How log management can protect your systems
Every PC and server you use will keep an audit of its activity, which gives you valuable insight into the behaviours of its users.
Log management is an essential tool in the battle against cyber-crime. It might not be as glamorous as anti-malware software, or the use of honeypots, but it can be the single most important way of preventing a potential hack. It is effectively the gathering of information from your systems. Every PC and server you use will keep an audit of its activity, which gives you valuable insight into the behaviours of its users. You can track exactly who logged in at any given time, and where exactly they were accessing. It is surprising how many bigger organisations are either oblivious to log management or simply disregard their importance. The quantity of data that is wasted by these companies is staggering.
What is more interesting though is that many of these firms will have a requirement to gather the information their logs impart as part of their compliance. This means that they have the data already acquired but fail to use it to their advantage. This is a terrible waste.
As well as alerting to potential breaches in security, log management can also highlight where power supply issues have arisen from, or why a particular system is performing badly. The data gathered can be turned into detailed reports for senior managers to assess which, in turn, can lead to an organisation targeting the issues that are causing the problems and dealing with them directly at the source.
