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Is your company following its own rules? Are your company’s processes fit for purpose? Is your business set up to reach its potential? Answering these questions is critical to growth, which is why internal and external auditing processes are so important.
The audit trail is a crucial aspect of any in-house or independent auditor that inspects your processes. In this guide, we discuss what they are and how they contribute to compliance and security as part of a robust records management program.
To begin, an audit trail is a sequence of recorded events surrounding a particular application, operating system, or user action.
According to the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), they define it as:
“A set of records that collectively provide documentary evidence of processing used to aid in tracing from original transactions forward to related records and reports, and/or backwards from records and reports to their component source transactions.”
Otherwise known as audit logs, these document particular events to help reduce fraud, errors, and unauthorized use.
Responsible auditing empowers companies to enhance internal controls and improve data integrity and security. This is why they’re described in laws like the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX).
Auditing can be done internally or externally. It may involve hiring a professional firm that follows the International Standards for the Professional Practice of Internal Auditing or cross-training employees to audit different departments.
Companies will typically invest in both to check the accountability, traceability, and integrity of data as it moves through them. Let’s detail three common types of trails:
Part of any set of audit logs is determining whether it’s robust enough. No single element determines whether your current governance processes are fit for purpose. Instead, multiple components combine to guarantee accountability and transparency.
Here’s a rundown of the key elements and the questions they answer:
These are the basics, but metadata provides the utility your organization needs to refine its records management processes. In a nutshell, metadata is additional information associated with a particular entry. It’s there to provide context. Examples of metadata can include:
Metadata offers the context auditors need to understand more about the events from which the data comes. Without well-organized metadata, it can be tough to pinpoint exactly what’s going on within your company.
Data makes a juicy target for malicious actors because it’s one of a company’s most valuable assets. Believe it or not, only 70% of large companies internally audit cyber incidents – and this is a serious threat to data integrity and security.
Audit trails are pivotal to supporting compliance actions with a range of regulations, including GDPR, CCPA, and industry-specific regulations like HIPAA and SOX. They support everything from effective access controls to proper risk management.
For example, thorough auditing can detect unauthorized device use, system changes, and data migration. Without audit logs, you’re flying blind, acting reactively rather than proactively.
Implementing audit trails is the first step to ensuring a high standard of governance within your records management program. But how do you go from thinking about audit logs to implementing them effectively?
In the past, a man with a clipboard may have managed audit trails. However, today, companies rely on specialized tools to automate the entire process while providing human oversight.
But what are the key features to look for in audit trail technologies? Generally, you should expect, as a minimum:
Audit trails are a central part of secure records management. They remain crucial for every business and industry, but the challenges include where to start and what’s needed to create a well-suited auditing system.
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