CIS Control 8 Explained: Audit Log Management

CIS Control 8 involves audit log management. This means developing a process to collect, alert, review and retain audit logs that can help during security monitoring, threat hunting and incident response.

The Importance of Control 8

Log collection and analysis are essential for enterprises to quickly identify malicious activities. Audit records often serve as the only evidence of successful attacks. Attackers know that while many organizations keep audit logs for compliance, they may not regularly analyze them. This allows attackers to hide their presence, malicious software and activities on compromised systems. As a result of insufficient or absent log analysis processes, attackers can sometimes maintain control over victim machines for months or even years without the organization’s awareness.

Implementation Groups (IGs)

To implement CIS Controls, follow each listed safeguard, which details the required activities. Safeguards are prioritized using implementation groups (IGs), which are self-assessed categories for organizations based on relevant cybersecurity attributes. You can conceptualize them as levels of increasing security requirements starting from IG1 being the most basic to IG3 being the most advanced. The higher level groups are included in the lower ones.

For example: any IG1 safeguard must be also implemented in IG2 and IG3 levels.

The Safeguards of Control 8

There are twelve safeguards in CIS Control 8. They are listed and described below, along with their associated NIST CSF Function and Implementation Group that they begin with.

Safeguard NumberSafeguard TitleNIST Security FunctionStartingImplementation Group
Safeguard 8.1Establish and Maintain an Audit Log Management ProcessGovernIG1
Safeguard 8.2Collect Audit LogsDetectIG1
Safeguard 8.3Ensure Adequate Audit Log StorageProtectIG1
Safeguard 8.4Standardize Time SynchronizationProtectIG2
Safeguard 8.5Collect Detailed Audit LogsDetectIG2
Safeguard 8.6Collect DNS Query Audit LogsDetectIG2
Safeguard 8.7Collect URL Request Audit LogsDetectIG2
Safeguard 8.8Collect Command-Line Audit LogsDetectIG2
Safeguard 8.9Centralize Audit LogsDetectIG2
Safeguard 8.10Retain Audit LogsProtectIG2
Safeguard 8.11Conduct Audit Log ReviewsDetectIG2
Safeguard 8.12Collect Service Provider LogsProtectIG3