Compliance is vital for any enterprise not merely to adhere to various regulatory/industry frameworks but also to mitigate the risks attached to corporate IT assets. Enterprises failing to comply not only face penalties from the regulatory bodies but also risk losing respectability and trust. However, in recent times many enterprises fail to remain fully compliant at all times which has led to many security breaches. Case in point, the recent Heartland breach highlighted the fact that staying compliant is a full-time process and just staying within the boundaries of a given regulatory framework is not sufficient to secure your network(s). Enterprises therefore need to look beyond the applicable frameworks to achieve compliance, and one important way is to analyze and manage system, application and event logs to prevent such huge incidents.
Log management for Compliance requirements is an increasingly vital process for enterprises across verticals. There are several implications to having an ineffective log management process, both tangible and intangible.
Enterprises that analyze their log data efficiently can easily recognize the value and impact on their IT and overall operations. The insight gained by log analysis and reporting can help enterprises determine their existing security implementation, cut down on costs on extensive regulatory audits and recovery measures, if any. Up to date log data analysis provides insight into the health and accessibility of network(s), system and applications.
A strong log management solution that handles voluminous and variety of logs is a necessary tool for enterprises to maintain the integrity of all data.
Let’s look at a checklist to ensure log management is applied effectively to ensure compliance.
Make Log management a daily routine and not just to satisfy compliance requirements
If log management is not done only for the sake of meeting regulatory requirements then we can cover our bases much more effectively. It will take care of any overlapping frameworks and reduce the time to meet all regulatory requirements. This will also cover any condition that is overlooked in the impression that another regulatory requirement covers it. Reports and alerts ensure that the security threat posed is brought to your attention, including those beyond the scope of regulatory compliance.
Ensure alerts are set up as per the requirements of the enterprise
Ensure all alerts are set up correctly and for the specific requirements of the enterprise and not just to meet compliance requirements. If any critical data is suspected to have been accessed by an unauthorized user it must be alerted instead of ignoring it if it doesn’t meet a specific regulatory requirement. The alert set up must be reviewed and reassessed periodically.
Review reports regularly to identify any gaps in the set up and regulatory requirements.
All reports must be checked not just for the expected data but also for any anomalies in them. Reports must be maintained also for what doesn’t meet the requirements and reviewed frequently.
Conduct periodic tests to determine the effectiveness of the set up.
The network must be tested for effectiveness and efficiency in managing and analyzing logs in order to ensure that compliance requirements are met appropriately. A robust log management solution is a vital key towards staying compliant. The test must also be highlighted and validated by the system.
Have a representative from the legal department to check if all regulatory requirements are understood and met by the IT department.
Not all regulatory requirements are easy to comprehend and hence might be misunderstood by those defining the IT compliance requirements. This is a pitfall that must be avoided hence all legal aspects must be simplified.
Have a consistent approach to managing and analyzing the logs.
Make sure there are defined set of rules on how logs must be managed and analyzed. This must be dependent on the enterprise and not on the authorized personnel. If any change in authority takes place the set of rules for log handling mustn’t be changed as this can lead to loss of log data.
Check for unauthorized programs installed by users within the network.
Most breaches are caused due to malicious code planted in the network through unauthorized programs. Users are mostly unaware of the potential threat in installing seemingly harmless programs. A log management solution can help detect such unauthorized programs and alert the administrator before any harm is done.
Give access to unauthorized users to view, edit and delete any information.
Access to the network must be strictly monitored and only given to authorized members. Data should be classified appropriately and access to them regulated and monitored. All unauthorized access must be alerted promptly by the log management solution.
Provision any Team/group access to any critical data.
No authorization must be provided on a team/group level as this is a greater exposure to risks and provide room for human error. Any changes made on one-on-one level will be lost if not communicated on team/group level.
Keep unnecessary ports open in the network.
All redundant ports must be closed in the network(s) in order to protect it from any malicious attack. Ports must be periodically reviewed to ensure only those required are accessible.
Run unused services in vital servers.
In order to keep the network(s) efficient and easy to manage all unused services must be stopped to avoid any conflict with essential services. Any redundant service poses a risk in interfering with the operation of critical resources, which will lead to failure of required processes.
This isn’t a comprehensive checklist of course but if you don’t have one, this might be a good place to start. Each enterprise needs to get started with log management with their customized set of checklists to ensure the enterprise IT network(s) is optimally secured. Merely being compliant isn’t enough; it also requires staying more vigilant and having stringent security measures in place.
ManageEngine EventLog Analyzer was selected first runner-up in the Event Log Monitoring category of the WindowSecurity.com Readers' Choice Awards.
PR for the Award:
http://www.marketwire.com/press-release/Manageengine-985914.html
http://linux.sys-con.com/node/952966
Website: http://www.eventloganalyzer.com
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Those who deal with log auditing and reporting for compliance requirements know they have a critical task to process. Watch this video to understand the various regulatory compliance requirements for log management. We talk about PCI, SOX, HIPAA and GLBA requirements and how EventLog Analyzer can help in achieving those compliance goals.
Windows 2008 servers have been around for about 10 months now and chances are they have made their way into your IT department. Many among you would be aware of the changes that have been introduced in Vista and Win2k8 servers. There has been a number of changes in the logging infrastructure, the most interesting of the lot is the renumbering of security event ids.
The event ids of Vista and 2008 servers compared to its predecessors generally follow a 'offset by 4096' rule, i.e the good old logon event represented by id 528 is now 4624(4096+528) and so on. However, this offset rule is not a universal change and there are a few gotchas that surface here and there. For example, logon failures in pre-vista systems were represented by a multitude of event ids ranging from 529 to 537(each indicating a specific reason for the failure), this has now been unified to a single event, namely 4625 and a new field 'Failure Reason' has been added to the message under the category 'Failure Information' highlighting the reason. Another example of this is the 'Audit Log Cleared' event. This event is logged with the id 517 in pre-vista machines but is now changed to 1102 with the source being 'EventLog'(this is another change that skipped mention, the 'Source' of the Security log which till now is 'Security' has been refined to a more meaningful field, the security audit events take the source 'Microsoft Windows Security Auditing', while as mentioned audit logs cleared is logged with source 'Eventlog'.)
The following KB article is a handy reference describing the various security and audit based events in Vista and 2008 servers.
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;947226
Scrolling down to the "Notes" section at the bottom of the article, you will find information about a useful command line utility 'wevtutil', which when used in the form mentioned in the article(wevtutil gp Microsoft-Windows-Security-Auditing /ge /gm:true) fetches a detailed description of every security based event id.
That just about wraps up this post, oh. . and just one more thing. We have set out a small initiative to get you, the real users of the product, tell us what you want from the product over here. The idea behind this is to listen to what improvements you want and if enough users agree, we will work on it on a priority basis. The whole thing is very much in a nebulous state with no entries yet, we encourage you to use this facility to tell us what you would like.
Until next time, ciao.
When it is a matter of network security, be pro-active. Do not wait for compliance regulation or statutory government legislation.
But, once a regulatory body of your domain formulates compliance acts, you should ensure that your network is secured and compliant with the regulatory act. This will also instill confidence in your customers that you are following standard practices to keep your network secured.
At the next level, if a national government promulgates a law to counter the computer related offenses and if you operate in that country, you have to abide by the act. Failing which you will attract penal action and punishment.
One such example is 'Computer Crime Act B.E 2550 (2007)' of Thailand government.
Enterprises with computer networks and service providers should scout for a Security Information Management (SIM) solution which fulfills the requirements of the government act.
The SIM solution application should be,
Wonder whether some such SIM solution is available? Give ManageEngine EventLog Analyzer a try.
Yes!
AdventNet ManageEngine is hosting Roadshows in countries across the European Union.
If security of your enterprise IT infrastructure is your concern, then you must visit ME Euro Roadshow 2008.
We are available in your town. Feel free to seek any information about EventLog Analyzer. Join us at the Roadshow in your country, register here
Check complete details about the Roadshow, visit the link: http://manageengine.adventnet.com/euroroadshow/
Do you need to worry? May be.
Startling revelations make you to sit up and take note. Yes, the issue is about the insider security threat to your enterprise network. You have to trust your staff, as they are part and parcel of you enterprise. After all they are the one who is running the show. The issue is very delicate to tread. A recent article published in Times of India news paper, the results a IT security survey, reveals that 33% of IT people snoop in the sensitive enterprise data and approximately 50 % of the people accessed information not releavant to their roles. Abused confidential data ranges from board meeting minutes to salary details of colleagues. The privileged users or any user who can get the privileged user credentials have the chance of snooping your enterprise data. Lack of pro-active security policy or its non-implementation like, not changing the administrative passwords at regular intervals makes thing worse. It leads to information access even by your ex-employess.
Is it a wake up call? Yes.
Hence, it is time for you to take a fresh look at the internal security. Be pro-actively secured. Devise strong security policy and ensure it is fully implemented. Analyze the risk and mitigate it. You should also ensure that there is a mechanism in place to monitor the activities of the privileged users. The monitoring should not obstruct day to day activity, should not be obviously intrusive, and above all it should be in real-time. With this monitoring you will be able to assess the threat posed by various snooping activities. Then, you can employ appropriate means to mitigate the risk. You can formulate stricter security policies, restrict administrative user prvilileges to specific people, etc.
What is the way out? EventLog Analyzer.
ManageEngine EventLog Analyzer offers a comprehensive solution for privileged user monitoring.
EventLog Analyzer application carries out real-time monitoring of the user access to various enterprise resources. On occurence of an event specified by you, an alert will be triggered and will notify by Email or other means. It provides extensive reports and trends on user activities. There is much more, Compliance Reports, Archiving and Searching logs for forensic analysis and trouble shooting, etc.
Try EventLog Analyzer today. Download from here.
The ManageEngine Booth at the Interop Las Vegas 2008 was abuzz with activity.
You can see one of the esteemed EventLog Analyzer customer visiting the booth. They were happy with the product and the level of support (definitely AdventNet forte) offered.
Our contact person VJ Karthik flanked by EventLog Analyzer customers.
AdventNet ManageEngine EventLog Analyzer
Are you going to be there at the Interop Las Vegas 2008? EventLog Analyzer 5 will be show cased at booth number 2319. Feel free to drop in. For details about the product, contact Mr Karthik VJ. He will be there to help you.
