06/10/2025 | News release | Distributed by Public on 06/11/2025 09:11
The average engineer might leverage audit trails for compliance, but their benefits extend far beyond compliance. Leveraging audit trails can offer your organization more than simply adhering to legal requirements or telling you who did what and when.
But how much more? That's a question this guide will answer.
In the following sections, you'll not only learn how audit trails help pinpoint exact causes of system bugs and provide business insights into user behavior. You'll also learn:
Audit trails function by systematically logging and tracking changes within a system. When an action occurs (e.g., user login, data modification), the system logs details such as who, what, when, where, why, and how. This data is typically stored in a secure, immutable location, such as a database or dedicated log files.
Data logging involves capturing these events, while change tracking focuses on recording specific modifications to data or configurations. Logs are typically time-stamped, providing a chronological record. Centralized logging systems aggregate these logs for analysis.
Some systems, such as New Relic log management, go beyond simple aggregation. It integrates with its broader observability platform to contextually analyze all telemetry data, including logs, to provide a holistic view of system behavior.
Audit trails establish a foundation of trust and accountability for the organization, developers and engineers, and even end users. Since these trails meticulously record data changes and user actions, they build a verifiable history that helps evidence due diligence.
For security, audit trails enable proactive threat detection, forensic analysis, and non-repudiation-all crucial for mitigating risks. For compliance, these trails demonstrate regulation adherence by providing immutable records of system operations, ensuring data integrity and transparency.
Audit trails can be categorized based on the type of activity they track and the systems they monitor. Here are some common types and contexts they may be used in:
Want to ensure you create a reliable, actionable record of system activity? Start with the following audit logging best practices.
1. Choose the right logging tool.
The right logging tool will not only create an added layer of security, but also improve scalability and contribute to overall system health. Look for centralized logging, structured output like JSON, and robust filtering and searching. Other essential features that ensure both usability and security include real-time alerting, role-based access control, and immutable storage.
CTA: Take your audit data tracking to the next level with automation, full-stack visibility, and contextualized insights. Get started with New Relic today.
2. Configure logs for compliance and security.
Log everything relevant: who, what, when, where, why, and how. Mask sensitive data, maintain accurate timestamps, and ensure log integrity with digital signatures. Align configurations with relevant industry regulations such as HIPAA for healthcare or PCI CSS for payment card data, or with data privacy laws such as GDPR.
3. Store and manage logs efficiently.
Implement log rotation and compression to minimize space. Employ secure, encrypted storage with strict access controls. Define clear retention policies based on compliance and business needs, and regularly back up logs to prevent data loss; this will ensure both efficiency and data safety.
4. Analyze and respond to log insights with AI/ML assistance.
Analyzing logs should yield actionable insights, so real-time monitoring and correlation analysis are essential. Use artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) for anomaly detection, which will help identify unusual patterns that may indicate potential threats. Develop incident response plans based on log insights, and conduct root cause analysis to prevent future issues.
Effectively managing audit trails is important for maintaining accountability, improving data integrity, and preventing fraud, among other reasons. Consider these audit trail best practices:
Audit trails are essential but can sometimes be an engineering headache. Here are a few challenges of managing audit trails you may face during implementation and maintenance:
The benefits of an audit trail system are numerous, but here are a few of the most compelling ones:
Audit trails are vital for your business to ensure a secure system environment, meet compliance and regulation requirements, and maintain operational efficiency.
New Relic's instant observability platform perfectly complements audit trails by offering real-time monitoring and analysis of system performance and security with comprehensive visibility. Monitor everything in your stack-in one location-so you can proactively detect issues, rapidly respond to incidents, and maintain compliant systems. See New Relic's observability platform in action with this on-demand demo.