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
Note: If there’s no data for user log events during the previous 6 months, User log events might not be displayed in the left navigation menu.
Forward log event data to Google Cloud
You can opt in to share log event data with Google Cloud. If you turn on sharing, data is forwarded to Cloud Logging where you can query and view your logs and control how you route and store your logs.
The type of log event data you can share with Google Cloud depends on your Google Workspace, Cloud Identity, or Essentials account.
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 to your Google Admin console.
Sign in using your administrator account (does not end in @gmail.com).
-
In the Admin console, go to Menu
Reporting
Audit and investigation
- Click Add a filter, and then select an attribute.
- In the pop-up window, select an operator
- (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 to your Google Admin console.
Sign in using your administrator account (does not end in @gmail.com).
-
In the Admin console, go to Menu
Security
- Click Data source and select User 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
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
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 this data source, you can use the following attributes when searching log event data:
| Attribute | Description |
|---|---|
| Actor group name |
Group name of the actor. For more information, go to Filtering results by Google Group. To add a group to your filtering groups allowlist:
|
| Actor organizational unit | Organizational unit of the actor |
| Affected user | Email address of the affected user |
| Challenge type* |
The type of challenge used to verify the user, such as Password or Security Key Note: Newly added challenge types such as passkey may cause inconsistencies with existing challenge type called other for audit logs created before September 30, 2024. |
| Date | Date and time of the event (displayed in your browser's default time zone) |
| Domain* | The domain where the action occurred |
| Email forwarding address | Email address to forward the Gmail messages to |
|
Event |
The logged event action, such as 2-step verification enroll or Suspicious login Note: For the Logout event, even if the user signed in with login types other than Google Password, (such as Exchange, Reauth, SAML, or Unknown), the Login type for Logout events is displayed as Google Password. |
| IP address | IP address that the user used to sign in. Usually the address is the user's physical location, but it can be a proxy server or a Virtual Private Network (VPN) address. |
| Is second factor* | True if the user signed in with 2-factor authentication False if the user didn't sign in with 2-factor authentication |
| Is suspicious* | True if the sign-in attempt was suspicious, otherwise false. Applicable only to the login_success event |
| Login time | Date and time the user signed in |
| Login type |
Authentication method the user used:
|
| User | Email address of the user who performed the action |
* You cannot create reporting rules with these filters. Learn more about reporting rules versus activity rules.
** Note for SAML users using the SSO profile for your organization (legacy SAML): If the SAML login attempt originates from an unknown device or IP address, or if there's a higher risk assessment, a failed login with the type Google Password is recorded in the log event. This occurs even if your SAML login is successful, because the system flags the initial attempt as suspicious. This failed login entry is then followed by a successful SAML login event. In legacy SAML, two login sessions are generated for a single SAML login. The first, often irrelevant session, is filtered out only if it's deemed non-suspicious.Note: 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.
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
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 (except for Gmail message searches, which are limited to 10,000 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 (except for Gmail message searches, which are limited to 10,000 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.
