Some employers are hesitant to monitor activity on employees' user names due to privacy concerns. However, file system activity auditing can be an important part of a business's IT security plan for several reasons. Here are some of the most important causes for tracking activity on your servers.
Better IT Support
File access logs can be a great tool for your IT team in case a server goes down or a software feature isn't working correctly. They let the team know which files have been updated or moved recently, and which files your employees were using at the time of a crash. These helpful diagnostic clues are most useful if you're tracking them all along, so setting up a monitoring system ahead of time is helpful.
Tracking for Data Breaches
Another benefit of monitoring activity is that you may be able to detect when a data breach is occurring. If a certain set of files is being accessed in an unusual way, such as a large number of times in a short time period, then you may have a breach on your hands. If you turn this data over to your IT team, they will be better able to track and prevent these breaches from occurring.
Root Out Bad Employee Behavior
Yes, data tracking can also be used to uncover bad employee behavior. Whether employees are accessing files they are not supposed to or using the computers for their own personal motives, it's important to find these activities out in order to stop the drain on employee productivity and to keep your servers up and running without lag-time. If you make it a policy to regularly do file system activity auditing, it can act as a great deterrent to keep employees from bad habits in the first place. In other words, you don't need to arouse suspicion in employees if you make it a matter of protocol to check activity every few months.
It's Easy to Set Up
With advances in technology, setting up an activity tracking system is fairly easy. Some models of operating systems have tracking tools already in place that let you keep track of when a file was opened. There are also many third party software systems that can help you keep track of these files in convenient graphic forms. Speak to an IT professional about your options for data activity monitoring so that you can take advantage of these business benefits.
Go to websites like this one to learn more about activity auditing.
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