For many organizations, monitoring file activity is challenging due to the configuration complexity and performance concerns associated with native auditing. As a result, administrators do not have a way to answer some of their most critical questions. In this three-part blog series, we’ll discuss 15 real-life use cases where STEALTHbits file activity monitoring solutions can play a key role in solving critical change and access issues without the use of native logs.
Case 1: Pre-Departure Data Exfiltration
This first case deals with an employee who plans to leave an organization and is copying valuable data to her local drive or removable storage device to share with a competitor.
Our file activity monitor would allow admins to see what files the user has accessed and copied, delivering an audit trail with full details.
Case 2: Unexpected Access Loss
Unexpected access loss is when an administrator or data owner modifies permissions to data that mistakenly prevents an authorized user from accessing needed data.
The file activity monitor provides an audit trail showing what permissions were modified, who modified them, and the before and after values of the change.
Case 3: Accidental File Detections
Dealing with the accidental deletion of files is a common issue for helpdesk staff, resulting in wasted time and productivity for admins and end users.
The file activity monitor solves this by delivering an audit trail showing what files were deleted and who deleted them.
Case 4: File Renames
A file gets renamed, causing confusion and leading users to believe that the file had been moved or deleted.
The file activity monitor offers an audit trail showing who renamed the file and to what the file was renamed.
Case 5: Accidental File Misplacement
A user accidentally or carelessly moves data from one location to another. This prevents other users from being able to access the data.
The file activity monitor leaves an audit trail of all file activity, allowing admins to quickly locate files that have been moved from one location to another on monitored systems.
In the next post of the series, we will walk through the next five real-life use cases and explain how STEALTHbits file activity monitoring solutions relate to and solves each issue. To learn more about different approaches to solving critical change and access issues check out STEALTHbits File Activity Monitoring Solutions.
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