<aside> <img src="/icons/drafts_gray.svg" alt="/icons/drafts_gray.svg" width="40px" /> Accounting is a security measure that ensures all user activities during a communication or transaction are properly tracked and recorded

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An organization should use a robust accounting system so that they can create the following:

• Create an audit trail
  • Provides a chronological record of all user activities that can be used to trace changes, unauthorized access, or anomalies back to a source or point in time
• Maintain regulatory compliance
  • Maintains a comprehensive record of all users’ activities
• Conduct forensic analysis
  • Uses detailed accounting and event logs that can help cybersecurity experts understand what happened, how it happened, and how to prevent similar incidents from occurring again.
• Perform resource optimization
  • Organizations can optimize system performance and minimize costs by tracking resource utilization and allocation decisions
• Achieve user accountability
  • Thorough accounting system ensures users’ actions are monitored and logged, deterring potential misuse and promoting adherence to the organization’s policies

To perform accounting, we usually use different technologies like the following:

• Syslog servers
  • Used to aggregate logs from various network devices and systems so that system administrators can analyze them to detect patterns or anomalies in the organization’s systems
• Network Analysis Tools
  • Used to capture and analyze network traffic so that network administrators can gain detailed insights into all the data moving within a network
• Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) Systems
  • Provides us with a real-time analysis of security alerts generated by various hardware and software infrastructure in an organization