Turning log files into a security asset

Abstract

Despite most businesses having a range of devices which create log files of user and system activity, few actually analyse the logs for information. As the internet becomes an integral part of the way we live and work, the number of logs generated and their importance has continued to increase. More homes now have broadband connections. Most businesses at least have email and many have an interactive web presence, or at the very least a static web ‘brochure’. All of the internet traffic these generate has the capacity to create useful information for marketers, and more importantly for security engineers, in the form of log entries.