Title

Audit logs are not included in backups. (Cat II impact)

Discussion

Log files help establish a history of activities, and can be useful in detecting attack attempts or determining tuning adjustments to improve availability. Audit logs are essential to the investigation and prosecution of unauthorized access to Exchange 2003 software and data. Unless audit logs are available for review, the extent of data compromise may not be determined and the vulnerability exploited may not be discovered. Undiscovered vulnerabilities could lead to additional or prolonged compromise of the data. Audit records should be backed up not less than weekly on to a different system or media than the system being audited, to ensure preservation of audit history.

Check Content

Interview the E-mail Administrator or the IAO. Access documentation that describes inclusion of Exchange audit data with the weekly backups. Audit data specific to Exchange 2003 services are located in %systemroot\system32\logfiles. Verify that this directory is included in backup strategy to preserve log history. Criteria: If Audit records are backed up at least weekly on to a different system or media, this is not a finding.

Fix Text

Ensure that Exchange 2003 audit records are backed up at least weekly on to a different system or media.

Additional Identifiers

Rule ID: SV-20673r1_rule

Vulnerability ID: V-18880

Group Title:

Expert Comments

CCIs tied to check.

Controls tied to check. These are derived from the CCIs shown above.