Have You Started Event Logging Yet?

One may say, “Great. Another task to add to my IT ‘to do’ list – and just what the heck is event logging?” Well… it should come as no surprise that it’s about logging events. Cybercriminals never take a break from trying to steal your data, you (or your IT services provider) cannot afford to take a break from protecting it.

Keeping up with the latest in cybersecurity is increasingly important. Cybercriminals aren’t slowing down – they are picking up speed at an alarming rate. As we all face a growing wave of cyberattacks, we need innovative tools and strategies to protect ourselves. How do we stay ahead of these threats? One crucial security component is event logging. Have you ever heard of this? Many business owners haven’t.

Like having a digital detective tracking activities and events across your IT systems, event logging helps you spot potential security breaches and respond swiftly. As your Managed IT Services provider, ITFIRM.COM is committed to helping you navigate the ever-evolving threat matrix. We can help you understand the importance of event logging as well as how to put in place policies, procedures, and best practices to safeguard your network.

Why is event logging important?

The first step is clearly establishing what it is: Event logging is the act of tracking all events that happen within your IT systems. An ‘Event’ can be many different things, but most importantly are these five:
1: Login attempts

2: Authentication attempts (successes/failures)

3: Changes in network traffic

4: New software installs

5: New system changes

Event logging will track all these (and more) and add a time stamp, providing a thorough picture of what is going on – and when - in your network. Through having that ongoing picture, you can detect and respond to threats promptly.

What is the purpose of event logs?

You cannot adequately protect your system unless you know what’s happening in it. Event logging will perform these tasks:
Detects suspicious activity by monitoring user behavior and system events.

Enables a quick response to incidents by providing a clear record of what happened in a breach.

Maintains compliance with regulations that require businesses to keep accurate records of system activities.

Secure your event logs 

Once you establish and follow best practices, your event logging should at its most effective but take steps to protect the logs. Here are some standard guidelines to follow. These are helpful if you're just starting out as well as for those improving existing event-logging processes.

Categorize and prioritize actionable events

There’s no need to track every digital footstep, because much of it is mundane. Logging every single action on your network can create a mountain of data that's hard to sift through. Focus on the events that truly matter and prioritize them. These are the events that can reveal security breaches and compliance risks.

Centralize your event logs 

Imagine that you’re putting together a picture puzzle in your den, but the pieces are scattered all over the house. That makes it quite a chore, and it’s what happens when you try to work with several logs for different devices and systems. Centralizing your logs is a gamechanger. A Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) gathers logs in one place. This includes those from various devices, servers, and applications, which makes it easier to perform these tasks:

Pattern identification: Spotting patterns helps to connect the dots between suspicious activities across different systems.

Quick response: Have all the evidence you need at your fingertips. This is helpful when an incident strikes.

See the big picture: Seeing your network as a whole makes it easier to identify vulnerabilities and anomalies.

‘Tamper-Proof’ the logs

Hackers can cover their tracks by deleting or altering logs, so it’s important to protect your event logs and render them tamper-proof.

Here are some tips:

Encrypt: Encryption makes the logs unreadable to unauthorized eyes.

WORM (Write Once, Read Many) storage: Once a log is written, it's locked in place, preventing changes or deletions.

Initiate strong access controls: Allow only trusted personnel to access, see and change, your logs.

Having tamper-proof logs gives you an accurate record of events even if a breach does occur. They also keep the bad guys from seeing all your system activity tracking.

Adopt Log Retention Policies

There should be Policies & Procedures (P&P) for just about everything. These should include how long you should retain certain logs and what allows log deletion. Keeping some forever isn't practical (or always necessary). But deleting them too soon can be risky, too. That's why you need clear log retention policies.

Here are a few guidelines:

Compliances: Some industries have specific rules about how long to keep logs. Follow them precisely.

Your business needs: How long do you need logs to investigate incidents or for auditing?

Consider storage capacity: Make sure your log retention policy doesn't overwhelm your storage.

You should make sure that you have the data you need without sacrificing performance, so strike the right balance with retention policies.

Ongoing Log Checking

Do NOT wait until something goes wrong, because event logging is only as good as your ability to use it. Do NOT just ‘set and forget’ your logs - you should check them regularly. This helps you spot anomalies and identify suspicious patterns. It also helps you respond to threats before they cause serious damage. Use security software to help automate this process.

Tips for effective log checking:

Automate your alerts: Set it up so you are notified immediately of critical events like failed logins or unauthorized access.

Periodically review logs: Evaluate your logs regularly. Look for patterns that might show a threat.

Correlation of events: Use your SIEM to connect the dots between different activities. It can reveal more complex attacks.