AWS Root Account Activity

Classification:

compliance

Framework:

cis-aws

Control:

cis-3.3

Set up the cloudtrail integration.

Overview

Goal

Detect AWS root user activity.

Strategy

Monitor CloudTrail and detect when any @userIdentity.type has a value of Root, but is not invoked by an AWS service.

Triage & Response

1. Reach out to the user to determine if the login was legitimate.
2. If the login wasn’t legitimate, rotate the credentials, enable 2FA, and open an investigation.

For best practices, check out the AWS Root Account Best Practices documentation.