Practicing sensible log management
The success of any kind of forensic investigation hinges on the preparation. As we have seen, logs are the mother lode of information and without them, network forensics would be seriously crippled. Criminals also realize this. Once a perpetrator has gained access to our network, one of the first things they try to do is cover the tracks. The first step in this process is getting rid of the logs that document their activity in first attempting and then succeeding in breaching the security of the network. To counter this risk, sensible log management processes have to be in place.
In every organization, there are a multitude of operating systems, a variety of security software, and a large number of applications; each of which generate logs. All this makes log management very complicated. Some of the problems associated with log management are as shown in the following:
Multiple log sources: Logs can be generated on multiple hosts throughout the organization...
