Definition
An application log records a software application’s events, actions, transactions, warnings and errors. It includes information like the severity of an event, timestamps and other relevant supporting information.
This information is used for various purposes, such as performance auditing, analysis and troubleshooting. It can also help monitor and detect security threats.
Application Logs Advantages
- Provides an audit trail of the system which helps organizations to comply with application security policies and regulations.
- Helps in vulnerability analysis by providing a comprehensive list of system activities, including suspicious trends and patterns.
- The application log helps system administrators identify risks at an early stage and respond to problems quickly.
- The logs provide information about areas that need improvement and optimization within the system.
Disadvantages of Application Logs
- An organization can be penalized for failing to comply with the legal requirements related to files.
- Log files contain information that attackers can use to launch attacks on the system.
- Interpreting log files can be a challenging task for inexperienced users.
- Some complex systems can generate large volumes of log data beyond the organization’s analysis capability. In such cases, an organization may fail to identify important security events.
Examples of Application Logs
- Access, Authentication, and Authorization logs: Access logs contain data about users accessing the system, including all their requests. Authentication logs record all authentication attempts and whether they were successful. Authorization logs monitor authenticated users and record information related to their permissions in the system.
- Change logs: All the system modifications are recorded by change logs. Examples of information recorded in change logs include configuration settings changes, database updates, and source code modifications.
Application Logging Best Practices
- Practice log redundancy: Store your log files in different locations or systems to create backups in case of a security breach that tampers with the original log data.
- Set storage limits: Limit storage spaces for your log data to ensure they don’t occupy the entire disk space, leading to poor system performance and crashes.
- Keep log messages and Payload data separately: If you log payload data alongside the log messages, the log file becomes cluttered and hard to read.
- Use human-readable message formats: Use words you can remember and avoid cryptic codes to ensure they are understandable to the users reading the logs.
- Aggregate log data: Collect and summarize data from various log files to generate a comprehensive log file that provides inclusive insights into the system’s performance.