Log

How it is used

Also a verb: systems log events. Analysts collect, review, correlate and retain logs, and investigations often depend on whether the right logs were kept long enough. Common types are firewall logs, authentication logs and audit logs.

Example sentences

1. The authentication logs show 300 failed logins from the same IP in ten minutes.

2. We only keep firewall logs for 30 days, which is not enough for this investigation.

Common collocations

• log file
• audit log
• review the logs
• log retention
• centralised logging

Related terms

• SIEMSecurity information and event management: a platform that collects logs from many systems, correlates them and raises alerts about possible attacks.
• alertA notification from a security tool saying that something suspicious or important has happened and may need a person to look at it.
• SOCSecurity operations centre: the team, and often the room, that monitors an organisation's systems around the clock and responds to security alerts.
• digital forensicsThe collection and analysis of digital evidence, such as disk images, memory and logs, to find out what happened during an incident in a way that can stand up in court.
• auditA formal, independent review that checks whether an organisation's security controls and processes meet a standard, a law or its own policies.

This word in other fields

The same English word can have a different meaning in another field:

• log · Software Engineering
• log · Cloud Computing & DevOps

More terms: Security Operations and Monitoring

• false positive
• blue team
• endpoint
• EDR
• threat intelligence
• threat hunting