RMF Control AU-12: Audit Record Generation requires organizations to generate audit records for auditable events. Audit records are records of events that occur on information systems. They can be used to track user activity, detect suspicious activity, and investigate security incidents.
Supplemental Guidance
The Risk Management Framework (RMF) is a cybersecurity framework that provides a process for managing cybersecurity risk to systems and organizations. RMF Control AU-12: Audit Record Generation is one of the controls in the AU family, which addresses audit and accountability.
Audit records are important for a number of reasons. First, they can help organizations to track user activity and detect suspicious activity. This information can be used to investigate security incidents and prevent future attacks. Second, audit records can be used to comply with regulations that require organizations to audit their systems.
Benefits of Implementing RMF Control AU-12
There are a number of benefits to implementing RMF Control AU-12, including:
- Improved security posture: By generating audit records, organizations can improve their security posture by tracking user activity and detecting suspicious activity.
- Reduced risk of security incidents: Audit records can help organizations to reduce the risk of security incidents by providing evidence of suspicious activity.
- Improved compliance: Many regulations require organizations to generate audit records. By implementing RMF Control AU-12, organizations can improve their compliance with these regulations.
How to Implement RMF Control AU-12
To implement RMF Control AU-12, organizations should:
- Identify the auditable events that need to be logged.
- Configure information systems to generate audit records for the identified auditable events.
- Collect and store the audit records in a secure manner.
- Regularly review the audit records for suspicious activity.
Examples of Auditable Events
Some examples of auditable events include:
- User logins and logouts
- File access and modifications
- System configuration changes
- Network traffic
- Security alerts
Conclusion
RMF Control AU-12: Audit Record Generation is an important control that can help organizations to improve their security posture, reduce the risk of security incidents, and improve compliance. By implementing RMF Control AU-12, organizations can generate audit records for auditable events and use this information to track user activity, detect suspicious activity, and investigate security incidents.
Additional Tips for Implementing RMF Control AU-12
- Involve stakeholders in the audit record generation process: Organizations should involve stakeholders, such as IT staff, security staff, and business owners, in the audit record generation process. This will help to ensure that the audit record generation process is aligned with the organization’s business needs and security requirements.
- Use a risk-based approach to audit record generation: Organizations should use a risk-based approach to audit record generation to ensure that the most critical events are logged.
- Regularly review and update the audit record generation process: Organizations should regularly review and update the audit record generation process to ensure that it is effective and up-to-date.
By following these tips, organizations can effectively implement RMF Control AU-12 and improve their security posture.
Here are some additional tips for audit record generation:
- Centralize audit record collection and storage: Centralizing audit record collection and storage can make it easier to manage and analyze audit records.
- Use a standardized audit record format: Using a standardized audit record format can make it easier to correlate audit records from different systems and to develop tools to analyze audit records.
- Regularly back up audit records: Audit records should be regularly backed up to prevent data loss.