Filtering data events by using advanced event selectors - AWS CloudTrail
Filtering data events by eventNameFiltering data events by resources.ARNFiltering data events by readOnly value

Filtering data events by using advanced event selectors

This section describes how you can use advanced event selectors to create fine-grained selectors, which help you control costs by only logging the specific data events of interest.

For example:

  • You can include or exclude specific API calls by adding a filter on the eventName field.

  • You can include or exclude logging for specific resources by adding a filter on the resources.ARN field. For example, if you were logging S3 data events, you could exclude logging for the S3 bucket for your trail.

  • You can choose to log only write-only events or read-only events by adding a filter on the readOnly field.

The following table provides additional information about the configurable fields for advanced event selectors.

Field Required Valid operators Description

eventCategory

Yes

Equals

This field is set to Data to log data events.

resources.type

Yes

Equals

This field is used to select the resource type for which you want to log data events. The Data events table shows the possible values.

readOnly

No

Equals

This is an optional field used to include or exclude data events based on the readOnly value. A value of true logs only read events. A value of false logs only write events. If you do not add this field, CloudTrail logs both read and write events.

eventName

No

Any

This is an optional filed used to filter in or filter out any data event logged to CloudTrail, such as PutBucket or GetSnapshotBlock.

If you're using the AWS CLI, you can specify multiple values by separating each value with a comma.

If you're using the console, you can specify multiple values by creating a condition for each eventName you want to filter on.

resources.ARN

No

Any

This is an optional field used to exclude or include data events for a specific resource by providing the resources.ARN. You can use any operator with resources.ARN, but if you use Equals or NotEquals, the value must exactly match the ARN of a valid resource for the resoureces.type you've specified.

If you're using the AWS CLI, you can specify multiple values by separating each value with a comma.

If you're using the console, you can specify multiple values by creating a condition for each resources.ARN you want to filter on.

To log data events using the CloudTrail console, you choose the Data events option and then select the Data event type of interest when you are creating or updating a trail or event data store. The Data events table shows the possible data event types you can choose on the CloudTrail console.

Selection of the SNS topic data event type on the console.

To log data events with the AWS CLI, configure the --advanced-event-selector parameter to set the eventCategory equal to Data and the resources.type value equal to the resource type value for which you want to log data events. The Data events table lists the available resource types.

For example, if you wanted to log data events for all Cognito Identity pools, you’d configure the --advanced-event-selectors parameter to look like this:

--advanced-event-selectors '[
    {
       "Name": "Log Cognito data events on Identity pools",
       "FieldSelectors": [
         { "Field": "eventCategory", "Equals": ["Data"] },
         { "Field": "resources.type", "Equals": ["AWS::Cognito::IdentityPool"] }
       ]
     }
]'

The preceding example logs all Cognito data events on Identity pools. You can further refine the advanced event selectors to filter on the eventName, readOnly, and resources.ARN fields to log specific events of interest or exclude events that aren’t of interest.

You can configure advanced event selectors to filter data events based on multiple conditions. For example, you can configure advanced event selectors to log all Amazon S3 PutObject and DeleteObject API calls but exclude event logging for a specific S3 bucket as shown in the following example. Replace DOC-EXAMPLE-BUCKET with the name of your bucket.

--advanced-event-selectors
'[
  {
    "Name": "Log PutObject and DeleteObject events for all but one bucket",
    "FieldSelectors": [
      { "Field": "eventCategory", "Equals": ["Data"] },
      { "Field": "resources.type", "Equals": ["AWS::S3::Object"] },
      { "Field": "eventName", "Equals": ["PutObject","DeleteObject"] },
      { "Field": "resources.ARN", "NotStartsWith": ["arn:aws:s3:::DOC-EXAMPLE-BUCKET/"] }
    ]
  }
]'

You can use advanced event selectors to log both management and data events. To log data events for multiple resource types, add a field selector statement for each resource type that you want to log data events for.

Note

Trails can use either basic event selectors or advanced event selectors, but not both. If you apply advanced event selectors to a trail, any existing basic event selectors are overwritten.

Filtering data events by eventName

Using advanced event selectors, you can include or exclude events based on the value of the eventName field. Filtering on the eventName can help control costs, because you avoid incurring costs when the AWS service you're logging data events for adds support for new data APIs.

You can use any operator with the eventName field. You can use it to filter in or filter out any data event logged to CloudTrail, such as PutBucket or GetSnapshotBlock.

Filtering data events by eventName using the AWS Management Console

Take the following steps to filter on the eventName field using the CloudTrail console.

  1. Follow the steps in the create trail procedure, or follow the steps in the create event data store procedure.

  2. As you follow the steps to create the trail or event data store, make the following selections:

    1. Choose Data events.

    2. Choose the Data event type for which you want to log data events.

    3. For Log selector template, choose Custom.

    4. (Optional) In Selector name, enter a name to identify your selector. The selector name is a descriptive name for an advanced event selector, such as "Log data events for only two S3 buckets". The selector name is listed as Name in the advanced event selector and is viewable if you expand the JSON view.

    5. In Advanced event selectors, do the following to filter on the eventName:

      1. For Field, choose eventName.

      2. For Operator, choose the condition operator. In this example, we'll choose equals because we want to log a specific API call.

      3. For Value, enter the name of the event you want to filter on.

      4. To filter on another eventName, choose + Condition.

      Filter S3 data events by eventName

    6. Choose +Field to add filters on other fields.

Filtering data events by eventName using the AWS CLI

Using the AWS CLI, you can filter on the eventName field to include or exclude specific events.

If you’re updating an existing trail or event data store to log additional event selectors, get the current event selectors by running the get-event-selectors command for a trail, or the get-event-data-store command for an event data store. Then, update your event selectors to add a field selector for each data resource type that you want to log.

The following example logs S3 data events on a trail. The --advanced-event-selectors are configured to only log data events for the GetObject, PutObject, and DeleteObject API calls.

aws cloudtrail put-event-selectors \
--trail-name trailName \
--advanced-event-selectors '[
  {
    "Name": "Log GetObject, PutObject and DeleteObject S3 data events",
    "FieldSelectors": [
      { "Field": "eventCategory", "Equals": ["Data"] },
      { "Field": "resources.type", "Equals": ["AWS::S3::Object"] },
      { "Field": "eventName", "Equals": ["GetObject","PutObject","DeleteObject"] }
    ]
  }
]'

The next example creates a new event data store that logs data events for EBS Direct APIs but excludes ListChangedBlocks API calls. You can use the update-event-data-store command to update an existing event data store.

aws cloudtrail create-event-data-store \
--name "eventDataStoreName"
--advanced-event-selectors '[
    {
        "Name": "Log all EBS Direct API data events except ListChangedBlocks",
        "FieldSelectors": [
            { "Field": "eventCategory", "Equals": ["Data"] },
            { "Field": "resources.type", "Equals": ["AWS::EC2::Snapshot"] },
            { "Field": "eventName", "NotEquals": ["ListChangedBlocks"] }
         ]
    }
]'

Filtering data events by resources.ARN

Using advanced event selectors, you can filter on the value of the resources.ARN field.

You can use any operator with resources.ARN , but if you use Equals or NotEquals, the value must exactly match the ARN of a valid resource for the resources.type value you've specified. To log all data events for all objects in a specific S3 bucket, use the StartsWith operator, and include only the bucket ARN as the matching value.

The following table shows the valid ARN format for each resources.type.

Note

You can't use the resources.ARN field to filter resource types that do not have ARNs.

resources.type resources.ARN
AWS::DynamoDB::Table1 
arn:partition:dynamodb:region:account_ID:table/table_name
AWS::Lambda::Function 
arn:partition:lambda:region:account_ID:function:function_name

AWS::S3::Object2

 
arn:partition:s3:::DOC-EXAMPLE-BUCKET/
arn:partition:s3:::DOC-EXAMPLE-BUCKET/object_or_file_name/
AWS::AppConfig::Configuration 
arn:partition:appconfig:region:account_ID:application/application_ID/environment/environment_ID/configuration/configuration_profile_ID
AWS::B2BI::Transformer 
arn:partition:b2bi:region:account_ID:transformer/transformer_ID
AWS::Bedrock::AgentAlias 
arn:partition:bedrock:region:account_ID:agent-alias/agent_ID/alias_ID
AWS::Bedrock::KnowledgeBase 
arn:partition:bedrock:region:account_ID:knowledge-base/knowledge_base_ID
AWS::Cassandra::Table 
arn:partition:cassandra:region:account_ID:keyspace/keyspace_name/table/table_name
AWS::CloudFront::KeyValueStore 
arn:partition:cloudfront:region:account_ID:key-value-store/KVS_name
AWS::CloudTrail::Channel 
arn:partition:cloudtrail:region:account_ID:channel/channel_UUID
AWS::CodeWhisperer::Customization 
arn:partition:codewhisperer:region:account_ID:customization/customization_ID
AWS::CodeWhisperer::Profile 
arn:partition:codewhisperer:region:account_ID:profile/profile_ID
AWS::Cognito::IdentityPool 
arn:partition:cognito-identity:region:account_ID:identitypool/identity_pool_ID
AWS::DynamoDB::Stream 
arn:partition:dynamodb:region:account_ID:table/table_name/stream/date_time
AWS::EC2::Snapshot 
arn:partition:ec2:region::snapshot/snapshot_ID
AWS::EMRWAL::Workspace 
arn:partition:emrwal:region:account_ID:workspace/workspace_name
AWS::FinSpace::Environment 
arn:partition:finspace:region:account_ID:environment/environment_ID
AWS::Glue::Table 
arn:partition:glue:region:account_ID:table/database_name/table_name
AWS::GreengrassV2::ComponentVersion 
arn:partition:greengrass:region:account_ID:components/component_name
AWS::GreengrassV2::Deployment 
arn:partition:greengrass:region:account_ID:deployments/deployment_ID
AWS::GuardDuty::Detector 
arn:partition:guardduty:region:account_ID:detector/detector_ID
AWS::IoT::Certificate 
arn:partition:iot:region:account_ID:cert/certificate_ID
AWS::IoT::Thing 
arn:partition:iot:region:account_ID:thing/thing_ID
AWS::IoTSiteWise::Asset 
arn:partition:iotsitewise:region:account_ID:asset/asset_ID
AWS::IoTSiteWise::TimeSeries 
arn:partition:iotsitewise:region:account_ID:timeseries/timeseries_ID
AWS::IoTTwinMaker::Entity 
arn:partition:iottwinmaker:region:account_ID:workspace/workspace_ID/entity/entity_ID
AWS::IoTTwinMaker::Workspace 
arn:partition:iottwinmaker:region:account_ID:workspace/workspace_ID
AWS::KendraRanking::ExecutionPlan 
arn:partition:kendra-ranking:region:account_ID:rescore-execution-plan/rescore_execution_plan_ID
AWS::Kinesis::Stream 
arn:partition:kinesis:region:account_ID:stream/stream_name
AWS::Kinesis::StreamConsumer 
arn:partition:kinesis:region:account_ID:stream_type/stream_name/consumer/consumer_name:consumer_creation_timestamp
AWS::KinesisVideo::Stream 
arn:partition:kinesisvideo:region:account_ID:stream/stream_name/creation_time
AWS::MachineLearning::MlModel 
arn:partition:machinelearning:region:account_ID:mlmodel/model_ID
AWS::ManagedBlockchain::Network 
arn:partition:managedblockchain:::networks/network_name
AWS::ManagedBlockchain::Node 
arn:partition:managedblockchain:region:account_ID:nodes/node_ID
AWS::MedicalImaging::Datastore 
arn:partition:medical-imaging:region:account_ID:datastore/data_store_ID
AWS::NeptuneGraph::Graph 
arn:partition:neptune-graph:region:account_ID:graph/graph_ID
AWS::PCAConnectorAD::Connector 
arn:partition:pca-connector-ad:region:account_ID:connector/connector_ID
AWS::PCAConnectorSCEP::Connector 
arn:partition:pca-connector-scep:region:account_ID:connector/connector_ID
AWS::QApps:QApp 
arn:partition:qapps:region:account_ID:application/application_UUID/qapp/qapp_UUID
AWS::QBusiness::Application 
arn:partition:qbusiness:region:account_ID:application/application_ID
AWS::QBusiness::DataSource 
arn:partition:qbusiness:region:account_ID:application/application_ID/index/index_ID/data-source/datasource_ID
AWS::QBusiness::Index 
arn:partition:qbusiness:region:account_ID:application/application_ID/index/index_ID
AWS::QBusiness::WebExperience 
arn:partition:qbusiness:region:account_ID:application/application_ID/web-experience/web_experienc_ID
AWS::RDS::DBCluster 
arn:partition:rds:region:account_ID:cluster/cluster_name

AWS::S3::AccessPoint3

 
arn:partition:s3:region:account_ID:accesspoint/access_point_name
AWS::S3ObjectLambda::AccessPoint 
arn:partition:s3-object-lambda:region:account_ID:accesspoint/access_point_name
AWS::S3Outposts::Object 
arn:partition:s3-outposts:region:account_ID:object_path
AWS::SageMaker::Endpoint 
arn:partition:sagemaker:region:account_ID:endpoint/endpoint_name
AWS::SageMaker::ExperimentTrialComponent 
arn:partition:sagemaker:region:account_ID:experiment-trial-component/experiment_trial_component_name
AWS::SageMaker::FeatureGroup 
arn:partition:sagemaker:region:account_ID:feature-group/feature_group_name
AWS::SCN::Instance 
arn:partition:scn:region:account_ID:instance/instance_ID
AWS::ServiceDiscovery::Namespace 
arn:partition:servicediscovery:region:account_ID:namespace/namespace_ID
AWS::ServiceDiscovery::Service 
arn:partition:servicediscovery:region:account_ID:service/service_ID
AWS::SNS::PlatformEndpoint 
arn:partition:sns:region:account_ID:endpoint/endpoint_type/endpoint_name/endpoint_ID
AWS::SNS::Topic 
arn:partition:sns:region:account_ID:topic_name
AWS::SQS::Queue 
arn:partition:sqs:region:account_ID:queue_name
AWS::SSM::ManagedNode

The ARN must be in one of the following formats:

  • arn:partition:ssm:region:account_ID:managed-instance/instance_ID

  • arn:partition:ec2:region:account_ID:instance/instance_ID
AWS::SSMMessages::ControlChannel 
arn:partition:ssmmessages:region:account_ID:control-channel/control_channel_ID
AWS::StepFunctions::StateMachine

The ARN must be in one of the following formats:

  • arn:partition:states:region:account_ID:stateMachine:stateMachine_name

  • arn:partition:states:region:account_ID:stateMachine:stateMachine_name/label_name
AWS::SWF::Domain 
arn:partition:swf:region:account_ID:/domain/domain_name
AWS::ThinClient::Device 
arn:partition:thinclient:region:account_ID:device/device_ID
AWS::ThinClient::Environment 
arn:partition:thinclient:region:account_ID:environment/environment_ID
AWS::Timestream::Database 
arn:partition:timestream:region:account_ID:database/database_name
AWS::Timestream::Table 
arn:partition:timestream:region:account_ID:database/database_name/table/table_name
AWS::VerifiedPermissions::PolicyStore 
arn:partition:verifiedpermissions:region:account_ID:policy-store/policy_store_ID

1 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.

2 To log all data events for all objects in a specific S3 bucket, use the StartsWith operator, and include only the bucket ARN as the matching value. The trailing slash is intentional; do not exclude it.

3 To log events on all objects in an S3 access point, we recommend that you use only the access point ARN, don’t include the object path, and use the StartsWith or NotStartsWith operators.

Filtering data events by resources.ARN using the AWS Management Console

Take the following steps to filter on the resources.ARN field using the CloudTrail console.

  1. Follow the steps in the create trail procedure, or follow the steps in the create event data store procedure.

  2. As you follow the steps to create the trail or event data store, make the following selections:

    1. Choose Data events.

    2. Choose the Data event type for which you want to log data events.

    3. For Log selector template, choose Custom.

    4. (Optional) In Selector name, enter a name to identify your selector. The selector name is a descriptive name for an advanced event selector, such as "Log data events for only two S3 buckets". The selector name is listed as Name in the advanced event selector and is viewable if you expand the JSON view.

    5. In Advanced event selectors, do the following to filter on the resources.ARN:

      1. For Field, choose resources.ARN.

      2. For Operator, choose the condition operator. In this example, we'll choose starts with because we want to log data events for a specific S3 bucket.

      3. For Value, enter the ARN for your resource type (for example, arn:aws:s3:::DOC-EXAMPLE-BUCKET).

      4. To filter another resources.ARN, choose + Condition.

      Filter S3 data events by resources.ARN

    6. Choose +Field to add filters on other fields.

Filtering data events by resources.ARN using the AWS CLI

Using the AWS CLI, you can filter on the resources.ARN field to log events for a specific ARN or exclude logging for a specific ARN.

If you’re updating an existing trail or event data store to log additional event selectors, get the current event selectors by running the get-event-selectors command for a trail, or the get-event-data-store command for an event data store. Then, update your event selectors to add a field selector for each data resource type that you want to log.

The following example shows how to configure your trail to include all data events for all Amazon S3 objects in a specific S3 bucket. The value for S3 events for the resources.type field is AWS::S3::Object. Because the ARN values for S3 objects and S3 buckets are slightly different, you must add the StartsWith operator for resources.ARN to capture all events.

aws cloudtrail put-event-selectors \ 
--trail-name TrailName \ 
--region region \
--advanced-event-selectors \
'[
    {
        "Name": "S3EventSelector",
        "FieldSelectors": [
            { "Field": "eventCategory", "Equals": ["Data"] },
                { "Field": "resources.type", "Equals": ["AWS::S3::Object"] },
                { "Field": "resources.ARN", "StartsWith": ["arn:aws:s3:::DOC-EXAMPLE-BUCKET/"] }
            ]
    }
]'

Filtering data events by readOnly value

Using advanced event selectors, you can filter based on the value of the readOnly field.

You can only use the Equals operator with the readOnly field. You can set the readOnly value to true or false. If you do not add this field, CloudTrail logs both read and write events. A value of true logs only read events. A value of false logs only write events.

Filtering data events by readOnly value using the AWS Management Console

Take the following steps to filter on the readOnly field using the CloudTrail console.

  1. Follow the steps in the create trail procedure, or follow the steps in the create event data store procedure.

  2. As you follow the steps to create the trail or event data store, make the following selections:

    1. Choose Data events.

    2. Choose the Data event type for which you want to log data events.

    3. For Log selector template, choose the appropriate template for your use case.

      Choose the log selector template for data events
      If you plan to do this Choose this log selector template

      Log read events only and apply no other filters (for example, on the resources.ARN value).

      Log readOnly events

      Log write events only and apply no other filters (for example, on the resources.ARN value).

      Log writeOnly events

      Filter on the readOnly value and apply additional filters (for example, on the resources.ARN value).

      Custom

      In Advanced event selectors, do the following to filter on the readOnly value:

      To log write events

      1. For Field, choose readOnly.

      2. For Operator, choose equals.

      3. For Value, enter false.

      4. Choose +Field to add filters on other fields.

      To log read events

      1. For Field, choose readOnly.

      2. For Operator, choose equals.

      3. For Value, enter true.

      4. Choose +Field to add filters on other fields.

Filtering data events by readOnly value using the AWS CLI

Using the AWS CLI, you can filter on the readOnly field.

You can only use the Equals operator with the readOnly field. You can set the readOnly value to true or false. If you do not add this field, CloudTrail logs both read and write events. A value of true logs only read events. A value of false logs only write events.

If you’re updating an existing trail or event data store to log additional event selectors, get the current event selectors by running the get-event-selectors command for a trail, or the get-event-data-store command for an event data store. Then, update your event selectors to add a field selector for each data resource type that you want to log.

The following example shows how to configure your trail to log read-only data events for all Amazon S3 objects.

aws cloudtrail put-event-selectors \
--trail-name TrailName \
--region region \
--advanced-event-selectors '[
    {
            "Name": "Log read-only S3 data events",
            "FieldSelectors": [
                { "Field": "eventCategory", "Equals": ["Data"] },
                { "Field": "resources.type", "Equals": ["AWS::S3::Object"] },
                { "Field": "readOnly", "Equals": ["true"] }
            ]
    }
]'

The next example creates a new event data store that logs only write-only data events for EBS Direct APIs. You can use the update-event-data-store command to update an existing event data store.

aws cloudtrail create-event-data-store \
--name "eventDataStoreName" \
--advanced-event-selectors \
'[
    {
            "Name": "Log write-only EBS Direct API data events",
            "FieldSelectors": [
                { "Field": "eventCategory", "Equals": ["Data"] },
                { "Field": "resources.type", "Equals": ["AWS::EC2::Snapshot"] },
                { "Field": "readOnly", "Equals": ["false"] }
            ]
     }
]'