Log file management is a fundamental step for the companies working with firewalls and intrusion detection system, which often makes a good business sense. Every organization needs secure IT and company budget usually gets the awareness of that need.

Log file availability

The important events and transactions for all the servers, firewalls and other IT equipment will be stored in log files that can provide an important clue about a hostile activity that affects the inside and outside the network. Configuration problems and hardware failure can also be identified by troubleshooting the information available in the log data.

Logs contain a record of all transactions including exceptions unless they are turned off. Prompt analysis of the complete volume of log data makes difficult, if not impossible.

Log manager tools

Log manager tools are used by the IT personnel as the volume of log files are huge. These tools read, interpret and respond to information contained in the equipment log files. The real-time information about network users, equipment status, and miscellaneous threats can be accessed from these tools.

Some organizations require centralized log management that uses a server to collect log data from various devices and records the information to a database for future reference. Workstation logs can also be accessed from these log managers to reveal about employee activity. This prevents the attempt of unauthorized access and alerts managers by contributing to the IT security

Log analysis benefits

Automating the reading of logs and responding to the information is the major job of Log analysis software. Security managers use this tool to become aware of security events that affect the organization.

The tools available for log analysis perform the remediation of threats that include deleting user accounts, blocking IP addresses, disabling USB storage capabilities and shutting down of machines. To do this administrators must define rules to check how servers respond to various threats.

Improving the security performance with the ability to automate the detection and remediation of threats saves on labor. Thanks to the automation, a single IT staffer with the help of log analysis can monitor logs from dozens of machines, without withdrawing from their routine duties.

Going deeper

A Guide to Computer Security Log Management published by the Institute of Standards and Technology gives organizations specific guidelines for creating a systematic log management policy. Organizations should have the infrastructure to recognize threats, as new challenges to IT systems continue to emerge, they should have a proper plan in place to deal with those threats. Log files play a fundamental part in the ongoing security effort regardless of the nature of present and future security effort.