Authentication and Network Audit Logging Policy (SEC-POL-010)

1. Objective

The objective of this policy is to establish comprehensive audit logging requirements for authentication, authorization, and network security events within [Company Name]’s information systems. This policy ensures that user access activities, network communications, and system security events are comprehensively captured, monitored, and analyzed to support incident detection, forensic analysis, and regulatory compliance. This policy focuses specifically on identity management, network security, and system-level security events while coordinating with data access logging requirements defined in SEC-POL-011.

2. Scope

This policy applies to all [Company Name] authentication systems, identity management platforms, network devices, security appliances, and infrastructure components that manage user access or network communications. This includes all identity providers, authentication services, network firewalls, VPN systems, intrusion detection systems, and security tools across production, staging, development, and administrative environments. All workforce members, contractors, and third parties with system access are subject to the authentication and network logging requirements defined in this policy.

3. Policy

• [Company Name] shall implement comprehensive audit logging and monitoring capabilities for all authentication, authorization, and network security events to provide early detection of unauthorized access attempts, support forensic analysis, and maintain compliance with regulatory requirements as defined in SEC-POL-009.

3.1 Authentication and Authorization Logging

All identity management and authentication systems shall generate detailed audit logs for security-relevant events to provide comprehensive accountability and support incident investigation.

3.1.1 Authentication Event Logging

The following authentication and authorization events shall be logged by all applicable systems:

3.1.1.1 User Authentication Events

Successful and failed user authentication attempts shall be logged with source IP address and user agent information. Account lockout events due to failed authentication attempts or security policy violations shall be logged. Password changes, resets, and expiration events shall be logged with administrative approval tracking. Multi-factor authentication events including setup, usage, and failure scenarios shall be logged. Single sign-on (SSO) authentication events and cross-system authentication propagation shall be logged. Service account and API key authentication events shall be logged with application context.

3.1.1.2 Authorization and Privilege Events

Account creation, modification, deletion, and privilege changes shall be logged with administrative approval tracking. Role assignments and group membership changes shall be logged with effective permission modifications. Privilege escalation and administrative access activities shall be logged with justification and approval documentation. Session establishment, termination, and timeout events shall be logged with session duration and activity tracking. Delegation of administrative privileges and proxy authentication events shall be logged. Emergency access activations and break-glass procedure usage shall be logged.

3.1.1.3 Identity Management System Events

Identity provider configuration changes and federation relationship modifications shall be logged. Authentication policy changes and security parameter modifications shall be logged. Certificate and key management activities for authentication infrastructure shall be logged. Directory service modifications and schema changes affecting user access shall be logged. Integration configuration changes with connected applications and services shall be logged. Backup and recovery operations for identity management systems shall be logged.

3.1.2 Authentication Log Content Standards

All authentication audit log entries shall contain the following minimum information:

3.1.2.1 Temporal and Session Information

Precise timestamp synchronized with authoritative time source (NTP) shall be recorded with millisecond precision. Time zone information shall be included for accurate correlation across geographic locations. Session identification and correlation identifiers shall be maintained for multi-system authentication flows. Event sequence numbers shall be maintained for authentication session ordering and completeness validation.

3.1.2.2 Identity and Source Context

User identification (username, user ID, email address, or service account identifier) shall be recorded. Source system, IP address, geographic location, and network segment information shall be captured. User agent information, device fingerprinting, and client system identification shall be logged. Authentication method used (password, MFA, certificate, biometric, etc.) shall be documented. Identity provider or authentication service processing the request shall be identified. Referring application or service requesting authentication shall be recorded.

3.1.2.3 Authentication Event Details

Authentication event type and category classification (login, logout, privilege escalation, etc.) shall be documented. Success or failure status shall be recorded with detailed error codes and failure reasons. Risk assessment and fraud detection scores shall be included where available. Policy violations detected during authentication process shall be logged. Security context and privilege level granted or requested shall be documented. Conditional access policy evaluation results and applied restrictions shall be recorded.

3.2 Network Security Event Logging

Comprehensive network security logging shall capture network communications, security events, and traffic patterns to support threat detection and investigation.

3.2.1 Network Communication Logging

• Network Traffic and Access Events:
  • Firewall rule evaluations with allow/deny decisions and rule matching information
  • Network connection establishment and termination events with duration and data transfer metrics
  • VPN connections and remote access activities with endpoint information and tunnel characteristics
  • Network access control (NAC) decisions and device compliance validation events
  • Wireless network connections and authentication events with device and location information
  • Network segmentation boundary crossings and micro-segmentation policy enforcement
• Security Appliance Events:
  • Intrusion detection and prevention system alerts with attack signature and severity information
  • Web application firewall (WAF) events including blocked requests and security policy violations
  • Data loss prevention (DLP) system alerts with data classification and transfer attempt details
  • Anti-malware and antivirus detection events with threat classification and response actions
  • Network behavior analysis anomalies and baseline deviation alerts
  • Security orchestration and automated response (SOAR) actions and playbook executions
• Network Infrastructure Events:
  • Network device configuration changes and administrative access activities
  • Routing table modifications and network topology changes
  • Network service availability and performance threshold violations
  • DNS query logging for security analysis and threat detection
  • Certificate validation events for secure communications
  • Network time protocol (NTP) synchronization events and time source validation

3.2.2 Network Log Content Standards

All network security audit log entries shall contain the following minimum information:

• Network Communication Context:
  • Source and destination IP addresses, ports, and protocol information
  • Network zone or segment classification for both source and destination
  • VLAN information and network policy context
  • Bandwidth utilization and data transfer metrics
  • Communication duration and session state information
  • Quality of service (QoS) classification and priority handling
• Security and Policy Context:
  • Security policy rule or signature that triggered the event
  • Risk assessment and threat intelligence correlation results
  • Geolocation information for source and destination addresses
  • Network device or security appliance generating the event
  • Administrative action or automatic response taken
  • Integration with threat intelligence feeds and reputation services

3.3 System Security Event Logging

System-level security events shall be comprehensively logged to provide visibility into infrastructure security and system integrity.

3.3.1 System Security Events

• System and Service Security Events:
  • System startup, shutdown, and configuration changes with administrator identification
  • Critical system process and service status changes with impact assessment
  • Security software installation, updates, and configuration modifications
  • System resource utilization anomalies and performance threshold violations
  • Kernel and operating system security events including privilege escalation attempts
  • Container and virtualization security events including escape attempts and resource violations
• Infrastructure Security Events:
  • Cloud infrastructure configuration changes and resource provisioning activities
  • Infrastructure-as-code deployment events and automation system activities
  • Backup and recovery operations with data integrity validation results
  • Encryption and key management activities with key lifecycle events
  • Certificate management events including issuance, renewal, and revocation
  • Compliance scanning results and configuration drift detection events

3.3.2 Integration with Data Access Logging

This policy coordinates with SEC-POL-011 (Data Access and Compliance Audit Logging Policy) to ensure comprehensive coverage:

• Coordination Points:
  • Authentication events shall include session identifiers for correlation with data access events logged under SEC-POL-011
  • Network communication logs shall provide context for data transmission events captured under SEC-POL-011
  • System security events shall include references to data processing activities subject to SEC-POL-011 requirements
  • Cross-policy event correlation shall be maintained through common session and transaction identifiers
• Scope Boundaries:
  • This policy focuses on user authentication, network communications, and system security events
  • SEC-POL-011 addresses data access, modification, ePHI handling, and regulatory compliance events
  • Shared logging infrastructure and retention requirements are coordinated between both policies
  • Incident response procedures integrate events from both authentication/network and data access domains

3.4 Log Management and Monitoring

Authentication and network security logs shall be managed with appropriate collection, storage, and monitoring procedures coordinated with overall audit logging requirements.

3.4.1 Centralized Log Collection

• Authentication Log Aggregation:
  • All authentication systems shall forward security logs to centralized Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) system with real-time transmission
  • Identity provider logs shall be integrated including SAML assertions, OAuth token events, and federation activities
  • Multi-factor authentication system logs shall be centrally collected including hardware token, mobile app, and biometric events
  • Log transmission shall use encrypted channels (TLS 1.3 or equivalent) with mutual authentication
  • Redundant log collection paths shall be implemented for critical authentication infrastructure
• Network Security Log Integration:
  • Network device logs shall be forwarded to centralized logging platform using standardized formats (syslog, SNMP, etc.)
  • Security appliance logs shall be integrated including firewall, IPS, WAF, and DLP system events
  • Cloud network security logs shall be collected from AWS VPC Flow Logs, Azure Network Security Group logs, and GCP VPC Flow Logs
  • Network monitoring tools shall provide log integration including network behavior analysis and traffic analytics
  • Real-time log forwarding required for security events classified as Critical or High priority

3.4.2 Automated Monitoring and Analysis

• Real-Time Authentication Monitoring:
  • 24/7 automated monitoring of authentication failures and brute force attack patterns
  • Behavioral analysis for unusual authentication patterns including impossible travel and off-hours access
  • Automated correlation of authentication events across multiple systems and applications
  • Integration with threat intelligence feeds for known malicious IP addresses and attack patterns
  • Automated response capabilities for account lockouts and suspicious authentication activities
• Network Security Event Analysis:
  • Continuous monitoring of network traffic patterns and anomaly detection
  • Automated analysis of security appliance alerts with false positive reduction
  • Real-time correlation of network events with authentication activities
  • Threat hunting capabilities using network communication patterns and indicators
  • Integration with external threat intelligence for IP reputation and domain analysis

3.4.3 Authentication and Network Monitoring Implementation

• Cloud-Native Authentication Analytics:
  • AWS CloudTrail integration for API authentication and authorization events with automated analysis of admin access patterns, unusual API usage, and cross-account activities
  • Azure Active Directory logs integration for user authentication, conditional access, and risk detection events with automated correlation of sign-in patterns and anomaly detection
  • Google Cloud Identity and Access Management (IAM) audit logs for authentication and authorization events with automated analysis of service account usage and privilege escalation
  • Multi-cloud authentication event correlation for federated identity scenarios with standardized event formatting and cross-platform analysis
• Network Security Analytics and Correlation:
  • AWS VPC Flow Logs analysis with automated threat detection including botnet communication, data exfiltration patterns, and lateral movement detection
  • Azure Network Security Group logs correlation with security events including automated blocking of malicious traffic and threat intelligence integration
  • Google Cloud VPC Flow Logs integration with security analytics including machine learning-based anomaly detection and automated incident creation
  • Cross-cloud network security event correlation with standardized threat classification and automated response capabilities
• Managed Security Service Provider (MSSP) Integration for Authentication and Network Events:
  • MSSP 24/7 monitoring of authentication events including failed login analysis, privilege escalation detection, and account compromise indicators
  • Network security event analysis by MSSP including traffic pattern analysis, threat hunting, and incident correlation with authentication activities
  • Automated escalation of critical authentication and network security events to internal security team with detailed analysis and recommended response actions
  • Integration of MSSP analysis with internal incident response procedures including evidence collection and containment recommendations

3.5 Incident Response Integration

Authentication and network audit logs shall provide comprehensive support for security incident detection, investigation, and response activities.

3.5.1 Authentication Incident Detection

• Detection Capabilities:
  • Automated correlation rules for authentication-based attack patterns including credential stuffing, password spraying, and account takeover attempts
  • Baseline deviation detection for user authentication behavior including unusual locations, devices, and access patterns
  • Privilege escalation detection through authentication and authorization monitoring
  • Insider threat detection through authentication pattern analysis and privilege usage monitoring
  • Integration with external threat intelligence for known compromised credentials and attack indicators
• Response Support:
  • Rapid authentication log search and analysis capabilities for incident investigation
  • Automated evidence collection for authentication-related security incidents
  • Timeline reconstruction capabilities for user access and authentication events
  • Integration with identity management systems for rapid account response and containment
  • Chain of custody procedures for authentication log-based evidence

3.5.2 Network Security Incident Response

• Network Incident Detection:
  • Automated correlation of network traffic patterns with known attack signatures
  • Lateral movement detection through network communication analysis
  • Data exfiltration detection through network traffic pattern analysis
  • Command and control communication detection through DNS and network flow analysis
  • Network-based insider threat detection through traffic pattern and access analysis
• Response Capabilities:
  • Network-based incident containment through automated traffic blocking and isolation
  • Network forensics capabilities for incident investigation and evidence collection
  • Integration with network security appliances for automated response and containment
  • Coordination with authentication systems for network-based account response
  • Network traffic capture and analysis for detailed incident investigation

4. Standards Compliance

See Annex: Control Mapping

5. Definitions

See Annex: Glossary

6. Responsibilities

Role	Responsibility
Security Officer	Overall responsibility for authentication and network audit logging program coordination with SEC-POL-011 requirements.
Identity and Access Management Team	Implementation and management of authentication logging systems, user access monitoring, and identity security events.
Network Security Team	Configuration and management of network security logging, traffic analysis, and network-based threat detection.
System Administrators	Configuration of authentication system logging, network device log forwarding, and maintenance of logging infrastructure.
Security Operations Center (SOC)	24/7 monitoring of authentication and network security events, alert analysis, and incident escalation.
Incident Response Team	Utilization of authentication and network logs for incident investigation, evidence collection, and forensic analysis.
Compliance Team	Regular audit of authentication and network logging practices and coordination with SEC-POL-011 compliance requirements.
All Workforce Members	Compliance with authentication and network logging policies and prompt reporting of suspected security events.