Value of Auditing Workstations

  • Section(s): Event log , Security
  • Published on Oct 25, 2005.
  • Last Modified on Oct 25, 2005.
  • Last Modified by Mitch Tulloch.
  • Rated 2.6 out of 5 based on 5 votes.
Why you might consider enabling auditing on workstations...

Most admins only audit events taking place on servers, not workstations. The simple reason is that there are usually few servers but many workstations, plus servers are more valuable than workstations, which you can blow away and re-image in a pinch.

It can be a good idea however to enable certain types of auditing on Windows workstations. For example, you might consider enabling logon/logoff auditing and process tracking on workstations to keep track of which users use the workstation and what processes are executed on it. But why would you do this if you don't have the time to regularly collect workstation security logs and review them?

Well, consider if a user is suspected of doing something bad like trying to hack into you servers from inside the network. If an investigation is initiated, security logs containing such audit information could be extremely valuable in either convicting the user of an offense or clearning his name. So even if you don't review such audit logs regularly, they can still be useful.

Cheers,
Mitch Tulloch
ITreader.net

About Mitch Tulloch

Mitch Tulloch was lead author for the Windows Vista Resource Kit from Microsoft Press, which is the book for IT pros who want to deploy, maintain and support Windows Vista in mid- and large-sized network environments. Mitch was also the author of Introducing Windows Server 2008 and technical project lead for the Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 Resource Kit, both books also from Microsoft Press. For more information on these and other books by Mitch, see www.mtit.com .

Share this article


Article not looking right or info is missing? Let us know so that we can fix it: .


Receive all the latest articles by email!

Receive Real-Time & Monthly WindowsNetworking.com article updates in your mailbox. Enter your email below!
Click for Real-Time sample & Monthly sample

Become a WindowsNetworking.com member!

Discuss your network issues with thousands of other network administrators. Click here to join!

Community Area

Log in | Register

Readers' Choice

Which is your preferred Data Recovery solution?