awsRegion": "us-east-1", "sourceIPAddress": "192.0.2.0", "errorCode": "VpceAccessDenied", "errorMessage": "The request was denied due to a VPC endpoint policy", "requestID": "899003b8-abc4-42bb-ad95-EXAMPLE0c374", "eventID": "7c6e3d04-0c3b-42f2-8589-EXAMPLE826c0", "eventType": "AwsVpceEvent", "recipientAccountId": "123456789012", "sharedEventID": "702f74c4-f692-4bfd-8491-EXAMPLEb1ac4", "vpcEndpointId": "vpce-EXAMPLE08c1b6b9b7", "vpcEndpointAccountId": "123456789012", "eventCategory": "NetworkActivity" }

Insights events

CloudTrail Insights events capture unusual API call rate or error rate activity in your Amazon account by analyzing CloudTrail management activity. Insights events provide relevant information, such as the associated API, error code, incident time, and statistics, that help you understand and act on unusual activity. Unlike other types of events captured in a CloudTrail trail or event data store, Insights events are logged only when CloudTrail detects changes in your account's API usage or error rate logging that differ significantly from the account's typical usage patterns.

Examples of activity that might generate Insights events include:

  • Your account typically logs no more than 20 Amazon S3 deleteBucket API calls per minute, but your account starts to log an average of 100 deleteBucket API calls per minute. An Insights event is logged at the start of the unusual activity, and another Insights event is logged to mark the end of the unusual activity.

  • Your account typically logs 20 calls per minute to the Amazon EC2 AuthorizeSecurityGroupIngress API, but your account starts to log zero calls to AuthorizeSecurityGroupIngress. An Insights event is logged at the start of the unusual activity, and ten minutes later, when the unusual activity ends, another Insights event is logged to mark the end of the unusual activity.

  • Your account typically logs less than one AccessDeniedException error in a seven-day period on the Amazon Identity and Access Management API, DeleteInstanceProfile. Your account starts to log an average of 12 AccessDeniedException errors per minute on the DeleteInstanceProfile API call. An Insights event is logged at the start of the unusual error rate activity, and another Insights event is logged to mark the end of the unusual activity.

These examples are provided for illustration purposes only. Your results may vary depending on your use case.

To log CloudTrail Insights events, you must explicitly enable Insights events on a new or existing trail or event data store. For more information about creating a trail, see Creating a trail with the CloudTrail console. For more information about creating an event data store, see Create an event data store for Insights events with the console.

Additional charges apply for Insights events. You will be charged separately if you enable Insights for both trails and event data stores. For more information, see Amazon CloudTrail Pricing.

There are two events logged to show unusual activity in CloudTrail Insights: a start event and an end event. The following example shows a single log record of a starting Insights event that occurred when the Application Auto Scaling API CompleteLifecycleAction was called an unusual number of times. For Insights events, the value of eventCategory is Insight. An insightDetails block identifies the event state, source, name, Insights type, and context, including statistics and attributions. For more information about the insightDetails block, see CloudTrail Insights insightDetails element.

{ "eventVersion": "1.08", "eventTime": "2023-07-10T01:42:00Z", "awsRegion": "us-east-1", "eventID": "55ed45c5-0b0c-4228-9fe5-EXAMPLEc3f4d", "eventType": "AwsCloudTrailInsight", "recipientAccountId": "123456789012", "sharedEventID": "979c82fe-14d4-4e4c-aa01-EXAMPLE3acee", "insightDetails": { "state": "Start", "eventSource": "autoscaling.amazonaws.com", "eventName": "CompleteLifecycleAction", "insightType": "ApiCallRateInsight", "insightContext": { "statistics": { "baseline": { "average": 9.82222E-5 }, "insight": { "average": 5.0 }, "insightDuration": 1, "baselineDuration": 10181 }, "attributions": [{ "attribute": "userIdentityArn", "insight": [{ "value": "arn:aws:sts::123456789012:assumed-role/CodeDeployRole1", "average": 5.0 }, { "value": "arn:aws:sts::123456789012:assumed-role/CodeDeployRole2", "average": 5.0 }, { "value": "arn:aws:sts::123456789012:assumed-role/CodeDeployRole3", "average": 5.0 }], "baseline": [{ "value": "arn:aws:sts::123456789012:assumed-role/CodeDeployRole1", "average": 9.82222E-5 }] }, { "attribute": "userAgent", "insight": [{ "value": "codedeploy.amazonaws.com", "average": 5.0 }], "baseline": [{ "value": "codedeploy.amazonaws.com", "average": 9.82222E-5 }] }, { "attribute": "errorCode", "insight": [{ "value": "null", "average": 5.0 }], "baseline": [{ "value": "null", "average": 9.82222E-5 }] }] } }, "eventCategory": "Insight" }