Log Analysis: What it is, Use Cases, Best Practices & Tools -
Summary
Looking at the bigger picture, companies analyze logs to proactively and reactively mitigate risks, comply with security policies, audits, and regulations, and understand online user behavior. From handling security issues to troubleshooting app performance anomalies or compliance with regulations, there is a wide range of situations where analyzing log data provides invaluable insights. Doing so, not only helps to defend against insider and outsider threats but also to demonstrate a willingness to comply with ISO, General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), Sarbanes-Oxley, PCI DSS, and many others. With trends and patterns in plain view, it’s easy to spot opportunities like when is the best time to send a newsletter, when to release a new version or launch a product, when to close down your site for maintenance or tests, and much more. Together, they make for a powerful log analysis solution, where Elasticsearch provides the full-text search and analytics features, while Kibana allows you to visualize and explore the data you gathered with Logstash.
