Auditing and Monitoring

5 minutes 5 Questions

Auditing and Monitoring are crucial procedures designed to ensure the effectiveness of an organization's security controls and adherence to compliance requirements. Regular audits help identify areas where improvement is necessary and determine whether the organization is following the established security procedures. Audits may be performed internally or by external auditors. On the other hand, monitoring involves continuous and proactive assessments of information systems, network activities, and user behavior to identify potential issues, vulnerabilities, or breaches. Both auditing and monitoring assist in maintaining and improving an organization's overall security posture in compliance with industry standards and regulations.

Guide to Auditing and Monitoring for CISSP

Auditing and Monitoring:
This refers to the process of continuously checking, analyzing, and reporting on the different aspects of an organization's security system to detect potential vulnerabilities and ensure compliance with security policies and standards. It plays a significant role in ensuring the system's integrity, confidentiality, and availability.

Why is it Important:
Auditing and Monitoring is essential as it helps to detect any unauthorized activities, breaches, or anomalies in the system. This allows for immediate remedial actions to be taken to avoid any catastrophic events.

How does it Work:
The process involves various tools and techniques employed to scrutinize the system logs, user logs, network traffic, security events etc. It uses both automated systems and manual review to achieve this.

Exam tips on Auditing and Monitoring:
In the exam, you may face questions that require you to choose the best auditing and monitoring strategies in different scenarios. It would help if you:

1. Understand the various tools, techniques, and standards involved in Auditing and Monitoring.
2. Can identify the signs of a potential security breach.
3. Understand how to respond to a detected anomaly.
4. Familiarize with various regulations and standards for security compliance.

Test mode:

Exam (Timed)

Practice (With explanations)

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Question 1

An organization is experiencing an increased number of security incidents due to employees mistakenly clicking on malicious links in phishing emails. The management team is looking for a solution that allows monitoring and enforcing security policies in real-time. Which solution is the most appropriate?

Implement a Data Loss Prevention (DLP) solution Train employees not to report phishing attempts Relocate the email server to an off-site location Disable email attachments

Correct Answer: Implement a Data Loss Prevention (DLP) solution

A DLP solution monitors, detects, and prevents the unauthorized transmission of sensitive data, including real-time enforcement of security policies. Other options either do not address the issue or might negatively impact operations.

Question 2

A company has recently suffered a data breach involving sensitive customer information. The auditor suspects a lack of monitoring in the data storage system during the breach. Which of the following solutions is the best option to improve monitoring and prevent future breaches?

Ignore minor security alerts Implement a Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) system Limit the number of users with access to logging data Decrease the frequency of vulnerability scans

Correct Answer: Implement a Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) system

Implementing a SIEM system will improve monitoring by consolidating, analyzing, and providing real-time alerts on security events. This allows for a quicker response to potential threats. The other options will not improve monitoring and might even weaken security posture.

Question 3

A healthcare organization is conducting an audit to ensure that employees are only accessing patient files for legitimate reasons. The auditor notices that an employee accessed 200 patient files in a single day, which is far beyond their normal access pattern. What should the auditor do?

Escalate the issue to management for further investigation Warn the employee that their accesses are being monitored Ignore the issue because the employee has proper access permissions Immediately revoke the employee's access rights

Correct Answer: Escalate the issue to management for further investigation

Escalating the issue to management allows for a proper investigation to determine if the employee's activities were justified or inappropriate. The other options either weaken security, potentially violate privacy, or might be counterproductive.

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