Every system, application, and network device in your environment generates log data that records what happened, when, and by whom. This data holds the evidence of both legitimate activity and malicious behaviour. The difference between organisations that detect breaches quickly and those that discover them months later often comes down to how effectively they collect, store, and analyse their logs.
Log collection must be comprehensive to be useful. Gaps in coverage create blind spots that attackers exploit deliberately. Authentication logs from identity providers, access logs from web applications, network flow data from firewalls and switches, endpoint activity from workstations and servers, and cloud audit trails from each provider all contribute to the complete picture that effective detection requires.
Centralised log aggregation brings data from disparate sources into a single searchable platform. When logs remain scattered across individual systems, correlating events across the attack chain becomes impractical. An attacker who authenticates through the VPN, moves laterally through the network, and accesses a database generates log entries across multiple systems that only make sense when viewed together.
Log retention policies balance storage costs against investigative needs. Retaining logs for too short a period means that evidence of slow-moving attacks may be deleted before the breach is even detected. Industry best practice and regulatory requirements typically call for retention periods measured in months or years, with specific categories of logs retained longer based on their security relevance.
Alerting rules transform passive log data into active detection capability. Rules that trigger on known malicious patterns, anomalous behaviour, and policy violations bring potential threats to analyst attention in real time. Without alerting, log data serves only as a forensic resource after incidents are discovered through other means.
Expert Commentary
William Fieldhouse | Director of Aardwolf Security Ltd
“Organisations that cannot search their logs effectively cannot detect breaches. We consistently find that security teams have the data they need to identify compromises but lack the tools, processes, or capacity to analyse it in time. A well-designed log management strategy turns raw data into detection capability.”
Engaging the best penetration testing company for assessments that evaluate your detection capability reveals whether your log management actually catches attacks. During testing, professional assessors perform activities that should trigger alerts and generate log entries, then verify whether your security team detected and investigated them. This validation is far more valuable than reviewing logging configurations on paper.
Log integrity protection prevents attackers from covering their tracks. If compromised systems can delete or modify their own logs, an attacker who gains administrative access can erase evidence of their activities. Forwarding logs to a separate, secured collection platform in real time ensures that evidence persists even when the source system is fully compromised.
Structured logging standards make analysis more effective. When applications generate logs in consistent, parseable formats with standardised fields, correlation and searching become significantly easier. Investing in logging standards across your application portfolio reduces the manual effort required to build effective detection rules.
Regular internal network penetration testing generates the kind of malicious activity that your log management should detect. Comparing the testing team’s activity log against your detection results reveals coverage gaps, missing log sources, and alerting rules that need adjustment. This comparison provides a concrete measure of your detection effectiveness.
Log management is not a technology project with a finish line. It requires ongoing tuning, expanding coverage as the environment evolves, adjusting retention as requirements change, and refining alerting rules as new threats emerge. The organisations that invest in continuous log management improvement detect breaches faster, respond more effectively, and suffer less damage than those treating logs as an afterthought.
