Definition
An audit log is a record of your system’s activities over a certain period. In other words, an audit log documents each event on your software systems, including the time it took place, who performed the activity, and who or what the activity impacted.
It helps to track user activity, ensure compliance with regulations, investigate data breaches, and identify suspicious activities.
Moreover, you can use an audit log to scrutinize corrupted files and potentially restore them to their original state. Finally, the data you get from an audit log can help you reduce fraudulent activities, improve your systems, and implement new security measures.
Benefits of an Audit Log
- Facilitates tracking of administrative tasks such as creating and deleting user accounts.
- Keeps a record of how and when a user modifies data.
- Determining the cause of leaks and system malfunctions and developing security measures to prevent fraud.
- Facilitates forensic investigations into the identity of culprits.
Activities Audit Logs Track
- Administrative activities: This encompasses activities such as creating a user profile or deleting their account from your CRM tool.
- Data access and modification: Involves activities where the user views, creates, or alters data, like downloading a file from payroll software.
- User denial or login failures: Audit logs like VPN or Okta logs can track users’ login activity.
- System-wide changes: The audit logs sourced from AWS Cloudtrail can identify larger events within a system or network.