Ensure That Retention Policies on Cloud Storage Buckets Used for Exporting Logs Are Configured Using Bucket Lock

Description:

Enabling retention policies on log buckets will protect logs stored in cloud storage buckets from being overwritten or accidentally deleted. It is recommended to set up retention policies and configure Bucket Lock on all storage buckets that are used as log sinks.

Rationale:

Logs can be exported by creating one or more sinks that include a log filter and a destination. As Cloud Logging receives new log entries, they are compared against each sink. If a log entry matches a sink's filter, then a copy of the log entry is written to the destination.

Sinks can be configured to export logs in storage buckets. It is recommended to configure a data retention policy for these cloud storage buckets and to lock the data retention policy; thus permanently preventing the policy from being reduced or removed. This way, if the system is ever compromised by an attacker or a malicious insider who wants to cover their tracks, the activity logs are definitely preserved for forensics and security investigations.

Locking a bucket is an irreversible action. Once you lock a bucket, you cannot remove the retention policy from the bucket or decrease the retention period for the policy. You will then have to wait for the retention period for all items within the bucket before you can delete them, and then the bucket.

From Google Cloud Console

1. If sinks are not configured, first follow the instructions in the recommendation: 'Ensure that sinks are configured for all Log entries'.

2. For each storage bucket configured as a sink, go to the Cloud Storage browser at 'https://console.cloud.google.com/storage/browser/'.

3. Select the Bucket Lock tab near the top of the page.

4. In the Retention policy entry, click the Add Duration link. The 'Set a retention policy' dialog box appears.

5. Enter the desired length of time for the retention period and click 'Save policy'.

6. Set the 'Lock status' for this retention policy to 'Locked'.

From Google Cloud CLI

1. To list all sinks destined to storage buckets:

gcloud logging sinks list --folder=FOLDER_ID | --organization=ORGANIZATION_ID | --project=PROJECT_ID

2. For each storage bucket listed above, set a retention policy and lock it:

gsutil retention set [TIME_DURATION] gs://[BUCKET_NAME]
gsutil retention lock gs://[BUCKET_NAME]

For more information, visit https://cloud.google.com/storage/docs/using-bucket-lock#set-policy.