Logs

What are logs?

Logs provide a record of events for servers, databases, applications, or security systems. They support audit, compliance measurement, trend analysis, and anomaly detection.

What are logs within the context of data privacy?

For privacy, log data can provide these capabilities in a privacy-context, supporting intelligence, automation, and reporting for data subject rights, privacy violations, compliance readiness, and regulatory reporting. But logs may also introduce risks if personal data is not considered.

What type of log privacy risks exist?

Logs themselves can introduce privacy risk by capturing the personal information of data subjects and/or by tracking the activities of data subjects outside the bounds of specific or implied consent. Therefore, log data must be treated as any other data source in regards to privacy policies, processes, and controls.

What are some common log types?

1. Database log: Capability writes specified events to a file to track updates, access, and errors related to a database management system.
2. Application log: Function written in the application itself, independent of database or operating system that writes application events, errors, and warnings to a file.
3. Security log: Capability, either in the application, database, operating system or security software that writes security-related events to a file. Examples of security logs include unauthorized access attempts, suspicious activity, and malicious code detection.