Can't the audit logs be deleted from Google Cloud Platform Stackdriver logs?

Question

I tried deleting GCP logs using the command

$ gcloud logging logs delete [AUDIT_LOG_NAME]

Received a message saying "Permissions Denied: Audit logs cannot be deleted"

Even if I am the owner of the Project, and deleting the audit logs from my project, doesn't GCP allow the deletion of the audit logs?

I could delete other logs, (eg: syslogs), does the event related to the deleting of the logs are logged in the Stackdriver logs? if so what is the methodName using which I can filter the event

thank you

Answer 1

No you can't delete audit logs. The idea behind it is that you're being protected from someone gaining access to your project, making modifications, and then deleting the history of their changes.

The Docs describe the retention period of audit logs . But basically it's 400 days, unless you have data access audit logs enabled.