I'm trying to figure out how to set up alerts for my S3 bucket on AWS to notify me via email when uploads happen more frequently than I expect. This is part of my security monitoring efforts to catch any unauthorized access quickly. Specifically, I have a bucket that is supposed to receive backups every 12 hours, but I want to be alerted if any upload occurs less than 11 hours after the last one. I'm hoping to set this up in real-time, meaning I want to trigger an alert every time a new file is uploaded. Ideally, I'd like to use built-in AWS services like EventBridge, CloudWatch, and SNS to keep costs down and minimize custom code. Is there an easier way to do this without relying on complex Lambda functions just to check timestamps? Thanks for your help!
4 Answers
Don't shy away from using Lambda! It can really simplify your setup. You can manage events directly from S3 and have them trigger the Lambda when uploads occur. This way, you get real-time alerts without too much hassle.
Another approach would be to automate permission management. You could use a scheduled task or Lambda function to remove upload permissions from the account or role when they're not needed. This would make it hard for unauthorized uploads to happen in the first place!
Start with S3 Event Notifications. They can notify a Lambda or EventBridge when an object gets uploaded. EventBridge has some filtering features, but your custom needs might require additional handling. You might also look into AWS GuardDuty to monitor and secure your server against any strange behavior from access keys.
You could set up a Lambda function that triggers every time an object is uploaded to your S3 bucket. This function would check the timestamp of the latest upload and see if it's less than 11 hours from the previous upload. If it is, send a notification through SNS. It's pretty straightforward if you have predictable S3 paths for your backups, since you can easily manage timestamps with those as well.
Absolutely! Stitching this together with the right path naming makes it even easier. Just remember to ensure your timestamps are accurate.