​The journey to a thousand IT problems begins with a single compliance lapse. Yes, this is the first time you are hearing it! So, tell us how often you’ve walked straight into trouble because you underestimated the importance of compliance? A joke about compliance violations refers to them as rust spots that cannot be removed with all the steel wool from the neighborhood. It sounds quite true, though a tad exaggerated.

As an admin dealing with log management, you’d be navigating a labyrinth trying to make sense of the data deluge. Let us look at some of the usual and frequent types of ​issues that log management tackles.

• An account manager might want to track down some missing files.

• An employee working on shifts may claim that an unauthorized logon attempt occurred from her computer after she logged out for the day.

• A movie buff downloads high definition movies in the office by installing Torrent, violating the corporate policy.

• Some users inadvertently uninstall critical software such as agents that the IT team deploys on remote machines.

According to ​CYSEC (an IT ​security and risk content publisher), 86 percent of breaches are detected and reported by a third party before an organization actually discovers that a breach has occurred. Sometimes, the breach remains undetected for months. Implementing just any log management software is not enough. It would neither ensure a secure network nor will it ward off disasters waiting to happen. On the other hand, when your log management helps your company become GPG13-compliant, you can be sure of reducing breaches drastically and even tackling them because of timely notifications. Moreover, the compliance is also recommended by the Government of the United Kingdom and is relevant globally.

GPG13 provides a framework that specifies 12 ​protective monitoring controls (PMCs), helping organizations meet regulatory requirements and achieve audit compliance. You’ll achieve the compliance when you deploy solutions that have the PMCs woven into their event and log management design. The basic premise on which the PMC strategy operates is an automated event and log manageme​nt system. ManageEngine’s EventLog Analyzer is a log management system that enables admins to​ parse logs and discern trails that could be potential security issues. This helps organizations deliver GPG13-compliant log management. With over 1,000 reports, Eventlog Analyzer  provides  granular insight that  improves an organization’s risk profile. Uncontrolled installs or uninstalls of software, deliberate or inadvertent deleting of critical files, and failed logon attempts can easily be dealt with and potential threats intelligently averted.

Here are a couple of GPG13-related scenarios where you’ll see how EventLog Analyzer enables proactive, GPG13-compliant event and log management. 

– When a user tries to log on during non-logon hours, EventLog Analyzer asks the user to state the reason for logging on outside the time window.

– Let’s consider a situation where the director of IT wants to track user authorization and so adds a registry key to enable terminal server auditing. In the meantime, another user with an elevated access privilege modifies the key value in the terminal server’s registry settings, terminating logging, which in turn stops the event logging for terminal ​service. In such cases, when the issue is escalated to the admin, EventLog Analyzer enables the admin ​to see the changes effected by the users and​ is able to intervene in time. 

It’s possible to look at several issues, both intentional and inadvertent, and discuss how GPG13 compliance enables protective monitoring. So, get EventLog Analyzer, go GPG13-complaint, and rest assured that you’ll never need to begin that dreaded proverbial journey or wipe out those rust spots!

Feel free to email us at eventlog–​support@manageengine.com and tell us the problems you  resolve by using the logs and what compliance report you are trying to generate. We will be happy to walk you through the process and help implement successful GPG13 compliance in your organization.