When systems and applications are being used or performing some type of action they can be setup to log these events to a log file. The data in the log files can help in tracking security related incidents and troubleshooting system crashes and errors.
Not all systems and applications are designed to record their events in the same location. This can make monitoring event logs on all the systems a challenging task. A more efficient way to monitor the event logs on all the systems is by using an event log monitoring software. The event log monitoring software will pull in all the log files to a central server. Having all the log files in one central location makes it much easier to manage and review. For security reasons some organizations choose to store log files in an offsite datacenter. This provides for extra security and recovery of data in the event of a disaster.
If your organization has a large amount of devices, collecting the log files from them all will consume a considerable amount of disk space. When implementing an event log monitoring system you have to plan out your resources. You need to make sure the server has enough disk space, processing power and memory to handle all the data. The log management software should provide recommendations on hardware requirements.
One way to help reduce the amount of disk space needed is to use filters. Most all event log monitoring software allows for the configuration of filters. Filters allow you to exclude or include defined events. Once you establish a baseline of your event data you can start excluding events that are not needed. Filtering can also be used to flag important events. For example, you might want to be notified when a user enters in a wrong password. The flagged incident could be marked as high priority to ensure an administrator takes notice of the event.
Alerting is another feature to having an event log monitoring system. Alerting monitors for certain events and when found sends a notification either by email or text message. Alerting is critical for being notified of security breaches to the systems.
Troubleshooting system events and staying on top of security events can be an overwhelming task. An Event log monitoring system will help automate the process of collecting, analyzing and monitoring event log data. This is a much more efficient method then manually reviewing log files from each system. Implementation of an event log monitoring system will need to be planned. Organizational needs and system requirements need to be considered in the planning process.
