Back to controls

Ensure log metric filter and alerts exist for VPC Network Firewall rule changes

It is recommended that a metric filter and alarm be established for Virtual Private Cloud (VPC) Network Firewall rule changes.

Category

Controls

Low

Applies to

Google Cloud

Coverage

1 queries

Asset types

1 covered

Overview

It is recommended that a metric filter and alarm be established for Virtual Private Cloud (VPC) Network Firewall rule changes.

Rationale

Monitoring for create or update firewall rule events gives insight to network access changes and may reduce the time it takes to detect suspicious activity.

Impact

Enabling of logging may result in your project being charged for the additional logs usage. These charges could be significant depending on the size of the organization.

Remediation guidance

From Console

Create the prescribed log metric:

  1. Go to Logging/Logs-based Metrics by visiting https://console.cloud.google.com/logs/metrics and click "CREATE METRIC".
  2. Click the down arrow symbol on the Filter Bar at the rightmost corner and select Convert to Advanced Filter.
  3. Clear any text and add:
resource.type="gce_firewall_rule"
AND (protoPayload.methodName:"compute.firewalls.patch"
OR protoPayload.methodName:"compute.firewalls.insert"
OR protoPayload.methodName:"compute.firewalls.delete")
  1. Click Submit Filter. Display logs appear based on the filter text entered by the user.
  2. In the Metric Editor menu on the right, fill out the name field. Set Units to 1 (default) and Type to Counter. This ensures that the log metric counts the number of log entries matching the advanced logs query.
  3. Click Create Metric.

Create the prescribed Alert Policy:

  1. Identify the newly created metric under the section User-defined Metrics at https://console.cloud.google.com/logs/metrics.
  2. Click the 3-dot icon in the rightmost column for the new metric and select Create alert from Metric. A new page displays.
  3. Fill out the alert policy configuration and click Save. Choose the alerting threshold and configuration that makes sense for the user's organization. For example, a threshold of zero(0) for the most recent value ensures that a notification is triggered for every owner change in the project:
Set `Aggregator` to `Count`
Set `Configuration`:
- Condition: above
- Threshold: 0
- For: most recent value
  1. Configure the desired notifications channels in the section Notifications.
  2. Name the policy and click Save.

From Command Line

Create the prescribed Log Metric:

  • Use the command: gcloud logging metrics create

Create the prescribed Alert Policy:

  • Use the command: gcloud monitoring policies create

Service-wide remediation

Recommended when many resources are affected: fix the platform baseline first so new resources inherit the secure setting, then remediate the existing flagged resources in batches.

Google Cloud

Use organization or folder policies where available, shared project templates, logs and alerting baselines, and IaC modules so new resources inherit the secure setting.

Operational rollout

  1. Fix the baseline first at the account, subscription, project, cluster, or tenant scope that owns this control.
  2. Remediate the currently affected resources in batches, starting with internet-exposed and production assets.
  3. Re-scan and track approved exceptions with an owner and expiry date.

Query logic

These are the stored checks tied to this control.

Log metric filter and alerts exist for VPC Network Firewall rule changes

Connectors

Google Cloud

Covered asset types

Connector

Expected check: eq []

GCPLogging7{...AssetFragment}
Cyscale Logo
Cyscale is an agentless cloud-native application protection platform (CNAPP) that automates the contextual analysis of cloud misconfigurations, vulnerabilities, access, and data, to provide an accurate and actionable assessment of risk.

Stay connected

Receive new blog posts and product updates from Cyscale

By clicking Subscribe, I agree to Cyscale’s Privacy Policy


© 2026 Cyscale Limited

LinkedIn icon
Twitter icon
Facebook icon
crunch base icon
angel icon