Free Log Management Policy Builder

1. Purpose

This policy establishes requirements for logging, monitoring, and analyzing system activity across the organization's information systems. The goal is to ensure comprehensive audit trails, enable security incident detection, support forensic investigations, and meet SOC 2 compliance requirements for logging and monitoring controls.

2. Scope

Applies to all information systems, applications, network devices, databases, cloud services, and infrastructure components that process, store, or transmit organization data. Covers production and non-production environments. Includes systems managed by the organization and critical third-party services.

3. Roles and Responsibilities

• Chief Security Officer (CSO) – owns this policy, ensures logging infrastructure is adequate for security monitoring
• Security Operations Center (SOC) – monitors logs, analyzes security events, investigates alerts, responds to incidents
• Security Engineers – configure logging on systems, implement log aggregation, maintain monitoring tools
• System Administrators – ensure systems are configured to generate and forward logs per requirements
• Compliance Team – validates log retention meets regulatory requirements, collects log evidence for audits
• All Employees – understand that system activity is logged and monitored for security purposes

4. Core Principles

• Comprehensive logging – log all security-relevant events across all critical systems
• Centralized aggregation – collect logs in central log management system for analysis
• Real-time monitoring – actively monitor logs for security threats and availability issues
• Secure storage – protect log integrity and prevent unauthorized access or tampering
• Timely analysis – analyze security alerts and investigate incidents promptly

5. Audit Logging Requirements

All critical information systems must generate and forward audit logs. The following events must be logged:

Authentication and Access Events

• Successful and failed login attempts (user ID, timestamp, source IP)
• Multi-factor authentication (MFA) events and failures
• Password changes and resets
• Privilege escalation (elevation to admin/root access)
• Account creation, modification, and deletion
• Session establishment and termination
• Invalid logical access attempts and account lockouts

Authorization and Permission Events

• Access control changes (ACLs, security groups, IAM policies)
• Role and permission assignments
• Access to sensitive data (databases, file systems, API keys)
• Authorization failures and access denials

System and Configuration Changes

• System configuration changes
• Application configuration changes
• Network configuration changes (firewalls, routers, load balancers)
• Installation or removal of software packages
• Database schema changes
• Infrastructure-as-code deployments

Security Events

• Firewall allow/deny events
• Intrusion detection system (IDS) alerts
• Malware detection and quarantine events
• Security scanning results
• Vulnerability detection alerts
• Data loss prevention (DLP) events
• Cryptographic key usage and changes

System Operations

• System startup and shutdown
• Service start, stop, and restart events
• Critical errors and system crashes
• Resource exhaustion events (disk full, memory exceeded)
• Backup and restore operations
• Scheduled job execution and failures

Audit Trail Management

• Audit log initialization and startup
• Audit log stopping or pausing
• Audit log deletion or rotation
• Changes to logging configuration
• Log forwarding failures

Data Operations

• Database queries accessing sensitive data
• Data exports and downloads
• Data deletion and modification (for restricted data)
• API calls to access customer data
• File access, creation, modification, deletion (sensitive files)

6. Log Data Requirements

All audit log entries must include the following data elements where applicable:

• Timestamp: Date and time of event in UTC with millisecond precision
• User Identity: Username, user ID, or service account performing action
• Source: Source IP address, hostname, or device identifier
• Event Type: Category of event (authentication, access, change, error, etc.)
• Event Description: Detailed description of the activity performed
• Object/Resource: System, application, file, or data object affected
• Result: Success or failure status of the action
• Session ID: Session or transaction identifier for correlation
• Additional Context: Request parameters, error codes, or other relevant details

7. Log Aggregation and Centralization

Log Management System

Organization uses a centralized log management system for collecting, storing, and analyzing logs:

• Log Aggregation Tool: Splunk, Datadog, Elastic Stack (ELK), Sumo Logic, or equivalent
• Log Forwarding: All critical systems configured to forward logs to central system
• Collection Methods: Syslog, log agents, CloudWatch, CloudTrail, API integrations
• Transport Security: Logs encrypted in transit using TLS 1.2 or higher
• Reliability: Log forwarding failures trigger alerts to SOC team

Cloud Infrastructure Logging

For cloud-based infrastructure (AWS, Azure, GCP), the following logs are enabled and forwarded:

• AWS: CloudTrail (API calls, IAM activity), VPC Flow Logs (network traffic), AWS Config (configuration changes), GuardDuty (threat detection), CloudWatch Logs (application logs)
• Azure: Activity Log (resource operations), Azure AD Sign-in Logs, Network Security Group flow logs, Azure Monitor Logs
• GCP: Cloud Audit Logs (Admin/Data Access/System Events), VPC Flow Logs, Cloud Logging

8. Security Monitoring and Alerting

Security Monitoring Alert Criteria

The Security Operations Center (SOC) monitors logs for the following security events:

• Authentication Anomalies: Multiple failed login attempts, impossible travel, login from suspicious location
• Privilege Escalation: Unauthorized elevation to admin/root, role assumption from untrusted source
• Access Violations: Access to sensitive data by unauthorized users, after-hours access to critical systems
• Configuration Changes: Unauthorized changes to security configurations, firewall rule modifications
• Malicious Activity: Malware detection, command and control traffic, data exfiltration indicators
• System Anomalies: Unexpected service shutdowns, log deletion attempts, audit trail tampering
• Threat Intelligence: Traffic to/from known malicious IPs, domains, or file hashes

Alert Response SLAs

• Critical Alerts: Acknowledge within 15 minutes, investigate within 1 hour (e.g., data breach indicators, active intrusion)
• High Alerts: Acknowledge within 1 hour, investigate within 4 hours (e.g., privilege escalation, malware detection)
• Medium Alerts: Acknowledge within 4 hours, investigate within 24 hours (e.g., suspicious activity, policy violations)
• Low Alerts: Acknowledge within 24 hours, investigate within 5 business days (e.g., informational events)

Alert Escalation

• Critical alerts immediately escalate to on-call security engineer and Incident Commander
• High alerts escalate to security team lead if not acknowledged within SLA
• All confirmed security incidents escalate to Incident Management process

9. Availability Monitoring

Availability Monitoring Alert Criteria

Critical systems are monitored for availability and performance issues:

• Service Availability: HTTP health checks, API endpoint monitoring, application uptime
• Infrastructure Health: Server uptime, CPU utilization, memory usage, disk space
• Database Performance: Query performance, connection pool exhaustion, replication lag
• Network Connectivity: Network latency, packet loss, bandwidth utilization
• Dependency Services: Third-party API availability, external service health

Availability Alert Thresholds

• Service Down: HTTP 5xx errors exceed 5% of requests, health check failures for 2 consecutive minutes
• Performance Degradation: Response time exceeds 2 seconds for 5 consecutive minutes
• Resource Exhaustion: CPU >90% for 10 minutes, Memory >95% for 5 minutes, Disk >90% used
• Database Issues: Query time >5 seconds, connection errors, deadlocks detected

Availability Response SLAs

• P1 - Service Down: Page on-call engineer immediately, resolve within 1 hour
• P2 - Degraded: Notify engineering team, resolve within 4 hours
• P3 - Warning: Create ticket, resolve within 24 hours

10. Log Retention and Storage

Retention Requirements

• Production System Logs: Retained for minimum 1 year in hot storage (searchable), 7 years in cold storage (archived)
• Security Event Logs: Retained for minimum 2 years in hot storage, 7 years in cold storage
• Authentication Logs: Retained for 1 year in hot storage, 7 years in cold storage
• Database Audit Logs: Retained for 1 year in hot storage, 7 years in cold storage
• Network Logs: Retained for 90 days in hot storage, 1 year in cold storage
• Application Logs: Retained for 90 days in hot storage, 1 year in cold storage

Log Storage Requirements

• Logs stored in tamper-evident storage with write-once protection or cryptographic integrity checks
• Log storage encrypted at rest using AES-256 or equivalent encryption
• Access to log data restricted to authorized personnel (SOC, security team, compliance team, auditors)
• Log queries and access to historical logs are themselves logged (audit trail of audit trail)
• Automated backup of log data to separate storage location for disaster recovery

11. Log Access Controls

Authorized Personnel

Access to log management system and historical logs is restricted to:

• Security Operations Team: Full read access to all logs for monitoring and investigation
• Security Engineers: Read/write access for log configuration and system maintenance
• Compliance Team: Read access to logs for audit evidence collection
• Incident Response Team: Read access during active incident investigation
• System Administrators: Read access to logs for their specific systems (application logs, not security logs)
• External Auditors: Temporary read-only access for audit period with documented approval

Access Controls

• Access to log management system requires multi-factor authentication (MFA)
• Role-based access control (RBAC) enforces least-privilege access to logs
• Privileged access to log system (admin, configuration changes) requires separate privileged account
• Access to logs containing customer personal information requires additional authorization
• All access to log management system is logged and monitored

12. Log Analysis and Investigation

Security Event Analysis

Security Operations Center (SOC) performs the following log analysis activities:

• Real-time Monitoring: 24/7 monitoring of security alerts from log management system
• Alert Triage: Investigate and classify flagged events as true positive, false positive, or benign
• Threat Hunting: Proactive search through logs for indicators of compromise (IOCs)
• Correlation Analysis: Correlate events across multiple systems to identify attack patterns
• Baseline Establishment: Establish normal behavior baselines and identify anomalies
• Weekly Review: Review security event trends, alert volume, and monitoring effectiveness

Incident Investigation

During security incident investigation, logs are used to:

• Establish timeline of attacker activity from initial access to detection
• Identify compromised accounts, systems, and data
• Determine scope and impact of the security incident
• Collect forensic evidence for root cause analysis
• Support legal proceedings or law enforcement investigations
• Validate effectiveness of containment and eradication actions

13. Log Integrity and Protection

• Tamper Protection: Log management system prevents modification or deletion of historical logs
• Integrity Monitoring: Cryptographic hashing or digital signatures validate log integrity
• Separation of Duties: Individuals who can modify systems cannot delete or alter their own logs
• Time Synchronization: All systems synchronized to authoritative time source (NTP) for accurate timestamps
• Audit Trail of Logs: Access to logs, log exports, and log deletions are themselves logged
• Backup and Recovery: Log data backed up daily and tested quarterly for recoverability

14. Alerting and Notification

Alert Channels

Security and availability alerts are delivered through the following channels:

• Incident Management System: Alerts create tickets in PagerDuty, Opsgenie, or ServiceNow
• On-Call Notification: Critical alerts page on-call security engineer via phone/SMS
• Slack/Teams: Alerts posted to #security-alerts channel for team visibility
• Email: Daily alert summary sent to security team distribution list
• Dashboard: Real-time security dashboard displays current alerts and metrics

Alert Management

• All alerts tracked in incident management system from creation to resolution
• Alert false positives documented and alert rules tuned to reduce noise
• Alert effectiveness reviewed monthly (mean time to detect, mean time to respond, false positive rate)
• Alert rules updated based on new threats, vulnerabilities, and security advisories

15. Monitoring Tool Maintenance

Log Management System Maintenance

• Log management system updated with latest patches and security fixes
• Log collection agents updated on all systems quarterly
• Log parsing rules and field extractions reviewed and updated as needed
• Storage capacity monitored and scaled to accommodate log growth
• Log ingestion performance monitored (ingestion rate, indexing lag)

Monitoring Rules and Detection Logic

• Security monitoring rules reviewed quarterly and updated with new threat detection patterns
• Availability monitoring thresholds reviewed annually and adjusted based on service levels
• New systems added to monitoring within 24 hours of production deployment
• Decommissioned systems removed from monitoring to reduce alert noise

16. Compliance and Audit Support

Audit Evidence Collection

Log data is used to provide audit evidence for SOC 2 and other compliance frameworks:

• Logs demonstrating access control enforcement (authentication, authorization)
• Logs showing configuration changes were approved and documented
• Logs proving incident detection and response capabilities
• Logs validating system availability and performance monitoring
• Logs supporting vulnerability remediation and patch management
• Logs verifying data backup and restoration testing

Auditor Access to Logs

• Auditors granted temporary read-only access to log management system with CSO approval
• Compliance team exports log evidence for auditor review
• Log retention meets regulatory requirements (GDPR, SOX, HIPAA, PCI DSS)
• Log access by auditors is logged and reviewed by compliance team

17. Training and Awareness

• All employees informed during onboarding that system activity is logged and monitored
• Security Operations team receives specialized training on log analysis and SIEM tools
• Incident Response Team trained on using logs for forensic investigation
• System Administrators trained on logging requirements and log forwarding configuration
• Annual security awareness training includes privacy expectations and acceptable use

18. Privacy and Legal Considerations

• Log collection and monitoring complies with employee privacy laws and regulations
• Employees notified via acceptable use policy that system activity is monitored
• Customer personal information in logs is protected per data protection policy
• Logs containing personal information subject to data retention and deletion requirements
• Log data may be disclosed to law enforcement with proper legal process
• Employees have no expectation of privacy on company-owned systems

19. Exceptions

Exceptions to this policy require Chief Security Officer approval with documented business justification, risk assessment, and compensating controls.

20. Enforcement

Failure to comply with logging requirements or attempts to disable, modify, or delete audit logs may result in disciplinary action up to and including termination.

21. References

• SOC 2 – Systems Monitoring and Logging Controls
• NIST SP 800-92 – Guide to Computer Security Log Management
• NIST SP 800-137 – Information Security Continuous Monitoring
• CIS Controls v8 – Log Management and Monitoring
• [Your Company] Incident Management Policy
• [Your Company] Information Security Policy
• [Your Company] Data Retention Policy

22. Revision History

Date	Version	Author	Description
[Date]	1.0	Chief Security Officer	Initial release