Halimah's Blog

Monitor Amazon CloudWatch Security Logs for failed SSH attempts

Azeez Halimat's photo
Azeez Halimat
·

2 min read

To monitor Amazon CloudWatch Security Logs for failed SSH attempts, you can follow these practical steps:

  1. Enable CloudTrail:

    • Open the AWS Management Console and navigate to the CloudTrail service.

    • Click on "Trails" and create a new trail or select an existing trail.

    • Configure the trail to capture management events for AWS services, including EC2 and CloudWatch.

  2. Configure CloudWatch Logs Integration:

    • Open the AWS Management Console and go to the CloudWatch service.

    • In the left navigation pane, click on "Logs" and then click on "Log groups".

    • Create a new log group or select an existing one.

    • Configure the log group to receive logs from CloudTrail by clicking on "Actions" and selecting "Stream to AWS Lambda".

    • Choose an existing Lambda function or create a new one to receive the CloudTrail logs.

  3. Configure the Lambda function:

    • Open the AWS Management Console and navigate to the Lambda service.

    • Create a new Lambda function or select an existing one that will process the CloudTrail logs.

    • Configure the function to receive CloudTrail logs as an event source.

    • Write code in your preferred programming language to process the logs and extract SSH-related information.

  4. Analyze the logs for failed SSH attempts:

    • In your Lambda function code, search for log entries related to SSH activity, such as logins and authentication failures.

    • Extract relevant information, such as the source IP address, user identity, and timestamp, from the log entries.

    • Identify failed SSH attempts by analyzing log entries with authentication failure codes or other indicators.

  5. Send notifications or take actions:

    • Once you detect failed SSH attempts, you can trigger notifications or take appropriate actions.

    • For example, you can send email notifications, integrate with a notification service like Amazon SNS, or trigger an automated response like blocking the source IP address.

  6. Set up CloudWatch Alarms (optional):

    • If you want to proactively monitor failed SSH attempts, you can create CloudWatch Alarms based on specific log patterns or metrics.

    • Define alarm thresholds based on the number of failed SSH attempts within a specific time period.

    • Configure actions to be taken when the alarm threshold is breached, such as sending notifications or triggering automated responses.

By following these steps, you can effectively monitor CloudWatch Security Logs for failed SSH attempts, extract relevant information, and take appropriate actions to enhance the security of your EC2 instances.

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