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IT Essentials — Introduction to IT

Trevor: Hi Wendy. Can you help me with a specific aspect of control monitoring and reporting
questions? What is the difference between an audit trail and a log file?

Wendy: Hi Trevor. That’s a great question. Audit trail is a term that is used in multiple ways, which
can cause some confusion. Sometimes, it is the title of a specific log file in a vendor-developed
software. Other times, it is used as a generic term that refers to all types of log files. The key is to
remember that some systems have a file specifically labeled as “audit trail” that combines access
and transaction data in a single file.

Wendy: Other systems have separated access, transactions, and systems (syslog) log files. Most
systems allow administrators to select the data elements that are logged and how much space is
reserved for logged data. This process is known as FIFO, which means first in, first out.

Wendy: We can begin to get information about the audit trail by simply asking the question below.

Trevor: Do we also want to know what they do with the audit trails?

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