Collect Zendesk CRM logs

Supported in:

Google secops SIEM

This document explains how to ingest Zendesk Customer Relationship Management (CRM) logs to Google Security Operations using Amazon S3.

Before you begin

Make sure you have the following prerequisites:

A Google SecOps instance.
Privileged access to Zendesk.
Privileged access to AWS (S3, Identity and Access Management (IAM), Lambda, EventBridge).

Get Zendesk prerequisites

Confirm plan & role
1. You must be a Zendesk Admin to create API tokens / OAuth clients. The Audit Logs API is available only on Enterprise plan. (If your account isn't Enterprise, skip audit_logs in RESOURCES.)
Turn on API token access (one-time)
1. In the Admin Center, go to Apps and integrations > APIs > API configuration.
2. Enable Allow API token access.
Generate an API token (for Basic auth)
1. Go to Apps and integrations > APIs > API tokens.
2. Click Add API token > (optionally) add Description > Save.
3. Copy and save the API token now (you won't be able to view it again).
4. Save the admin email that will authenticate with this token.
  - Basic-auth format used by the Lambda: email_address/token:api_token
(Optional) Create an OAuth client (for Bearer auth instead of API token)
1. Go to Apps and integrations > APIs > OAuth clients > Add OAuth client.
2. Fill in the Name, Unique Identifier (auto), Redirect URLs (can be placeholder if you only mint tokens with API), and Save.
3. Create an access token for the integration and grant the minimum scopes required by this guide:
  - tickets:read (for Incremental Tickets)
  - auditlogs:read (for Audit Logs; Enterprise only)
  - If unsure, read also works for read-only access.
4. Copy the access token (paste into ZENDESK_BEARER_TOKEN) and record the client ID/secret securely (for future token refresh flows).
Record your Zendesk base URL
- Use https://<your_subdomain>.zendesk.com (paste into ZENDESK_BASE_URL env var).
What to copy & save for later
- Base URL (for example, https://acme.zendesk.com)
- Email Address of the administrator user (for API token auth)
- API Token (if using AUTH_MODE=token)
- or OAuth access token (if using AUTH_MODE=bearer)
- (Optional): OAuth client id/secret for lifecycle management

Configure AWS S3 bucket and IAM for Google SecOps

Create Amazon S3 bucket following this user guide: Creating a bucket
Save bucket Name and Region for future reference (for example, zendesk-crm-logs).
Create a User following this user guide: Creating an IAM user.
Select the created User.
Select the Security credentials tab.
Click Create Access Key in section Access Keys.
Select Third-party service as Use case.
Click Next.
Optional: Add a description tag.
Click Create access key.
Click Download .CSV file to save the Access Key and Secret Access Key for future reference.
Click Done.
Select Permissions tab.
Click Add permissions in section Permissions policies.
Select Add permissions.
Select Attach policies directly.
Search for AmazonS3FullAccess policy.
Select the policy.
Click Next.
Click Add permissions.

Configure the IAM policy and role for S3 uploads

In the AWS console, go to IAM > Policies.
Click Create policy > JSON tab.
Copy and paste the following policy.

Policy JSON (replace zendesk-crm-logs if you entered a different bucket name):

{
  "Version": "2012-10-17",
  "Statement": [
    {
      "Sid": "AllowPutObjects",
      "Effect": "Allow",
      "Action": "s3:PutObject",
      "Resource": "arn:aws:s3:::zendesk-crm-logs/*"
    },
    {
      "Sid": "AllowGetStateObject",
      "Effect": "Allow",
      "Action": "s3:GetObject",
      "Resource": "arn:aws:s3:::zendesk-crm-logs/zendesk/crm/state.json"
    }
  ]
}

Click Next > Create policy.
Go to IAM > Roles > Create role > AWS service > Lambda.
Attach the newly created policy.
Name the role ZendeskCRMToS3Role and click Create role.

Create the Lambda function

In the AWS Console, go to Lambda > Functions > Create function.
Click Author from scratch.
Provide the following configuration details:

Setting Value

Name zendesk_crm_to_s3

Runtime Python 3.13

Architecture x86_64

Execution role ZendeskCRMToS3Role

Setting	Value
Name	`zendesk_crm_to_s3`
Runtime	Python 3.13
Architecture	x86_64
Execution role	`ZendeskCRMToS3Role`

After the function is created, open the Code tab, delete the stub and paste the following code (zendesk_crm_to_s3.py).

#!/usr/bin/env python3

import os, json, time, base64
from urllib.request import Request, urlopen
from urllib.error import HTTPError, URLError
import boto3

S3_BUCKET    = os.environ["S3_BUCKET"]
S3_PREFIX    = os.environ.get("S3_PREFIX", "zendesk/crm/")
STATE_KEY    = os.environ.get("STATE_KEY", "zendesk/crm/state.json")
BASE_URL     = os.environ["ZENDESK_BASE_URL"].rstrip("/")  # e.g. https://your_subdomain.zendesk.com
AUTH_MODE    = os.environ.get("AUTH_MODE", "token").lower()  # token|bearer
EMAIL        = os.environ.get("ZENDESK_EMAIL", "")
API_TOKEN    = os.environ.get("ZENDESK_API_TOKEN", "")
BEARER       = os.environ.get("ZENDESK_BEARER_TOKEN", "")
RESOURCES    = [r.strip() for r in os.environ.get("RESOURCES", "audit_logs,incremental_tickets").split(",") if r.strip()]
MAX_PAGES    = int(os.environ.get("MAX_PAGES", "20"))
LOOKBACK     = int(os.environ.get("LOOKBACK_SECONDS", "3600"))  # 1h default
HTTP_TIMEOUT = int(os.environ.get("HTTP_TIMEOUT", "60"))
HTTP_RETRIES = int(os.environ.get("HTTP_RETRIES", "3"))

s3 = boto3.client("s3")

def _headers() -> dict:
    if AUTH_MODE == "bearer" and BEARER:
        return {"Authorization": f"Bearer {BEARER}", "Accept": "application/json"}
    if AUTH_MODE == "token" and EMAIL and API_TOKEN:
        token = base64.b64encode(f"{EMAIL}/token:{API_TOKEN}".encode()).decode()
        return {"Authorization": f"Basic {token}", "Accept": "application/json"}
    raise RuntimeError("Invalid auth settings: provide token (EMAIL + API_TOKEN) or BEARER")

def _get_state() -> dict:
    try:
        obj = s3.get_object(Bucket=S3_BUCKET, Key=STATE_KEY)
        b = obj["Body"].read()
        return json.loads(b) if b else {"audit_logs": {}, "incremental_tickets": {}}
    except Exception:
        return {"audit_logs": {}, "incremental_tickets": {}}

def _put_state(st: dict) -> None:
    s3.put_object(
        Bucket=S3_BUCKET, Key=STATE_KEY,
        Body=json.dumps(st, separators=(",", ":")).encode("utf-8"),
        ContentType="application/json",
    )

def _http_get_json(url: str) -> dict:
    attempt = 0
    while True:
        try:
            req = Request(url, method="GET")
            for k, v in _headers().items():
                req.add_header(k, v)
            with urlopen(req, timeout=HTTP_TIMEOUT) as r:
                return json.loads(r.read().decode("utf-8"))
        except HTTPError as e:
            if e.code in (429, 500, 502, 503, 504) and attempt < HTTP_RETRIES:
                ra = 1 + attempt
                try:
                    ra = int(e.headers.get("Retry-After", ra))
                except Exception:
                    pass
                time.sleep(max(1, ra))
                attempt += 1
                continue
            raise
        except URLError:
            if attempt < HTTP_RETRIES:
                time.sleep(1 + attempt)
                attempt += 1
                continue
            raise

def _put_page(payload: dict, resource: str) -> str:
    ts = time.gmtime()
    key = f"{S3_PREFIX}/{time.strftime('%Y/%m/%d/%H%M%S', ts)}-zendesk-{resource}.json"
    s3.put_object(
        Bucket=S3_BUCKET, Key=key,
        Body=json.dumps(payload, separators=(",", ":")).encode("utf-8"),
        ContentType="application/json",
    )
    return key

def fetch_audit_logs(state: dict):
    """GET /api/v2/audit_logs.json with pagination via `next_page` (Zendesk)."""
    next_url = state.get("next_url") or f"{BASE_URL}/api/v2/audit_logs.json?page=1"
    pages = 0
    written = 0
    last_next = None
    while pages < MAX_PAGES and next_url:
        data = _http_get_json(next_url)
        _put_page(data, "audit_logs")
        written += len(data.get("audit_logs", []))
        last_next = data.get("next_page")
        next_url = last_next
        pages += 1
    return {"resource": "audit_logs", "pages": pages, "written": written, "next_url": last_next}

def fetch_incremental_tickets(state: dict):
    """Cursor-based incremental export: /api/v2/incremental/tickets/cursor.json (pagination via `links.next`)."""
    next_link = state.get("next")
    if not next_link:
        start = int(time.time()) - LOOKBACK
        next_link = f"{BASE_URL}/api/v2/incremental/tickets/cursor.json?start_time={start}"
    pages = 0
    written = 0
    last_next = None
    while pages < MAX_PAGES and next_link:
        data = _http_get_json(next_link)
        _put_page(data, "incremental_tickets")
        written += len(data.get("tickets", []))
        links = data.get("links") or {}
        next_link = links.get("next")
        last_next = next_link
        pages += 1
    return {"resource": "incremental_tickets", "pages": pages, "written": written, "next": last_next}

def lambda_handler(event=None, context=None):
    state = _get_state()
    summary = []

    if "audit_logs" in RESOURCES:
        res = fetch_audit_logs(state.get("audit_logs", {}))
        state["audit_logs"] = {"next_url": res.get("next_url")}
        summary.append(res)

    if "incremental_tickets" in RESOURCES:
        res = fetch_incremental_tickets(state.get("incremental_tickets", {}))
        state["incremental_tickets"] = {"next": res.get("next")}
        summary.append(res)

    _put_state(state)
    return {"ok": True, "summary": summary}

if __name__ == "__main__":
    print(lambda_handler())

Go to Configuration > Environment variables.
Click Edit > Add new environment variable.

Enter the environment variables provided in the following table, replacing the example values with your values.

Environment variables

Key	Example value
`S3_BUCKET`	`zendesk-crm-logs`
`S3_PREFIX`	`zendesk/crm/`
`STATE_KEY`	`zendesk/crm/state.json`
`ZENDESK_BASE_URL`	`https://your_subdomain.zendesk.com`
`AUTH_MODE`	`token`
`ZENDESK_EMAIL`	`analyst@example.com`
`ZENDESK_API_TOKEN`	`<api_token>`
`ZENDESK_BEARER_TOKEN`	`<leave empty unless using OAuth bearer>`
`RESOURCES`	`audit_logs,incremental_tickets`
`MAX_PAGES`	`20`
`LOOKBACK_SECONDS`	`3600`
`HTTP_TIMEOUT`	`60`

After the function is created, stay on its page (or open Lambda > Functions > your-function).
Select the Configuration tab.
In the General configuration panel, click Edit.
Change Timeout to 5 minutes (300 seconds) and click Save.

Note: Timeout is a hard upper limit, meaning if the function is still running when the timer hits 5 minutes, AWS Lambda will terminate it. Any shorter execution just finishes normally; you're billed only for the actual run time.

Create an EventBridge schedule

Go to Amazon EventBridge > Scheduler > Create schedule.
Provide the following configuration details:
- Recurring schedule: Rate (1 hour).
- Target: Your Lambda function zendesk_crm_to_s3.
- Name: zendesk_crm_to_s3-1h.
Click Create schedule.

(Optional) Create read-only IAM user & keys for Google SecOps

Go to AWS Console > IAM > Users > Add users.
Click Add users.
Provide the following configuration details:
- User: Enter secops-reader.
- Access type: Select Access key – Programmatic access.
Click Create user.
Attach minimal read policy (custom): Users > secops-reader > Permissions > Add permissions > Attach policies directly > Create policy.

JSON:

{
  "Version": "2012-10-17",
  "Statement": [
    {
      "Effect": "Allow",
      "Action": ["s3:GetObject"],
      "Resource": "arn:aws:s3:::zendesk-crm-logs/*"
    },
    {
      "Effect": "Allow",
      "Action": ["s3:ListBucket"],
      "Resource": "arn:aws:s3:::zendesk-crm-logs"
    }
  ]
}

Name = secops-reader-policy.
Click Create policy > search/select > Next > Add permissions.
Create access key for secops-reader: Security credentials > Access keys.
Click Create access key.
Download the .CSV. (You'll paste these values into the feed).

Configure a feed in Google SecOps to ingest Zendesk CRM logs

Go to SIEM Settings > Feeds.
Click + Add New Feed.
In the Feed name field, enter a name for the feed (for example, Zendesk CRM logs).
Select Amazon S3 V2 as the Source type.
Select Zendesk CRM as the Log type.
Click Next.
Specify values for the following input parameters:
- S3 URI: s3://zendesk-crm-logs/zendesk/crm/
- Source deletion options: Select deletion option according to your preference.
- Maximum File Age: Include files modified in the last number of days. Default is 180 days.
- Access Key ID: User access key with access to the S3 bucket.
- Secret Access Key: User secret key with access to the S3 bucket.
- Asset namespace: The asset namespace.
- Ingestion labels: The label applied to the events from this feed.
Click Next.
Review your new feed configuration in the Finalize screen, and then click Submit.

Need more help? Get answers from Community members and Google SecOps professionals.