Log management policy - definition & overview

As more businesses understand the importance of logging and monitoring, crafting a logging and monitoring policy becomes top of mind. At their core, log management policies provide guidelines and procedures for:

• Collecting log data

• Organizing and storing log data

• Analyzing log data

• Reporting on log data

• Transmitting log data

• Accessing log data

All logging policies should be drafted with an organization's IT environment in mind and provide tailored instruction to all internal groups interacting with log data. Without a set policy, businesses could fail to extract actionable insights from log data and put themselves at greater risk for security breaches and operational inefficiencies. For these reasons, establishing a comprehensive log management policy is one of the most critical log management best practices.

Although every log management policy will be unique, a few standard components apply to all use cases.

Any log management policy establishes processes and other requirements to ensure that all relevant system logs are accessible and consistently monitored. This is beneficial for several reasons. For example, establishing a logging policy helps teams quickly detect nefarious security events and identify potential security risks before a breach occurs.

At a high level, a logging policy should include the following items:

Overview and policy statement

This is where you will outline the purpose of your policy and explain its place within the context of your organizational goals.

Definitions and terms

All terms referenced throughout your policy should be defined early in the document.

Scope

Here, you will establish your policy's impact and explain how to apply your guidelines. This section should also explain how your established policy will function as a development standard.

Policy

In this section, you will divulge the specifics of your logging policy and outline items your organization wishes to log. Oftentimes, businesses choose to log events like:

• Administrative actions

• Fraudulent behavior

• Invalid login attempts

• Account impersonations

• Failed login attempts

• Password changes

Audit controls and management

This segment will establish procedures that specify audit controls, software, hardware and procedural frameworks for recording and analyzing log activity in each system included throughout your tech stack.

Related standards, policies and processes

Across the world, most businesses are held to national or international standards regarding cybersecurity, data security and log management. This section lists any pre-established standards, policies or processes related to log management.

Enforcement

The enforcement segment explains how to carry out each action item of your policy. This often involves explaining various automated functions of a log management system.

Although these items may seem straightforward, it’s important to note that crafting a comprehensive log management policy takes a lot of time, effort and collaboration. Therefore, leadership, developers and other key team members must work closely with one another to craft a policy that will produce reliable outcomes.

In 2005, the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) collaborated with the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) to create the initial ISO 27001 framework. This framework provides regulations related to all aspects of information security for any organization in any country.

The policies and processes described throughout ISO 27001 set the foundation for businesses to achieve ironclad information security management.Because of its broad applicability, businesses worldwide ascribe to ISO 27001 and use its contents to inform their policies.

The ISO 27001 logging and monitoring policy (ISO 27001:2013) specifically outlines standards for log management and includes best practices for:

• Complying with information security legislation

• Preventing fraud and other incidents

• Event logging

• Protecting log information

• Developing permissions for administrators and operators

• Synchronizing clocks

Aside from the ISO 27001 policy, there are many security frameworks and regulations that influence individual log policies, including:

• Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI-DSS)

• Cyber Security Maturity Model (CMMC)

• National Institute of Standards in Technology (NIST) log management

• Service Organization Control 2 (SOC 2)

• General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)

Log management systems and other monitoring tools improve security across the software stack and are a critical component of observability. Using a log management system allows companies to consistently gather and analyze log data, which provides vital information needed to comply with established regulations, meet audit requirements and conduct forensic investigations when something is awry.

For example, Sumo Logic enables you to seamlessly demonstrate compliance with cloud-native scalability across all of your environments. Our robust security and observability solutions offer the data monitoring, analysis and reporting functionalities needed for ongoing compliance readiness for various regulatory standards, including:

• NIST 800-53/171

• CMMC

• PCI

• HIPAA

• GDPR

• FISMA

• SOX

• ISO

• COBIT

Additionally, Sumo Logic offers top-grade platform security to keep your data safe. Here is a sample of our compliance capabilities and certifications:

• FedRAMP® Moderate Authorized

• SOC 2, Type 2 attestation

• Attestation of HIPAA compliance

• PCI DSS 3.2 Service Provider Level 1 certification

• ISO 27001

If you’re interested in learning more about our compliance capabilities, watch our Compliance Made Easy video or request a demo to see Sumo Logic in action.

How should organizations prioritize different types of logs for monitoring and analysis within their log management policy?

Prioritize log sources based on the relevance of their information to security incidents, threat detection, system performance and unauthorized access. Consider regulatory requirements, potential security risks, and business needs.

How can organizations integrate their log management policy with other security measures for a holistic approach to information security?

Aligning log management practices with security frameworks such as PCI DSS helps ensure a holistic approach to information security. Organizations can enhance threat detection capabilities and streamline incident response processes by correlating log data with security events. Additionally, integrating log management with vulnerability management tools enables proactive identification and mitigation of security risks.