An Audit Trail (or Audit Log) is a detailed, chronological record of events, actions, and system activities created by IT systems, applications, or network devices. These logs capture a comprehensive history of user interactions, administrative actions, and system changes, making them essential for monitoring, verifying, and investigating activities within an organization’s environment.
Audit trails play a crucial role in incident response, fraud detection, and maintaining system integrity by providing an auditable record that helps organizations identify malicious activities and ensure proper governance. They are essential for:
- Ensuring accountability, offering transparency by tracking who performed each action, when, and where.
- Enhancing security, helping detect unauthorized access, system anomalies, and potential data breaches.
- Supporting compliance with regulations like HIPAA, GDPR, and PCI DSS, which require proper logging of activities for data protection.
- Facilitating forensic investigations, preserving a clear and reliable record of system events for post-incident analysis.