Checklist for Secure Logging in CI/CD Pipelines

Secure logging in CI/CD pipelines is critical for detecting threats, ensuring compliance, and responding to incidents. Without it, attackers can exploit vulnerabilities undetected, as seen in high-profile breaches like SolarWinds and Codecov. Here’s a quick breakdown of best practices:

• Centralised Log Collection: Aggregate logs for easier analysis and monitoring.
• Tamper-Proof Storage: Protect logs from alteration with write-once storage and cryptographic hashing.
• Access Controls: Use Role-Based Access Control (RBAC) and Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) to limit access.
• Kubernetes-Specific Logging: Track key events like RBAC changes, authentication attempts, and container lifecycle activities.
• Automated Monitoring: Set up real-time alerts and actionable notifications to detect anomalies.
• Compliance Integration: Align logging practices with regulations like GDPR, PCI-DSS, and SOC 2.
• Incident Investigation: Use detailed logs to trace security breaches and improve defences.

Trust in Octopus: Securing your CI/CD pipeline

Secure Logging Controls Checklist

Proper logging controls are crucial for safeguarding your CI/CD pipeline's log data. By following these practices, you can ensure your logging system captures data thoroughly while remaining secure from tampering.

Centralised Log Collection

Centralising logs is a must, especially in microservices environments where logs are scattered across numerous services and containers [2]. Without a unified system, tracking and correlating events across your pipeline becomes a daunting task.

To make centralised logging effective, focus on these four elements: log collection and transport, log storage, log analysis, and alerting [3]. Use protocols like TCP or RELP instead of UDP to maintain log integrity. Standardise log formats (e.g. JSON), normalise the data, and tag logs clearly for easier identification. Establish monitoring baselines to quickly spot anomalies. This setup is essential for maintaining visibility, particularly in dynamic containerised systems.

Tamper-Proof Log Storage

Access Controls and Audit Trails

With 80% of organisations reporting CI/CD breaches [5], securing log data with strict access controls is non-negotiable.

Use Role-Based Access Control (RBAC) to restrict user permissions to only what’s necessary. Adding Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) further protects against unauthorised access, even if credentials are compromised.

Maintain detailed audit trails to track all access and changes. Automate regular permission reviews to quickly update or revoke access when roles shift. Set up real-time alerts to detect and respond to suspicious activity in your CI/CD environment without delay.

Container Environment Logging Practices

Platforms like Kubernetes require tailored logging strategies to address the unique challenges of dynamic, containerised environments. The numbers speak volumes: the National Vulnerability Database reported nearly 40,000 Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVEs) in 2024 - a sharp 39% rise compared to 2023 [6]. This highlights the pressing need to secure logs across your containerised CI/CD pipeline. Below, we’ll explore essential practices for safeguarding these logs.

Security Events to Log

Kubernetes audit logs are a treasure trove of information, recording every API request - who made it, when, and how. These logs are indispensable for spotting breaches, enforcing security policies, and ensuring compliance [7]. Key events to monitor include:

• Changes to RBAC policies: A single misstep, like altering a role binding, could unintentionally grant cluster-admin privileges.
• Authentication attempts: Keep an eye out for failed logins or suspicious access patterns.
• Container lifecycle events: Track container creation, deletion, and updates.
• Privilege escalation attempts: Flag any efforts to escalate user privileges.

To make the most of Kubernetes audit logs, set appropriate verbosity levels. For sensitive operations, use high verbosity (like RequestResponse), while routine events can be logged at lower levels. Fine-tuning your audit policy to focus on critical events helps reduce overhead [7]. These practices form a solid foundation for securing your CI/CD pipeline.

Native Logging Solution Integration

Both Docker and Kubernetes come equipped with built-in tools to streamline logging within your CI/CD pipeline. By default, Docker uses the json-file logging driver to manage container logs [8]. Here’s a quick overview of commonly used Docker logging drivers:

To configure Docker, update the daemon.json file with the log-driver option. If disk space is a concern, consider using the local driver, which features built-in log rotation [8].

For Kubernetes, enabling audit logging involves adjusting the API server's flags and defining a suitable audit policy. Tools like kubectl, Fluentd, and Elasticsearch can be used for log analysis. Adding --audit-log-* flags to the kubelet startup ensures comprehensive log collection [9]. Once integrated, these systems can be monitored automatically to detect irregularities swiftly.

Automated Monitoring and Alerts

In dynamic container environments, automated, real-time alerts are your first line of defence [11]. To avoid overwhelming your team with unnecessary notifications, ensure alerts are actionable and tied to specific symptoms. Automating service discovery is also crucial, as it allows monitoring systems to adapt to the ever-changing container landscape [13].

Real-time monitoring tools like the ELK Stack, Prometheus, and Grafana can help you visualise data and spot anomalies. Machine learning can further refine alerting systems, making it easier to identify potential security issues [13]. Configure alert mechanisms to notify administrators immediately in case of security incidents or policy violations [12][14]. Aggregating logs with Fluentd or Filebeat and routing them to tools like Elasticsearch or Splunk ensures consistent visibility across your containerised CI/CD pipeline [7].

Compliance and Incident Response

Secure logging isn't just a technical necessity - it's also about staying on the right side of the law and being prepared to act swiftly when something goes wrong. With the average cost of a data breach soaring to £4.45 million [18], ensuring your logging practices meet compliance standards is more important than ever.

Compliance Logging Requirements

CI/CD pipelines must adhere to regulatory frameworks such as GDPR, PCI-DSS, SOC 2, NIST 800-53, and CIS Benchmarks [15][16]. The challenge? Translating these often-complex requirements into practical, actionable controls within containerised environments.

Automated log scanning is a game-changer for managing compliance. Instead of manually sifting through countless log entries, you can deploy machine-readable security policies to validate compliance in real time [4]. This approach not only saves time but also ensures consistency.

However, there’s a lurking risk: 35% of enterprises rely on self-hosted runners with weak security measures, leaving them vulnerable to lateral movement attacks [4]. To mitigate this, maintaining detailed audit trails is essential for accountability and transparency [18].

Once compliance measures are in place, secure logging lays the groundwork for effective incident investigation, ensuring your team can respond quickly and decisively when needed.

Incident Investigation and Analysis

When incidents occur, comprehensive logs become your go-to resource for understanding and addressing the problem. Detailed logging creates an audit trail that helps trace unauthorised actions back to their origin [18].

Security logging is a critical part of modern cybersecurity, providing the foundation for detecting, analyzing, and responding to potential threats. – David Bunting, Director of Demand Generation, ChaosSearch [18]

To respond effectively, it’s crucial to capture logs across all application layers. This multi-layered approach provides visibility into containers, orchestration platforms, applications, and infrastructure, enabling faster event correlation [17].

Real-time monitoring combined with aggregated log analysis allows for swift detection and thorough post-incident reviews [17][18]. Security teams can use this data to perform advanced queries on historical logs, uncovering attack patterns and identifying potential indicators of compromise.

Collaboration between security and developer teams is another critical factor, though it’s often easier said than done. A staggering 76% of security professionals report difficulties in fostering collaboration between these groups [1]. Shared logging data can bridge this gap, enabling both teams to better understand incidents and work together to prevent future issues.

Centralised log management systems further streamline the process by consolidating logs from across the CI/CD pipeline into a single platform [18]. Using structured log formats like JSON simplifies things even more, allowing automated extraction of key details such as timestamps, user IDs, and resource names. This not only speeds up triage but also reduces the time it takes to detect and contain threats.

Quick Reference Checklist

Here's a handy checklist to help you implement secure logging controls and protect your CI/CD pipeline effectively.

Secure Logging Checklist Table

The table below highlights key secure logging practices for your CI/CD pipeline. Each entry provides practical guidance for implementation and outlines its role in meeting compliance requirements. Once these controls are in place, evaluate logging tools to ensure they align with your security and regulatory needs.

The external auditors for our organisation have found the audit log very helpful. They can find dates when a control has been modified and the effective date for that control and have all the parties work off the same process narrative. – David Harrison, Chief Audit Executive, Origin Bank [20]

Logging Tools Comparison

Selecting the right logging tools can significantly enhance your security and compliance efforts. After implementing the checklist, use the table below to compare popular logging solutions based on security features, scalability, compliance support, and container integration.

Your choice of tool should align with your specific requirements and environment. For example, ELK Stack offers a comprehensive suite of features, making it a strong option for organisations aiming for immediate compliance readiness. Splunk is ideal for enterprise environments where advanced threat detection is a priority, though it may come with higher licensing costs. Fluentd provides flexibility with a lightweight design, while Grafana Loki is a cost-effective option for teams already using Prometheus and Grafana.

When assessing tools, keep your team's expertise and the total cost of ownership in mind. Set up alerts for unusual activity and act on them promptly [21]. Map logs to specific threat scenarios to gauge their value [20], and ensure the solution you choose integrates seamlessly with your existing security setup.

Conclusion

Secure logging, as outlined in the checklist, is essential for businesses, influencing compliance, security, and operational efficiency. Organisations that establish strong logging practices are better equipped to identify threats, respond to incidents, and adhere to regulatory standards.

Key Points Summary

The core of secure CI/CD logging is built on several key principles:

• Centralised log collection transforms scattered logs into actionable insights, helping security teams detect patterns and anomalies across the pipeline.
• Tamper-proof log storage ensures logs remain intact, serving as reliable evidence for compliance and investigations.
• Robust access controls combined with detailed audit trails and role-based access control (RBAC) ensure that users only have the permissions they need, while maintaining a record of all access attempts and changes [10].
• Container-native logging integration tackles the specific challenges posed by modern containerised environments, such as Kubernetes and Docker, which are increasingly adopted by organisations.
• Automated monitoring and alerts act as an early warning system, identifying suspicious activities before they develop into serious incidents [10].

Implementation Next Steps

To strengthen your CI/CD pipeline, begin by conducting a comprehensive assessment. Identify every connected system, credential, runner, and third-party tool to map out your entire attack surface [22].

Tighten RBAC by removing unnecessary permissions, regularly rotating credentials, and avoiding the practice of storing secrets in code [22]. Utilise specialised secret vaults and scanning tools to safeguard sensitive information throughout your development lifecycle.

Introduce behavioural monitoring systems that can detect policy violations and anomalies in real time [22]. Conduct regular security audits of your CI/CD pipeline and keep tools and dependencies up to date to protect against emerging threats [21].

According to Wiz's 2025 report, 35% of enterprises use self-hosted runners with inadequate security, leaving them vulnerable to lateral attacks [4]. Track key metrics such as vulnerability detection rates, mean time to remediate, policy compliance scores, security test coverage, and security-related build failures. These metrics not only highlight the effectiveness of your security measures but also pinpoint areas for improvement [4].

By following these best practices, you can create a clear path to enhancing your CI/CD security. Use the checklist as a guide, focus on the most critical controls first, and gradually expand your security measures. Remember, secure logging is not a one-time task - it’s a continuous process that must evolve alongside your organisation and the ever-changing threat landscape.

For expert guidance on implementing these practices, Hokstad Consulting offers services in DevOps transformation, cloud cost optimisation, and strategic cloud migration. Their expertise can help you integrate secure logging practices that align with your business goals while staying within budget.

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