Audit Trails & Tamper-Evident Logs
Learn how to build trustworthy audit trails that record security-relevant events and resist tampering using hash chaining and append-only storage.
Logs vs Audit Trails
Ordinary logs help debugging; an audit trail is a structured, durable record of security-relevant actions: who did what, when, and from where. Audit trails support investigations, compliance, and accountability.
What to Audit
Record events that matter for security and compliance:
- Authentication: logins, logouts, failures
- Authorization changes: role and permission edits
- Sensitive data access and exports
- Configuration and admin actions
Do not log secrets, passwords, or full card numbers.
All lessons in this course
- Secure Logging & Alerting
- Runtime Application Self-Protection (RASP)
- Software & Data Integrity Verification
- Audit Trails & Tamper-Evident Logs