Log Management
Log management is a process which is used to handle the generated logs of operating systems, software applications and networks. After this process the log files are used for analysis and audit.
What is Log?
Log is a file that is produced automatically every single time when activity/events occur in a system. These files are generally time-stamped, and record practically everything that is happening behind in operating systems or software applications for future if suspicious activity happened. It also records system-server requests, network activity. Logs are of several types: some can be easily readable by human, while others are kept for auditing purposes are not human-readable. Event logs, error logs, transaction logs, message logs are just some examples of log files and each file serving a different purpose. Their extensions are usually .log, .txt.
These log files are beneficial for Developers, Security Auditors, System Analysts and System Admin to get insights and identify the root cause of issues with application and infrastructure.
Elements of Log Management
1. Collection: Organizations need to collect logs over encrypted channels. Their log management solution should ideally come equipped with multiple means to gather logs, but it should recommend the foremost reliable means of doing so. In general, they should use agent-based collection whenever possible.
2. Storage: Once an organization has collected their logs, now they need to preserve, compress, encrypt, store, and archive their logs. Organizations can look for additional functionality in their log management procedure such as the ability to specify where they can store their logs geographically.
3. Search: Organizations got to confirm they will find their particular log file easily once they’ve stored them, in order that they should index their records in such how that they’re discoverable. A comprehensive log management process should enable companies to optimize each log search with filters and classification tags. It should also allow them to look at raw logs.
4. Correlation: Organizations got to create rules that they will use to detect interesting events and perform automated actions. Of course, most events don’t occur on one host during a single log. For that reason, companies should search for a log management solution that lets them create correlation rules consistent with the unique threats and requirements their environments face. They ought to also hunt down a tool that permits them to import other data sources like vulnerability scans and asset inventories.
5. Output: Finally, organizations got to be distributing log information to different users and groups using dashboards, reports and email. Their log management solution should facilitate that exchange of data with other systems and thus the safety team.
Why do we need Log Management?
There are multiple advantages of log management, and here is some important one:
1. Unified Storage: One of the most advantages of log management lies in Unified Storage. Having all logs in one place makes any analysis much simpler, but truth advantage of unified storage is enhancing system security. Since this often sector where the time between when a threat occurs and once action is take can make all the differences, storing important log information together accelerates the entire process. Centralized logging also means standardized log data, which also saves time when trying to find information across logs from different sources.
2. System Monitoring and Alerts: Log Management tools provide customizable real-time alerts that enable you to react as soon as a haul occurs, which is vital in cases of security breach and intrusion. This suggests shifting your SIEM from reactive to proactive and leveling up your threat-hunting abilities. Monitoring settings are often adjusted to trace a custom selection of events, which is beneficial for security and troubleshooting. You’ll change these filters to urge notified only about high priority events so you don’t get bombarded with notifications, emails, and/or text messages. This is often another advantage of log management monitoring — there are several channels for messaging you’ll choose between to form sure you don’t miss any important events.
3. Improved security: It helps to 24/7 real-time system monitoring and alerts, your environment are going to be better secured against hacker attacks. By carefully choosing which events to log, you’ll stiffen security even more as an example , the windows security log is amongst hackers’ favorite attack targets because they struggle to hide their tracks and conceal their presence by altering this log. By logging and monitoring login and logout events within the windows security log, you’ll detect any suspicious behavior before it’s too late.
4. Better Troubleshooting: Log management gives you better control of your environment and the processes that happen on your machines and peripherals. One among the foremost common uses of event logs for detecting problems is for network troubleshooting. Real-time alerts significantly reduce the time needed to detect and address a drag, but the important power of log management tools lies in log analytics. An outsized amount of knowledge stored in logs is subject to personalized search and analysis, which makes it easier to recreate the timeline of problematic events, discover connections with other events, and pinpoint the source of the difficulty.
5. Log File Parsing: Parsing is the process of dividing data into smaller pieces of data for easier storage and manipulation. Since every log file consists of varied pieces of knowledge, the goal of log file parsing is to acknowledge similar structures and permit for grouping the knowledge by those structures as an example, identifying all timestamps within a log file and gathering logs from a particular time-frame, or tracking one user’s activity only.
6. Data analytics: With the increase of knowledge science, companies are beginning to understand that the info they store may contain valuable information. Data analytics encompasses several processes like cleansing and reworking data with the goal to make a knowledge model which will predict certain behavior, help make business decisions, or provide new information. For instance, analyzing customer logs of a business could predict certain behavior, helps to form business decisions (deciding to focus on a special sort of audience within the next marketing campaign)
Tools for Log Management
3. Datadog
4. Splunk
5. ManageEngine EventLog Analyzer
6. LogDNA
7. Fluentd
8. Logalyze
9. Graylog
10. Netwrix Auditor
Can log files be dangerous?
Yes, log files are dangerous too and their weak security is a plus point for hackers because it stores complete information of event, activity, network and server that helps to lead unauthorized access to online and offline passwords, leaks users complete data and exposes the information of running services.