AWS CloudTrail
Log, continuously monitor, and retain account activity related to actions across your AWS infrastructure.
Overview
AWS CloudTrail is a service that helps you enable governance, compliance, and operational and risk auditing of your AWS account. Actions taken by a user, role, or an AWS service are recorded as events in CloudTrail. Events include actions taken in the AWS Management Console, AWS Command Line Interface, and AWS SDKs and APIs.
✨ Key Features
- Log all API activity in your AWS account
- Continuous monitoring of account activity
- Event history for troubleshooting
- Deliver log files to Amazon S3
- CloudTrail Lake for advanced event analysis
🎯 Key Differentiators
- The authoritative source for all AWS API activity
- Enabled by default on all AWS accounts
- Deeply integrated with other AWS security and management services
Unique Value: Provides a complete and immutable record of all actions taken in your AWS account, which is essential for security, auditing, and operational troubleshooting.
🎯 Use Cases (4)
✅ Best For
- Investigating unauthorized IAM user activity
- Auditing changes to security group configurations
💡 Check With Vendor
Verify these considerations match your specific requirements:
- Monitoring resource performance metrics (use CloudWatch instead)
- Tracking resource configuration state (use AWS Config instead)
🏆 Alternatives
Serves as the primary data source for third-party security and logging tools, making it a necessary component rather than a direct competitor for analyzing AWS activity.
💻 Platforms
🔌 Integrations
🛟 Support Options
- ✓ Email Support
- ✓ Live Chat
- ✓ Phone Support
- ✓ Dedicated Support (Business, Enterprise tier)
🔒 Compliance & Security
💰 Pricing
Free tier: The first copy of management events in each region is delivered free of charge.
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