TK
Organisational Systems Security
Audit Logs
Explain
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Audit logs are another security measure which can be used in order to keep the network, systems and data safe from unauthorised access. An Audit Log is a set of records which are used to document and use as evidence of activities which occur at certain times, events and days. It is used on IT systems to record events which happen. It tracks all users on the network. It will record events such as when users logged on, which files were interacted with, what was modified and what key strokes were used. This is used so that it can monitor employees to see if they are accessing the right files, and are not accessing documents which they are not authorised to. It will always keep a good record of what time employees access a file, and what they actually accessed. These logs can also help when an error occurs because it can show what happened at each time, and who was logged in at that time. It will then help with fixing the error and avoiding it next time.
Example
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Vodafone would use audit logs to document and record the activities of employees when editing files such as customer databases. For example, many different employees will in time add a new record to the customer database to register new customers; therefore they are modifying the database. Audit logs will keep a record of the modification of the databases to show who has been accessing it, and what for. This is to see if they are being manipulated in anyway which they are not supposed to be, or if someone is using it for the right purpose. Audit logs can be used to see if the permissions being granted are being used in the correct manner. For example, if a Vodafone employee was viewing a customer’s record for bank details without the customer phoning in or visiting a store, then they would be abusing their permissions and could be stripped of those permissions.
