AWS CloudTrail Manual Setup - Existing Trail
This manual setup guide is for those who have an existing trail available for use in their CloudTrail service.
This guide takes you through required manual configurations to allow Expel to access your S3 bucket securely via an API. It also shows you how to add CloudTrail as a security device in Workbench, which completes the integration and enables you to monitor all activity.
Scope and Limitations
When choosing to set up this integration, remember the following:
For those using AWS Organizations, this guide assumes your SNS Topic, SQS Queue and KMS Key encrypting SNS are stored in the same account as your S3 bucket. It also assumes you have encrypted both your CloudTrail and S3 bucket with KMS (Key Management Service). See the Reference for more information.
The AWS setup described here is Expel’s recommended best practice.
There are a number of ways to customize your AWS configurations based on your own environment or protocols. These steps are intended to show the necessary settings that must be configured in order for your Expel integration to work, with basic instructions for how to do so; they do not cover most of the optional settings or explain every possible option in AWS.
Prerequisites
You must already have an existing trail that is configured to send CloudTrail events to an S3 bucket.
Verify you have the necessary permissions to create and modify IAM policies and roles for your AWS account.
Make sure you are in the management console and that you have your AWS Account ID if you are using AWS Organizations, or are in the proper AWS account if you manage more than one account.
If your organization centralizes CloudTrail logs from multiple subsidiaries into a single S3 bucket, make sure you know the AWS Organizational Unit (OU) ID for the subsidiary.
This is an optional prerequisite that enables us to filter logs so that only the relevant data is sent to each subsidiary's Workbench instance, preventing data overlap.
Check the AWS region in the top menu bar (i.e. us-east-2, us-west-1, etc.) and make sure you are in the home region you want to be in; you must use the same home region throughout the entire AWS configuration process, and you must later specify this region correctly in Workbench.
Make sure you can log into Workbench successfully, and are able to see your organization settings.
Note: This is a good time to copy and save your Workbench GUID, which is a unique alphanumeric value assigned by Expel to your organization and found in the My Organization page; see the Reference for detailed instructions.
Step 1: Download the CloudFormation Templates
CloudFormationTemplate_Accounts.json
For those with a single AWS account and/or those who need to update the management account
Used when deploying a stack
Creates Expel's IAM role (ExpelAssumeRole) in your management account
Creates the required IAM policy (ExpelAccessPolicy); you will define the SQS queue, S3 bucket, and AWS KMS key ARN
CloudFormationTemplate_Orgs.json
For those using AWS Organizations
Used when deploying a stackset
Creates Expel's IAM role (ExpelAssumeRole) in your children accounts; you will create this role in your management account separately
Creates the required IAM policy (ExpelAccessPolicy) for your children accounts; you will grant additional access separately
Step 2: Make Note of Your Needed Values
During the AWS configuration process, you will need to copy out and save a number of values as they are added by you (e.g. the AWS KMS Alias) or generated by AWS (e.g. the SQS Queue ARN). Knowing each of these values is necessary to successfully complete all AWS configuration steps and to also add AWS as a security device in Workbench.
Values you should have already:
Workbench Unique ID (if you do not have it yet, get it now)
AWS Account ID (AWS organizations only; get it now)
AWS OU ID (only if you use a single S3 bucket for multiple subsidiaries; get it now)
AWS Region
S3 bucket ARN
S3 Bucket KMS Key ARN (KMS ARN of the key set as default encryption of your S3 bucket)
CloudTrail KMS Key ARN (KMS ARN of the key Cloudtrail uses to encrypt logs that are sent to S3 bucket)
Values you will acquire as you follow this guide:
SNS SQS KMS Key ARN
SNS Topic ARN
SQS Queue ARN
SQS URL
S3 bucket account IAM Role ARN
AWS OU Role ARN (only if you use a single S3 bucket for multiple subsidiaries and you choose to create a separate IAM Role with the additional permissions)
Step 3: Create a New KMS Key
First you will create a KMS key to use to encrypt our SNS Topic and SQS queue.
Create this key in the same account as the S3 bucket account.
Use the Search bar to quickly navigate to Key Management Service, or find it in the Services menu.
Select Create key.
Leave the Configure key page as is and select Next.
Enter an alias or display name for the key.
Select Next.
Leave the Define key administrative permissions page as is and select Next.
Leave the Define key usage permissions page as is and select Next.
Review your configuration if desired.
Select Finish.
In the key list, select the key you just made.
Copy the ARN and save it to a safe place as your SNS SQS KMS Key ARN.
Step 4: Create a New SNS Topic
If you have already configured Amazon Simple Notification Service (SNS) as an event notifier for your existing CloudTrail bucket that includes the event type All object create events, skip to Step 5.
In this step, you will create an SNS topic and edit its access policy to give the S3 bucket permission to push events to the topic. These communications will eventually be sent from the SNS topic to an SQS queue (configured in a later section).
Use the Search bar to quickly navigate to Simple Notification Service (SNS), or find it in the Services menu.
Select Topics.
Select Create topic.
In the Details section, select Standard as the Type.
Enter a topic name in the Name field.
Expand the Encryption section:
Toggle Encryption to on.
Use the dropdown menu to select the SNS SQS KMS key you created in Step 3.
Expand the Access policy section:
Leave the method as Basic.
Look at the JSON preview and scroll down to the
Resourcekey.Copy the
Resourcevalue and save it to a safe place as your SNS Topic ARN (you will need it to configure the new access policy). The format should look something like this:arn:aws:sns:us-east-1:123456789012:YourTopicNameNext, select Advanced to define a new access policy.
Highlight and delete the existing policy and paste the below policy instead.
Make sure to use your SNS Topic ARN as the Resource value and your S3 bucket ARN as the aws:SourceARN value.
Important: Did you use your SNS Topic ARN and S3 bucket ARN in the new code? Check to be sure before continuing.
Leave the remaining sections as is and select Create topic.
Step 5: Edit the SNS SQS KMS Key Policy
Next, you need to edit the SNS SQS KMS key policy to include proper permissions for the SNS topic and S3 bucket.
Use the Search bar to quickly navigate to Key Management Service, or find it in the Services menu.
Select the key you created in Step 3.
Under Key policy, select Switch to policy view.
Select Edit.
Append the following JSON snippet into the existing policy.
Make sure to use your S3 bucket ARN and SNS Topic ARN where specified. If you need help appending your policy, go to the Troubleshooting section.
Important: Did you use your S3 bucket ARN and SNS Topic ARN in the code? Check to be sure before continuing.
Select Save changes.
Step 6: Create the SQS Queue
Next, you will create a dedicated SQS queue to receive messages from the SNS topic, and edit the access policy to allow the SNS topic to send messages to it. Expel will use this queue to poll for notifications of new CloudTrail data, and then will update Workbench accordingly.
Use the Search bar to quickly navigate to Simple Queue Service (SQS), or find it in the Services menu.
Select Queues.
Select Create queue.
In the Details section, select Standard as the type.
Enter a name in the Name field.
In the Configuration section:
Change the Message Retention period to 7 days.
Leave all other defaults.
In the Encryption section:
Leave Server-side encryption as Enabled.
Choose AWS Key Management Service key (SSE-KMS) as the encryption key type.
Choose the SNS SQS KMS key you created in Step 3.
Leave the data key reuse period as is.
In the Access policy section:
Select Advanced.
First, go to the Resource value and copy the ARN, then save it to a safe place as your SQS Queue ARN (you will need it for your new access policy).
Highlight and delete the existing policy and paste the below policy instead.
Make sure to use your SQS Queue ARN as the Resource value and your SNS Topic ARN as the aws:SourceARN value.
Important: Did you use your SQS Queue ARN and SNS Topic ARN in the new code? Check to be sure before continuing.
Leave the remaining sections as is and select Create Queue.
Before leaving the confirmation screen, copy the URL and save it to a safe place as your SQS URL (you will need it in a later step).
Step 7: Create the SNS Subscription
Now that you have an SNS topic and SQS queue, and have also edited both of their access policies to allow for communication, you need to create a new subscription within the SNS topic so that the topic can send events to the queue.
Use the Search bar to quickly navigate to Simple Notification Service (SNS), or find it in the Services menu.
Select Subscriptions.
Select Create subscription.
In the Details section, complete the fields as follows:
Topic ARN - Select the Topic ARN you obtained in Step 4.
Protocol - Amazon SQS.
Endpoint - Select your SQS Queue ARN.
Select Enable raw message delivery.
Leave the remaining sections as is and select Create subscription.
Step 8: Enable S3 Event Notifications
If you have already configured Amazon Simple Notification Service (SNS) as an event notifier for your existing CloudTrail bucket that includes the event type All object create events, skip to Step 9.
Now that you have fully configured the communications between the SNS topic and SQS queue, you can create an event notification. This notification will tell the S3 bucket to send certain events (you will specify which ones) to the SNS topic whenever CloudTrail adds event logs to the bucket.
Use the Search bar to quickly navigate to S3, or find it in the Services menu.
Select your S3 bucket.
Select Properties.
Go to the Event Notifications section and select Create event notification. Then:
Enter a name.
In the Event types section, use the checkbox to enable All object create events. Leave the rest of the boxes unchecked.
In the Destination section, select SNS topic and choose your SNS topic from the dropdown.
Select Save changes.
Step 9: Set Up CloudFormation
Expel will authenticate its credentials using an IAM Role and will be granted permissions to your AWS account(s) based on a corresponding IAM policy. You can complete this step most efficiently by using CloudFormation instead of doing a manual configuration via IAM.
Step 10: Add AWS CloudTrail as a Security Device in Workbench
Now, you can add a security device in Workbench to complete the integration.
In the side menu, navigate to Organization Settings > Security Devices.
Select Add Security Device.
In the search box, enter “AWS” and then select the AWS CloudTrail integration.
Select the bullets as follows:
“Are you using AWS organizations?” - AWS Organizations should leave it as Yes; single accounts should select No.
“Do you have an existing CloudTrail that you want Expel to reuse?” - leave it as Yes.
“How would you like to connect?” - select Manual connection.
Select Save.
On the next screen, complete the fields as follows:
Name - enter a name that might help you more easily identify this integration, such as “CompanyName CloudTrail”; this name will display in Workbench under the Name column, and is a text string that you can filter on.
Location - enter the location of your integration, for example “cloud” or “AWS cloud” or “on prem;” this is also a text string that you can filter on, so we recommend being consistent with location naming across your Expel integrations.
Role ARN - enter the IAM Role ARN you saved from an earlier step. Format:
arn:aws:iam::123456789012:role/RoleNameRole session name - enter a text string to label your IAM role session, such as "orgname-expel-trail-session".
AWS region - choose the AWS region where you created your configuration in AWS.
SQS URL - enter the SQS URL you copied and saved in a previous step.
Organization management account - if you use AWS Organizations, input the AWS Account ID of the management account; single account users can leave this field blank.
AWS OU ID - if you use AWS Organizations to centralize CloudTrail logs from multiple subsidiaries into a single S3 bucket, enter the AWS OU ID for the relevant subsidiary (format:
ou-abc1-defghi2j); otherwise, leave this field blank. This field tells our system to filter the logs based on that ID, ensuring that each subsidiary's Workbench instance only ingests and analyzes the logs relevant to its own accounts, which helps prevent any overlap of data.AWS OU Role ARN - if you entered an AWS OU ID, you will also need to enter the IAM Role ARN that contains the appropriate permissions. If you chose to add these permissions to your existing IAM Role, enter the IAM Role ARN again here. If you chose to create a new IAM Role with those permissions, enter your AWS OU Role ARN. Otherwise, leave this field blank.
Select Save.
Your device should be created successfully within a few seconds. A few reminders:
After your connection is healthy, it will take some time for your device to begin polling and receiving data.
To check on the status, select the downward arrow for your device in the first column and choose View details.
Polling will happen first; data will be received after that. You must refresh the page to see updates.
If your device does not begin polling within 15 minutes, and does not begin receiving data within 30 minutes, contact our support team for help.
To check if alerts are coming through, navigate to Dashboards > Alert Analysis. Scroll to the device you want to check, and select the Expel Alerts tab to reveal more alert information. It can take 36 to 72 hours for alerts to appear after setup, as we tune your device.
Troubleshooting
If you are encountering an error or your trail isn't connecting to Workbench, try checking for some common issues:
You left one of your ARN values out of a JSON object in a prior step, put an ARN in the wrong location, or formatted an ARN incorrectly.
The JSON objects were copied, appended, or formatted incorrectly in a prior step.
You have forgotten to enable something, or have configured something incorrectly, in one of the prior steps.
Examples include not choosing your AWS KMS key from the dropdown menu when setting up default encryption in Step 4, or not using the same region throughout your AWS configuration.
Appending JSON Code
Make sure to put this JSON snippet in the correct place, using a comma, and make sure the final bracket is still there. Lines 13-47 of your JSON code should look like this (the appended part is highlighted, beginning with the ,):
Reference
Cross-Account Configuration Resources
The diagram below illustrates the relationship and location of AWS resources for a possible environment covered in this guide: an existing CloudTrail configuration involving AWS Organizations where the trail is in the management account and the S3 bucket, SNS topic, and SQS queue are all together in a child account. KMS encryption can be applied as illustrated and IAM roles are deployed to the accounts using CloudFormation Stacks and Stacksets.

For more information on configuring a cross-account environment, refer to these AWS developer guide pages:
ARNs and URLs
This chart gives examples of ARNs and the SQS URL so you can check on the general formatting, and also tells you where to find any of the values if you’ve forgotten to copy and save them during the configuration process.
S3 Bucket ARN
S3 > Buckets > bucket name > Properties
arn:aws:s3:::MyS3BucketARN
SNS Topic ARN
Simple Notification Service > Topics > topic name > Details section
arn:aws:sns:us-east-1:123456789012:MyTopicName
AWS KMS Key ARN
Key Management Service > key alias > General configuration section
arn:aws:kms:us-west-2:123456789012:key/123a4567-890b-1234-c5d6-7ef89012g345
SQS Queue ARN
Simple Queue Service > queue name > Details section
arn:aws:sqs:us-east-1:123456789012:MySQSQueueName
SQS URL
Simple Queue Service > queue name > Details section
https://sqs.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/123456789012/MySQSQueueName
IAM Role ARN
IAM > Access Management > Roles > role name > Summary section
arn:aws:iam::123456789012:role/RoleName
(most users will look for the ExpelAssumeRole)
AWS Organization-Specific Values
This chart helps you locate the additional values you need if you are using AWS Organizations. The OU ID is only necessary if you use a single S3 bucket for multiple subsidiaries.
AWS Account ID
AWS Organizations Console, upper right of screen
1234-5678-9012
AWS OU ID
ou-abc1-defghi2j
(format is ou-rootid-ouid and this entire value should be entered into the Workbench security device)
Workbench GUID
The Workbench GUID is a unique alphanumeric value assigned by Expel to your organization.
Format
a123b456-7c89-0def-g1hi-2j3k45l6mn7o
Where to Find
Go to Organization Settings > My Organization.
On the organization's page, look for the Organization GUID and select the Copy button to copy the GUID.
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