Depending on your Google Workspace edition, you might have access to the security investigation tool, which has more advanced features. For example, super admins can identify, triage, and take action on security and privacy issues. Learn more
As your organization's administrator, you can use Access Evaluation log events to understand how the different security policies in Google Workspace impact end-users’ access to apps. For example, an organization can have multiple OAuth policies that control app access based on different rules. Access Evaluation log events show the policies that impact user access, whether access was granted, and how those decisions were made. You can use this information to review and revise your organization's security policies and configuration.
Run a search for log events
Your ability to run a search depends on your Google edition, your administrative privileges, and the data source. You can run a search on all users, regardless of their Google Workspace edition.
To run a search for log events, first choose a data source. Then choose one or more filters for your search.
-
Sign in with an administrator account to the Google Admin console.
If you aren’t using an administrator account, you can’t access the Admin console.
-
In the Admin console, go to Menu
Reporting
Audit and investigation
Access Evaluation log events.
- Click Add a filter, and then select an attribute.
- In the pop-up window, select an operator
select a value
click Apply.
- (Optional) To create multiple filters for your search, repeat this step.
- (Optional) To add a search operator, above Add a filter, select AND or OR.
- Click Search.
Note: Using the Filter tab, you can include simple parameter and value pairs to filter the search results. You can also use the Condition builder tab, where the filters are represented as conditions with AND/OR operators.
To run a search in the security investigation tool, first choose a data source. Then, choose one or more conditions for your search. For each condition, choose an attribute, an operator, and a value.
-
Sign in with an administrator account to the Google Admin console.
If you aren’t using an administrator account, you can’t access the Admin console.
-
Go to Menu
Security > Security center > Investigation tool.
Requires having the Security center administrator privilege.
- Click Data source and select Access Evaluation log events.
- Click Add Condition.
Tip: You can include one or more conditions in your search or customize your search with nested queries. For details, go to Customize your search with nested queries. - Click Attribute
select an option.
For a complete list of attributes, go to the Attribute descriptions section (later on this page). - Select an operator.
- Enter a value or select a value from the list.
- (Optional) To add more search conditions, repeat steps 4–7.
- Click Search.
You can review the search results from the investigation tool in a table at the bottom of the page. - (Optional) To save your investigation, click Save
enter a title and description
click Save.
Notes
- In the Condition builder tab, filters are represented as conditions with AND/OR operators. You can also use the Filter tab to include simple parameter and value pairs to filter the search results.
- If you gave a user a new name, you will not see query results with the user's old name. For example, if you rename OldName@example.com to NewName@example.com, you will not see results for events related to OldName@example.com.
Attribute descriptions
For example, if unauthorized users are accessing a messaging app, Access Evaluation log events help you understand which policies are being used. If you change a policy, the log events will show the result of that change.
Access Evaluation log events are also used to investigate your organization’s security posture. For example:
- Monitor for suspicious activity: You can use the logs to monitor for suspicious activity, such as attempts to access sensitive data, or access from prohibited locations.
- Audit your organization's security posture: You can use the logs to audit your organization's security posture and ensure that your data is protected.
A log entry is created for the first event within an 24 hour span. Duplicate events with the same information are not logged until 24 hours has passed. For example, if an entry with User1, Client1 and IP1 occurs at time X, duplicate events with the same information are not logged until 24 hours have passed.
Note: Each log entry may include some, but not all, of the following information. For example, the service account field is typically empty unless access is performed by a service account.
Column name |
Comments |
Example |
---|---|---|
Date |
Time when the request was evaluated. |
2022-08-11T10:00:53-07:00 |
Application ID |
Client ID of the application for which access was evaluated. |
705819728788-b2c1kcs7tst3b7ghv7at0hkqmtc68ckl.apps.google.sample.com |
Application name |
Application name of the above client ID. |
|
Event |
Event Name. |
|
Description |
Description of the event. |
FirstName LastName access request to Myapp for certain scopes is allowed. |
User |
End-Users email for which the evaluation was requested and allowed. |
firstlast@sample-win.info |
Scope |
Scopes for which the request was granted |
https://www.googleapis.com/auth/userinfo.email, https://www.googleapis.com/auth/userinfo.profile, openid |
External IP address |
IP address from where the end-user requested access evaluation from. |
2601:600:8780:19d0:925:e630:d20e:b1cc |
Configuration Source |
Describes whether a client ID was allowed due to a Google Workspace policy that explicitly allowed access to this application ID for the end-user. |
|
Service Account |
Service account email ID if it was used to impersonate any user. |
abc-alpha@gserviceaccount.com |
Client type |
Type of the Application ID. |
Web, Android, IOS, etc. |
Configuration source descriptions
The Configuration Source describes whether a client ID was allowed due to a Google Workspace policy that explicitly allowed access to this application ID for the end-user.
Scenario | Description |
---|---|
No app configuration |
Access was allowed because admins have not set any policy using API Controls that blocks access to the client ID. To add blocking policies, see Control which third-party & internal apps access Google Workspace data. |
API controls configuration |
Access was allowed because the application was trusted or limited in a policy using API Controls. See Control which third-party & internal apps access Google Workspace data. |
Endpoint Management configuration |
Access was allowed because the application was trusted or limited in a policy using Google endpoint management. See Overview: Manage devices with Google endpoint management |
Workspace Marketplace configuration |
Access was allowed because the application was installed in Google Workspace Marketplace. See Find and install an app in the Marketplace. |
Domain-wide delegation configuration |
Access was allowed because this application was domain-wide delegated. See Control API access with domain-wide delegation |
Manage log event data
Manage search results column data
You can control which data columns appear in your search results.
- At the top-right of the search results table, click Manage columns
.
- (Optional) To remove current columns, click Remove
.
- (Optional) To add columns, next to Add new column, click the Down arrow
and select the data column.
Repeat as needed. - (Optional) To change the order of the columns, drag the data column names.
- Click Save.
Export search result data
You can export search results to Google Sheets or to a CSV file.
- At the top of the search results table, click Export all.
- Enter a name
click Export.
The export displays below the search results table under Export action results. - To view the data, click the name of your export.
The export opens in Google Sheets.
Export limits vary:
- The total results of the export are limited to 100,000 rows.
- Supported editions for this feature: Frontline Standard; Enterprise Standard and Enterprise Plus; Education Standard and Education Plus; Enterprise Essentials Plus; Cloud Identity Premium. Compare your edition
If you have the security investigation tool, the total results of the export are limited to 30 million rows.
For more information, see Export search results.
When and how long is data available?
Take action based on search results
- You can set up alerts based on log event data using reporting rules. For instructions, see Create and manage reporting rules.
- Supported editions for this feature: Frontline Standard; Enterprise Standard and Enterprise Plus; Education Standard and Education Plus; Enterprise Essentials Plus; Cloud Identity Premium. Compare your edition
To help prevent, detect, and remediate security issues efficiently, you can automate actions in the security investigation tool and set up alerts by creating activity rules. To set up a rule, set up conditions for the rule, and then specify what actions to perform when the conditions are met. For details and instructions, see Create and manage activity rules.
Supported editions for this feature: Frontline Standard; Enterprise Standard and Enterprise Plus; Education Standard and Education Plus; Enterprise Essentials Plus; Cloud Identity Premium. Compare your edition
After you run a search in the security investigation tool, you can act on your search results. For example, you can run a search based on Gmail log events and then use the tool to delete specific messages, send messages to quarantine, or send messages to users' inboxes. For more details, go to Take action based on search results.
Manage your investigations
Supported editions for this feature: Frontline Standard; Enterprise Standard and Enterprise Plus; Education Standard and Education Plus; Enterprise Essentials Plus; Cloud Identity Premium. Compare your edition
View your list of investigationsTo view a list of the investigations that you own and that were shared with you, click View investigations . The investigation list includes the names, descriptions, and owners of the investigations, and the date last modified.
From this list, you can take action on any investigations that you own—for example, to delete an investigation. Check the box for an investigation and then click Actions.
Note: Directly above your list of investigations, under Quick access, you can view recently saved investigations.
As a super administrator, click Settings to:
- Change the time zone for your investigations. The time zone applies to search conditions and results.
- Turn on or off Require reviewer. For more details, go to Require reviewers for bulk actions.
- Turn on or off View content. This setting allows admins with the appropriate privileges to view content.
- Turn on or off Enable action justification.
For instructions and details, go to Configure settings for your investigations.
To save your search criteria or share it with others, you can create and save an investigation, and then share, duplicate, or delete it.
For details, go to Save, share, delete, and duplicate investigations.