Data access logs need object context
Recording that somebody accessed a record is much less useful than recording which record.
"User viewed customer data" cannot distinguish a support agent doing their job from one looking up a celebrity. Logging the object, and ideally the reason, is what makes misuse detectable. Many systems log the action and not the target, which produces an audit trail that cannot answer the question it exists for.
More on Data security
- Classification should change handlingThe label throws the points
- Tokenisation changes what systems need to holdHand over the ticket, not the coat
- Data lineage explains where sensitive data travelsFollow the dye
- Data residency is not automatic securityThe line goes round the building
- Retention is a security controlWhat you no longer hold
- DLP can match data patterns but cannot reliably infer the business purpose of a transferIt reads the shape, not the reason
