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 run searches and take action on security issues related to Chat log events. For example, you can view a record of actions to monitor conversation and discussion activity in your organization. You can also see when a user starts a direct message or creates a space.
Before you begin
If you have Google Chat history turned off for your users, you won't see data for users who send direct messages, and you won't see data for the Direct message started event. To check your settings, go to Turn history on or off.
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.
Audit and investigation tool
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.
Security investigation tool
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 Chat 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 | Email address of the user who performed the action |
| 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 |
| Actor type | Role of the user who performed the action, such as Admin or Non-admin |
| Attachment hash | SHA-256 hash of the chat attachment |
| Attachment name | Name of the attachment sent in a Chat message |
| Attachment URL | Download URL of the attachment sent in a Chat message |
| Data loss prevention scan status* | Using DLP for Chat , you can create data protection rules to prevent data leaks from Chat messages and attachments (uploaded files). DLP scan status includes values such as Failed, Partially scanned, and Scanned. |
| Date | Date and time of the event (displayed in your browser's default time zone) |
| Event | The logged event action, such as Message sent, Attachment uploaded, or Direct message started. |
| External room* | Whether members outside the organization can be added to the chat room |
| Message ID |
ID of the Chat message |
| New role | New role type for recipients, such as Space manager or Member |
| Recipients* | Recipients of a chat message. This attribute is logged when the following events occur:
|
| Report ID | ID of the Chat message report |
| Reporting category* | Category of the Chat message report, such as Spam, Confidential Information or Sensitive Information |
| Room history setting | Whether Chat room history is turned on or off |
| Room ID | Chat room ID |
| Room name | Chat room name |
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.
