cis-gcp-foundations-2-15

name	cis-gcp-foundations-2.15
description	Ensure 'Access Approval' is 'Enabled'
category	cis-gcp-foundations
version	4.0.0
author	cyberstrike-official
tags	["cis","gcp","logging","monitoring","access-transparency","access-approval","iam"]
cis_id	2.15
cis_benchmark	CIS Google Cloud Platform Foundation Benchmark v4.0.0
tech_stack	["gcp"]
cwe_ids	[]
chains_with	[]
prerequisites	[]
severity_boost	{}

2.15 Ensure 'Access Approval' is 'Enabled' (Automated)

Profile Applicability

• Level 2

Description

GCP Access Approval enables you to require your organizations' explicit approval whenever Google support try to access your projects. You can then select users within your organization who can approve these requests through giving them a security role in IAM. All access requests display which Google Employee requested them in an email or Pub/Sub message that you can choose to Approve. This adds an additional control and logging of who in your organization approved/denied these requests.

Rationale

Controlling access to your information is one of the foundations of information security. Google Employees do have access to your organizations' projects for support reasons. With Access Approval, organizations can then be certain that their information is accessed by only approved Google Personnel.

Impact

To use Access Approval your organization will need have enabled Access Transparency and have at one of the following support level: Enhanced or Premium. There will be subscription costs associated with these support levels, as well as increased storage costs for storing the logs. You will also not be able to turn the Access Transparency which Access Approval depends on, off yourself. To do so you will need to submit a service request to Google Cloud Support. There will also be additional overhead in managing user permissions. There may also be a potential delay in support times as Google Personnel will have to wait for their access to be approved.

Audit

From Google Cloud Console

Determine if Access Transparency is Enabled as it is a Dependency:

1. From the Google Cloud Home inside the project you wish to audit, click on the Navigation hamburger menu in the top left. Hover over the IAM & Admin Menu. Select settings in the middle of the column that opens.
2. The status should be 'Enabled' under the heading Access Transparency.

Determine if Access Approval is Enabled:

1. From the Google Cloud Home, within the project you wish to check, click on the Navigation hamburger menu in the top left. Hover over the Security Menu. Select Access Approval in the middle of the column that opens.
2. The status will be displayed here. If you see a screen saying you need to enroll in Access Approval, it is not enabled.

From Google Cloud CLI

Determine if Access Approval is Enabled:

1. From within the project you wish to audit, run the following command:

gcloud access-approval settings get