A Note on Auditing

Good auditing practices require a firm separation of duties. This separation makes it easier, if issues with changes are causing problems, to determine the following:

• Who made the change? (More than information that "root" made the alteration.)

• When was the change made? (An adequate log retention period is important.)

• What was the purpose of the change? (If not malicious, the change was made for a reason.)

The main point of the audit process is to allow personnel to move forward in a better way to implement the changes needed.