Security Audit Log Software for Applications and Servers
Automatically monitor application security audit logs to detect issues
Prevent privilege abuse and streamline account control
Use application security audits to defend against threats
Server log monitoring offers crucial information, such as user logon activity, running services, open ports, and file transfer activity. SEM server security audit tools are designed to help improve situational awareness by auditing application server logs and correlating security events. With historical information and known indicators of compromise, admins can set automated responses for threat mitigation from a centralized control dashboard.
Admins can leverage built-in templates to create custom alerts to help detect and stop web application attacks. These real-time threat detection features are designed to automatically detach USB devices, disable users, delete users from security groups, and shut down suspicious devices before it’s too late.
Support compliance with SIEM audit capabilities
Meeting SIEM audit standards doesn’t have to feel overwhelming. SolarWinds SEM lets users generate application and server security reports that can help demonstrate compliance with PCI DSS, GLBA, SOX, NERC CIP, HIPAA, and other compliance standards.
Audit standards can be simple to maintain and easy to report with SolarWinds SEM, which provides automatic data processing and analysis. Admins can also automatically schedule and send compliance reports to internal and external stakeholders. SolarWinds SEM is built to provide easy-to-digest security audit reports with data visualization features and critical alerts when unusual data is found in your audit trail.
What is a security audit log?
A security audit log consists of records that include security-relevant procedures and actions occurring across network components. This can be a key process in detecting security threats and suspicious user activity. The system data log records events such as user logins, data modifications, and the history of access permissions settings. It may also record errors and anomalies that could signal malicious activity.
Admins need to document data log history for the purpose of security audits, which help ensure there is no unusual activity or unwanted interference with sensitive data within the system. In addition, security audit logs can be the main line of defense against insider threats—someone using privileged credentials with malicious intent.
For companies that require data log reporting for industry standards, it can be crucial to have a strong security data log system with the ability to maintain security logs, sometimes for up to six years. A security audit log is also a critical tool for admins working to detect potential security risks and protect both network function and data integrity.
How does an application security audit work?
An application security audit, such as a Windows security audit on a SQL application server, compiles an in-depth history of access and modification data for applications on the server. The process for security audits is centered on the data log, which collects input from applications and stores input data in an auditable document. As data is collected into the application logs, log monitoring software like SolarWinds Security Event Manager is able to analyze application logs and provide alerts in real time to help ensure that malicious activity is caught before it causes problems, not after.
Application security audits can manage security data across many machines and users simultaneously. Many companies require security audits to comply with regulations like HIPAA, GLBA, and SOX, and application security audits can help prove that no data breach or unauthorized access has occurred.
Why are security audit logs important?
Security audit logs help to protect your server against threats based on a thorough analysis of system access data. Data logs are critical for companies to maintain a holistic understanding of their security operations, as they gather and serve up data from across all manner of network components, including applications, servers, firewalls, and user access activity.
Security audit logs allow for a different kind of protection than anti-malware tools because they analyze logs for a wide variety of threats and anomalies, and can also provide ways to identify and respond to potential risks. Security audit logs not only provide a detailed historical insight into privileged activity, they are a useful way to truly detect—and trace the origin of—the threats that could do the most damage.
A security audit log is not nearly as effective at blocking threats without a monitoring tool. Security audit logs provide a historical trail of user activity, but it must be coupled with a log monitoring tool to actually prevent activity threats in real time.
What do application log monitoring tools do?
Application log monitoring tools provide a means for centralized application log management. These tools are capable of monitoring all manner of activity across applications and software, including malware, misconfigurations, and suspicious user activity. The application log monitoring tool can then transform and leverage this data to provide visualized analytics like charts and graphs, automated alerts, and automated responses.
While malware tools may offer the capability of blocking outsider threats, a comprehensive security event management system like SolarWinds SEM is built to detect security breaches and help ensure that existing threats are caught in real time, no matter where they occur on your network.
SIEM monitoring tools can be extremely useful for enterprise security, as large networks have many users and applications generating data. In response to detected threats, application log monitoring tools can often be configured to block threats and suspicious activity based on abnormal application data trends, and they can even deliver automatic responses to these threats. Event monitoring tools can disconnect USB devices, shut down machines, log out users, and even automatically reconfigure privileged group settings. This enables the network to continue operating smoothly while it neutralizes a detected threat.
How do application security audits work in Security Event Manager?
SolarWinds SEM is built to improve security and compliance by providing an easy-to-use and affordable SIEM tool. SEM is designed to increase the efficiency of security log monitoring by automating custom alerts and is especially effective due to its comprehensive visualization of data and compliance reporting features.
SEM works to automate log data collection required for IT security audits, monitor for threats in real time, and compile that data into security audits accepted by a wide range of industry standards to help demonstrate compliance.
Since SEM is designed to be flexible and scalable, it can be a good investment for a large network or a quickly growing one. SEM has the capacity to span multiple applications and many different units, to be a comprehensive security audit log solution.
- What is a security audit log?
- How does an application security audit work?
- Why are security audit logs important?
- What do application log monitoring tools do?
- How do application security audits work in Security Event Manager?
- Related Features and Tools
What is a security audit log?
A security audit log consists of records that include security-relevant procedures and actions occurring across network components. This can be a key process in detecting security threats and suspicious user activity. The system data log records events such as user logins, data modifications, and the history of access permissions settings. It may also record errors and anomalies that could signal malicious activity.
Admins need to document data log history for the purpose of security audits, which help ensure there is no unusual activity or unwanted interference with sensitive data within the system. In addition, security audit logs can be the main line of defense against insider threats—someone using privileged credentials with malicious intent.
For companies that require data log reporting for industry standards, it can be crucial to have a strong security data log system with the ability to maintain security logs, sometimes for up to six years. A security audit log is also a critical tool for admins working to detect potential security risks and protect both network function and data integrity.
Use security audit logs to analyze data from applications and servers
Security Event Manager
- Minimize the risk of insider threats and security breaches
- Understand your security data with visualizations and automated reports
- Support compliance for regulations like HIPAA, GLBA, PCI DSS, SOX, and NERC CIP
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