As cybersecurity attack vectors evolve, security logging and monitoring are becoming even more important. Effective logging and monitoring enables organizations to detect and investigate security incidents quickly. Cloud-based attackers are getting more sophisticated, and often rely on stolen credentials to escalate privileges and move laterally within corporate IT networks. Many do so undetected, which is why modern IT systems require a watchful eye on log data to detect suspicious activity and inform incident response efforts.
The OWASP Top 10 provides crucial guidelines to enhance security practices, including addressing security logging and monitoring failures. This blog post will cover some of the most common security logging and monitoring mistakes, and provide actionable recommendations to avoid them.
Insufficient logging involves recording too little data or missing critical events. When essential information is not logged, it becomes challenging to detect and investigate security incidents effectively. The primary consequence of insufficient logging is the difficulty in detecting and investigating security incidents. Without comprehensive logs, identifying the root cause of an attack or breach can be near impossible, leaving the organization vulnerable to further exploits.
For example, many systems support logging for network devices, operating systems, web servers, mail servers, and database servers. However, custom application event logging is often overlooked, disabled, or improperly configured. This type of logging provides significantly deeper insights than infrastructure logging alone. Logging for web applications (such as websites or web services) extends far beyond merely enabling web server logs (e.g., using the Extended Log File Format).
Storing logs in insecure locations or for insufficient durations compromises the integrity and availability of valuable forensic data. Poor log storage practices can lead to log tampering and the loss of essential forensic data, undermining your ability to investigate and respond to incidents. Without secure storage, attackers can alter or delete logs to cover their tracks, making it difficult to trace security incidents and assess the full extent of a breach.
What’s more, insufficient log retention periods can result in the premature deletion of logs, depriving your organization of crucial historical data needed for compliance audits and long-term security analyses and best-practices like threat hunting.
Failing to actively monitor logs or set up effective incident alerting for visibility can result in delayed detection of security breaches and attacks. Inadequate monitoring and alerting systems lead to delayed responses to security incidents. Without timely alerts, breaches can go unnoticed, allowing attackers more time to exploit vulnerabilities.
Not analyzing logs regularly or comprehensively means missing opportunities to identify patterns and prevent future incidents. Ignoring log analysis can result in missed chances to detect emerging threats and patterns, as subtle indicators of malicious activity may go unnoticed. Regular analysis helps in understanding attack trends, enabling organizations to proactively improve their security measures and defenses.
By thoroughly examining logs, you can identify recurring issues, predict potential vulnerabilities, and develop strategies to mitigate future risks. Additionally, comprehensive log analysis supports compliance with regulatory requirements and enhances overall incident response capabilities, ensuring a more robust security posture.
Logs containing sensitive information can be altered or accessed by unauthorized individuals if proper integrity and confidentiality measures are not in place. Compromised log integrity and unauthorized access to logs can lead to significant security breaches and data leaks. Ensuring log integrity and confidentiality is essential to maintaining a secure environment.
Effective security log analysis is crucial for protecting your organization. Utilizing resources like OWASP can ensure you maintain proactive security controls. In addition, tools like a security data lake (e.g., Amazon Security Lake) complemented by centralized log management solutions like ChaosSearch enable you to analyze logs at scale and at low cost. This approach allows for longer log retention periods and more comprehensive analysis.
By avoiding the common mistakes above and following best practices, organizations can significantly enhance their security logging and monitoring capabilities, ultimately leading to a stronger overall security posture.