README.md

January 1, 2026 Β· View on GitHub

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This module enables AWS GuardDuty in one region of one account with comprehensive threat detection features and optionally sets up an SNS topic to receive notifications of its findings.

The module supports enabling various GuardDuty detector features including:

  • S3 Data Events Protection - Monitors S3 data plane operations for suspicious activity
  • EKS Audit Logs - Analyzes Kubernetes audit logs for threat detection in EKS clusters
  • EBS Malware Protection - Scans EC2 instance EBS volumes for malware
  • Lambda Network Logs - Monitors Lambda function network activity for threats
  • Runtime Monitoring - Provides threat detection for EC2, ECS, and EKS runtime environments with agent management
  • EKS Runtime Monitoring - Standalone EKS runtime threat detection (alternative to full Runtime Monitoring)

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Introduction

Features

This module provides comprehensive AWS GuardDuty configuration with support for all major detector features:

Threat Detection Features

  • S3 Data Events Protection (s3_protection_enabled)

    • Monitors S3 bucket data plane operations (GetObject, PutObject, DeleteObject, etc.)
    • Detects suspicious access patterns and potential data exfiltration attempts
  • EKS Audit Logs (kubernetes_audit_logs_enabled)

    • Analyzes Kubernetes API server audit logs for EKS clusters
    • Identifies suspicious kubectl commands, unauthorized access, and privilege escalation attempts
  • EBS Malware Protection (malware_protection_scan_ec2_ebs_volumes_enabled)

    • Scans EBS volumes attached to EC2 instances for malware
    • Agentless malware detection using snapshots
  • Lambda Network Logs (lambda_network_logs_enabled)

    • Monitors Lambda function network connections
    • Detects connections to known malicious IPs or unexpected network behavior
  • Runtime Monitoring (runtime_monitoring_enabled)

    • Provides comprehensive runtime threat detection for EC2, ECS, and EKS resources
    • Monitors runtime activity including file access, process execution, and network connections
    • Supports automatic agent management for EKS add-ons, ECS Fargate, and EC2 instances
    • Note: Runtime Monitoring already includes EKS protection; do not enable both runtime_monitoring_enabled and eks_runtime_monitoring_enabled
  • EKS Runtime Monitoring (eks_runtime_monitoring_enabled)

    • Standalone EKS-only runtime monitoring (use when you only need EKS protection)
    • Lighter alternative to full Runtime Monitoring
    • Automatically manages EKS security agent add-ons

SNS and CloudWatch Integration

  • Optional SNS topic creation for findings notifications
  • CloudWatch Events integration for real-time alerting
  • Configurable finding publishing frequency (FIFTEEN_MINUTES, ONE_HOUR, SIX_HOURS)
  • Support for multiple SNS subscribers (SQS, Lambda, HTTPS endpoints, etc.)

Important Notes

  • RDS Login Events can only be configured at the organization level via aws_guardduty_organization_configuration_feature, not at the detector level
  • Runtime Monitoring vs EKS Runtime Monitoring: These are mutually exclusive. Runtime Monitoring provides broader coverage (EC2, ECS, EKS), while EKS Runtime Monitoring is EKS-specific
  • All detector features use the newer aws_guardduty_detector_feature resource instead of the deprecated datasources block

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Usage

Here's how to invoke this module in your projects

Basic Example

module "guardduty" {
  source = "cloudposse/guardduty/aws"
  # version = "x.x.x"

  create_sns_topic = true
  subscribers = {
    opsgenie = {
      protocol               = "https"
      endpoint               = "https://api.example.com/v1/"
      endpoint_auto_confirms = true
      raw_message_delivery   = false
    }
  }

  context = module.this.context
}

Complete Example with All Features Enabled

module "guardduty" {
  source = "cloudposse/guardduty/aws"
  # version = "x.x.x"

  # SNS and CloudWatch configuration
  create_sns_topic                          = true
  enable_cloudwatch                         = true
  cloudwatch_event_rule_pattern_detail_type = "GuardDuty Finding"
  finding_publishing_frequency              = "FIFTEEN_MINUTES"

  subscribers = {
    opsgenie = {
      protocol               = "https"
      endpoint               = "https://api.example.com/v1/"
      endpoint_auto_confirms = true
      raw_message_delivery   = false
    }
  }

  # GuardDuty detector features
  s3_protection_enabled                           = true
  kubernetes_audit_logs_enabled                   = true
  malware_protection_scan_ec2_ebs_volumes_enabled = true
  lambda_network_logs_enabled                     = true

  # Runtime Monitoring with all agent management features
  runtime_monitoring_enabled = true
  runtime_monitoring_additional_config = {
    eks_addon_management_enabled         = true
    ecs_fargate_agent_management_enabled = true
    ec2_agent_management_enabled         = true
  }

  # Note: Do not enable both runtime_monitoring_enabled and eks_runtime_monitoring_enabled
  # Runtime Monitoring already includes EKS protection
  eks_runtime_monitoring_enabled = false

  context = module.this.context
}

Example with EKS Runtime Monitoring Only

module "guardduty" {
  source = "cloudposse/guardduty/aws"
  # version = "x.x.x"

  # If you only need EKS runtime monitoring (not EC2/ECS)
  eks_runtime_monitoring_enabled = true
  runtime_monitoring_additional_config = {
    eks_addon_management_enabled = true
  }

  # Do not enable runtime_monitoring_enabled when using eks_runtime_monitoring_enabled
  runtime_monitoring_enabled = false

  context = module.this.context
}

Important

In Cloud Posse's examples, we avoid pinning modules to specific versions to prevent discrepancies between the documentation and the latest released versions. However, for your own projects, we strongly advise pinning each module to the exact version you're using. This practice ensures the stability of your infrastructure. Additionally, we recommend implementing a systematic approach for updating versions to avoid unexpected changes.

Examples

Here is an example of using this module:

Requirements

NameVersion
terraform>= 1.3.0
aws>= 3

Providers

NameVersion
aws>= 3

Modules

NameSourceVersion
findings_labelcloudposse/label/null0.25.0
sns_topiccloudposse/sns-topic/aws0.20.1
thiscloudposse/label/null0.25.0

Resources

NameType
aws_cloudwatch_event_rule.findingsresource
aws_cloudwatch_event_target.imported_findingsresource
aws_guardduty_detector.guarddutyresource
aws_guardduty_detector_feature.ebs_malware_protectionresource
aws_guardduty_detector_feature.eks_audit_logsresource
aws_guardduty_detector_feature.eks_runtime_monitoringresource
aws_guardduty_detector_feature.lambda_network_logsresource
aws_guardduty_detector_feature.runtime_monitoringresource
aws_guardduty_detector_feature.s3_data_eventsresource
aws_sns_topic_policy.sns_topic_publish_policyresource
aws_iam_policy_document.sns_topic_policydata source

Inputs

NameDescriptionTypeDefaultRequired
additional_tag_mapAdditional key-value pairs to add to each map in tags_as_list_of_maps. Not added to tags or id.
This is for some rare cases where resources want additional configuration of tags
and therefore take a list of maps with tag key, value, and additional configuration.
map(string){}no
attributesID element. Additional attributes (e.g. workers or cluster) to add to id,
in the order they appear in the list. New attributes are appended to the
end of the list. The elements of the list are joined by the delimiter
and treated as a single ID element.
list(string)[]no
cloudwatch_event_rule_pattern_detail_typeThe detail-type pattern used to match events that will be sent to SNS.

For more information, see:
https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AmazonCloudWatch/latest/events/CloudWatchEventsandEventPatterns.html
https://docs.aws.amazon.com/eventbridge/latest/userguide/event-types.html
https://docs.aws.amazon.com/guardduty/latest/ug/guardduty_findings_cloudwatch.html
string"GuardDuty Finding"no
contextSingle object for setting entire context at once.
See description of individual variables for details.
Leave string and numeric variables as null to use default value.
Individual variable settings (non-null) override settings in context object,
except for attributes, tags, and additional_tag_map, which are merged.
any
{
"additional_tag_map": {},
"attributes": [],
"delimiter": null,
"descriptor_formats": {},
"enabled": true,
"environment": null,
"id_length_limit": null,
"label_key_case": null,
"label_order": [],
"label_value_case": null,
"labels_as_tags": [
"unset"
],
"name": null,
"namespace": null,
"regex_replace_chars": null,
"stage": null,
"tags": {},
"tenant": null
}
no
create_sns_topicFlag to indicate whether an SNS topic should be created for notifications.
If you want to send findings to a new SNS topic, set this to true and provide a valid configuration for subscribers.
boolfalseno
delimiterDelimiter to be used between ID elements.
Defaults to - (hyphen). Set to "" to use no delimiter at all.
stringnullno
descriptor_formatsDescribe additional descriptors to be output in the descriptors output map.
Map of maps. Keys are names of descriptors. Values are maps of the form
{<br/> format = string<br/> labels = list(string)<br/>}
(Type is any so the map values can later be enhanced to provide additional options.)
format is a Terraform format string to be passed to the format() function.
labels is a list of labels, in order, to pass to format() function.
Label values will be normalized before being passed to format() so they will be
identical to how they appear in id.
Default is {} (descriptors output will be empty).
any{}no
eks_runtime_monitoring_enabledIf true, enables EKS Runtime Monitoring.
Note: Do not enable both EKS_RUNTIME_MONITORING and RUNTIME_MONITORING as Runtime Monitoring already includes
threat detection for Amazon EKS resources.

For more information, see:
https://registry.terraform.io/providers/hashicorp/aws/latest/docs/resources/guardduty_detector_feature
boolfalseno
enable_cloudwatchFlag to indicate whether an CloudWatch logging should be enabled for GuardDutyboolfalseno
enabledSet to false to prevent the module from creating any resourcesboolnullno
environmentID element. Usually used for region e.g. 'uw2', 'us-west-2', OR role 'prod', 'staging', 'dev', 'UAT'stringnullno
finding_publishing_frequencyThe frequency of notifications sent for finding occurrences. If the detector is a GuardDuty member account, the value
is determined by the GuardDuty master account and cannot be modified, otherwise it defaults to SIX_HOURS.

For standalone and GuardDuty master accounts, it must be configured in Terraform to enable drift detection.
Valid values for standalone and master accounts: FIFTEEN_MINUTES, ONE_HOUR, SIX_HOURS."

For more information, see:
https://docs.aws.amazon.com/guardduty/latest/ug/guardduty_findings_cloudwatch.html#guardduty_findings_cloudwatch_notification_frequency
stringnullno
findings_notification_arnThe ARN for an SNS topic to send findings notifications to. This is only used if create_sns_topic is false.
If you want to send findings to an existing SNS topic, set the value of this to the ARN of the existing topic and set
create_sns_topic to false.
stringnullno
id_length_limitLimit id to this many characters (minimum 6).
Set to 0 for unlimited length.
Set to null for keep the existing setting, which defaults to 0.
Does not affect id_full.
numbernullno
kubernetes_audit_logs_enabledIf true, enables Kubernetes audit logs as a data source for Kubernetes protection.

For more information, see:
https://registry.terraform.io/providers/hashicorp/aws/latest/docs/resources/guardduty_detector_feature
boolfalseno
label_key_caseControls the letter case of the tags keys (label names) for tags generated by this module.
Does not affect keys of tags passed in via the tags input.
Possible values: lower, title, upper.
Default value: title.
stringnullno
label_orderThe order in which the labels (ID elements) appear in the id.
Defaults to ["namespace", "environment", "stage", "name", "attributes"].
You can omit any of the 6 labels ("tenant" is the 6th), but at least one must be present.
list(string)nullno
label_value_caseControls the letter case of ID elements (labels) as included in id,
set as tag values, and output by this module individually.
Does not affect values of tags passed in via the tags input.
Possible values: lower, title, upper and none (no transformation).
Set this to title and set delimiter to "" to yield Pascal Case IDs.
Default value: lower.
stringnullno
labels_as_tagsSet of labels (ID elements) to include as tags in the tags output.
Default is to include all labels.
Tags with empty values will not be included in the tags output.
Set to [] to suppress all generated tags.
Notes:
The value of the name tag, if included, will be the id, not the name.
Unlike other null-label inputs, the initial setting of labels_as_tags cannot be
changed in later chained modules. Attempts to change it will be silently ignored.
set(string)
[
"default"
]
no
lambda_network_logs_enabledIf true, enables Lambda network logs as a data source for Lambda protection.

For more information, see:
https://registry.terraform.io/providers/hashicorp/aws/latest/docs/resources/guardduty_detector_feature
boolfalseno
malware_protection_scan_ec2_ebs_volumes_enabledConfigure whether Malware Protection is enabled as data source for EC2 instances EBS Volumes in GuardDuty.

For more information, see:
https://registry.terraform.io/providers/hashicorp/aws/latest/docs/resources/guardduty_detector_feature
boolfalseno
nameID element. Usually the component or solution name, e.g. 'app' or 'jenkins'.
This is the only ID element not also included as a tag.
The "name" tag is set to the full id string. There is no tag with the value of the name input.
stringnullno
namespaceID element. Usually an abbreviation of your organization name, e.g. 'eg' or 'cp', to help ensure generated IDs are globally uniquestringnullno
regex_replace_charsTerraform regular expression (regex) string.
Characters matching the regex will be removed from the ID elements.
If not set, "/[^a-zA-Z0-9-]/" is used to remove all characters other than hyphens, letters and digits.
stringnullno
runtime_monitoring_additional_configAdditional configuration for Runtime Monitoring features.

eks_addon_management_enabled: Enable EKS add-on management
ecs_fargate_agent_management_enabled: Enable ECS Fargate agent management
ec2_agent_management_enabled: Enable EC2 agent management

For more information, see:
https://registry.terraform.io/providers/hashicorp/aws/latest/docs/resources/guardduty_detector_feature#additional_configuration
object({
eks_addon_management_enabled = optional(bool, false)
ecs_fargate_agent_management_enabled = optional(bool, false)
ec2_agent_management_enabled = optional(bool, false)
})
{}no
runtime_monitoring_enabledIf true, enables Runtime Monitoring for EC2, ECS, and EKS resources.
Note: Runtime Monitoring already includes threat detection for Amazon EKS resources, so you should not enable both
RUNTIME_MONITORING and EKS_RUNTIME_MONITORING features.

For more information, see:
https://registry.terraform.io/providers/hashicorp/aws/latest/docs/resources/guardduty_detector_feature
boolfalseno
s3_protection_enabledFlag to indicate whether S3 protection will be turned on in GuardDuty.

For more information, see:
https://registry.terraform.io/providers/hashicorp/aws/latest/docs/resources/guardduty_detector
boolfalseno
stageID element. Usually used to indicate role, e.g. 'prod', 'staging', 'source', 'build', 'test', 'deploy', 'release'stringnullno
subscribersA map of subscription configurations for SNS topics

For more information, see:
https://registry.terraform.io/providers/hashicorp/aws/latest/docs/resources/sns_topic_subscription#argument-reference

protocol:
The protocol to use. The possible values for this are: sqs, sms, lambda, application. (http or https are partially
supported, see link) (email is an option but is unsupported in terraform, see link).
endpoint:
The endpoint to send data to, the contents will vary with the protocol. (see link for more information)
endpoint_auto_confirms:
Boolean indicating whether the end point is capable of auto confirming subscription e.g., PagerDuty. Default is
false
raw_message_delivery:
Boolean indicating whether or not to enable raw message delivery (the original message is directly passed, not wrapped in JSON with the original message in the message property).
Default is false
map(object({
protocol = string
endpoint = string
endpoint_auto_confirms = bool
raw_message_delivery = bool
}))
{}no
tagsAdditional tags (e.g. {'BusinessUnit': 'XYZ'}).
Neither the tag keys nor the tag values will be modified by this module.
map(string){}no
tenantID element _(Rarely used, not included by default)_. A customer identifier, indicating who this instance of a resource is forstringnullno

Outputs

NameDescription
guardduty_detectorGuardDuty detector
sns_topicSNS topic
sns_topic_subscriptionsSNS topic subscriptions

Check out these related projects.

  • terraform-null-label - Terraform module designed to generate consistent names and tags for resources. Use terraform-null-label to implement a strict naming convention.
  • terraform-aws-security-hub - Terraform module to deploy AWS Security Hub
  • terraform-aws-config - Terraform module to enable AWS Config and optionally sets up an SNS topic to receive notifications of its findings.

References

For additional context, refer to some of these links.

✨ Contributing

This project is under active development, and we encourage contributions from our community.

Many thanks to our outstanding contributors:

For πŸ› bug reports & feature requests, please use the issue tracker.

In general, PRs are welcome. We follow the typical "fork-and-pull" Git workflow.

  1. Review our Code of Conduct and Contributor Guidelines.
  2. Fork the repo on GitHub
  3. Clone the project to your own machine
  4. Commit changes to your own branch
  5. Push your work back up to your fork
  6. Submit a Pull Request so that we can review your changes

NOTE: Be sure to merge the latest changes from "upstream" before making a pull request!

Running Terraform Tests

We use Atmos to streamline how Terraform tests are run. It centralizes configuration and wraps common test workflows with easy-to-use commands.

All tests are located in the test/ folder.

Under the hood, tests are powered by Terratest together with our internal Test Helpers library, providing robust infrastructure validation.

Setup dependencies:

To run tests:

  • Run all tests:
    atmos test run
    
  • Clean up test artifacts:
    atmos test clean
    
  • Explore additional test options:
    atmos test --help
    

The configuration for test commands is centrally managed. To review what's being imported, see the atmos.yaml file.

Learn more about our automated testing in our documentation or implementing custom commands with atmos.

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License

License

Preamble to the Apache License, Version 2.0

Complete license is available in the LICENSE file.

Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one
or more contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file
distributed with this work for additional information
regarding copyright ownership.  The ASF licenses this file
to you under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the
"License"); you may not use this file except in compliance
with the License.  You may obtain a copy of the License at

  https://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0

Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing,
software distributed under the License is distributed on an
"AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY
KIND, either express or implied.  See the License for the
specific language governing permissions and limitations
under the License.

Trademarks

All other trademarks referenced herein are the property of their respective owners.

Copyrights

Copyright Β© 2020-2026 Cloud Posse, LLC

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