Windows audit tools

There are many tools out there that can centralize Windows event logs. Below is a list of free and premium tools that will centralize Windows event logs.

Some of the free tools require a bit of work and may require additional software to visualize and report on the logs. If you have the budget I recommend a premium tool, they are much easier to setup and saves you a ton of time. How do you know for sure if your audit policy is getting applied to your systems?

How does your audit policy compare to industry best practices? To view the current audit run this command on your local computer. You can check these settings against what is set in your group policy to verify everything is working. I mention this toolkit in the recommended settings section but it is worth mentioning again.

It contains a spreadsheet with the Microsoft recommended audit and security policy settings. CIS Benchmarks. CIS provides a tool that can automatically check your systems settings and how it compares to its benchmarks. This is by far the best method for testing your audit policy against industry benchmarks. The pro version does require a membership, there is a free version with limited features. Enabling all the auditing rules can generate lots of noise and could make your security efforts more difficult than it should be.

Knowing your network, Active Directory architecture, OU design and security groups are fundamental to a good audit policy. Deploying an audit policy to specific users or assets will be challenging if you do not understand your environment or have a poor logical grouping of your resources.

It is best to deploy your audit policy with group policy. Group policy gives you a centralized location to manage and deploy your audit settings to users and assets within the domain.

Planning and deploying advanced security audit policies. This FREE tool lets you get instant visibility into user and group permissions. Permissions info. Installation Get this app while signed in to your Microsoft account and install on up to ten Windows 10 devices. Language supported English United Kingdom. Seizure warnings Photosensitive seizure warning. Report this product Report this app to Microsoft Thanks for reporting your concern. Our team will review it and, if necessary, take action.

Sign in to report this app to Microsoft. Its main features include:. Policy Analyzer lets you treat a set of GPOs as a single unit. This makes it easy to determine whether particular settings are duplicated across the GPOs or are set to conflicting values. Policy Analyzer also lets you capture a baseline and then compare it to a snapshot taken at a later time to identify changes anywhere across the set.

More information on the Policy Analyzer tool can be found on the Microsoft Security Baselines blog or by downloading the tool. Using local policy gives administrators a simple way to verify the effects of Group Policy settings, and is also useful for managing non-domain-joined systems.

It can export local policy to a GPO backup. The arrival of a threat discovery triggers a system scan to detect the presence of that vulnerability. Remediation measures in the tool include a patch manager that automatically detects the availability of software and operating system updates and will roll them out on a schedule. The system will also recommend actions to take in order to close down any loopholes that it discovers during its vulnerability scans.

The free version is limited to monitoring 25 computers. Both paid systems are offered on a day free trial. N-able RMM is a cloud-based remote monitoring and risk management tool that enables a central IT department to manage several sites simultaneously. Many businesses need to be able to track the use of data for data security standards compliance and getting data access tracking built-in with a monitoring tool is a great help.

The usage analysis system included with the RMM enables data managers to identify data usage trends and manage data risk. Ad hoc scans in the package are particularly useful for data security compliance auditors. These include inappropriate permissions discovery and reports on leaked or stolen data. Other standard maintenance tools in the RMM service help to protect data from accidental loss. For example, the RMM includes a comprehensive backup and restore function. Digital security features in the bundle include endpoint detection and response to secure desktop devices.

Patch management keeps all firmware and operating systems up to data and closes down exploits in software. The N-able RMM service also includes an anti-virus package and a firewall for the entire network and all of its devices.

N-able RMM is charged for by subscription and there are no installation fees. You can get a day free trial to check out all of the services in N-able RMM risk-free.

Related post: Network Configuration Management Software. Atera is a package of services for monitoring and management tools for remote systems. The SaaS platform also has a section of utilities designed for use by the management team of a managed service provider. Among all of the tools in this bundle is a reporting facility that can generate a range of system audit reports.

The service is designed for use by managed service providers. When a system is enrolled in the service, the Atera server downloads an agent onto the target network. This uses SNMP to gather information on each of the devices composing the network. The result of this scan is a network asset inventory, which is updated constantly and provides a basis for all of the automated network monitoring activities of the package.

That network monitor works on a system of performance expectation thresholds, which trigger alerts if problems are detected. Atera offers a network mapping system as a paid add-on. Atera is a subscription service and there are three plan levels for the service.

This makes the package suitable for businesses of all sizes. You can get a free trial to assess the package. Netwrix Auditor is a network security auditing software that can monitor configuration changes in your environment. Through the dashboard, you can view information on system changes including Action, Who, What, When, and Where.

All of the information provides you everything you need to know about the nature of the changes and what happened. The user can also view the same information about login attempts and port scanning attempts. Failed logins are marked with a red box, which helps you to see immediately if someone is trying to break into your network.

You can also view hardware monitoring information on CPU temperature, power supply, and cooling fan status. An alerts system provides an automated incident response. You can configure scripts that Netwrix Auditor will execute when an alert is generated.

For example, if a divide fails then you can configure the settings to generate a Helpdesk ticket for your team to start the remediation process. Netwrix Auditor is one of the top network security auditing tools for those who want a solution with automation and a rest API. Contact the company directly for a quote. You can download the day free trial. Nessus is a free vulnerability assessment tool that can be used for auditing , configuration management , and patch management.

Nessus is well-equipped to confront the latest threats releasing plugins for new vulnerabilities within an average of 24 hours.

Plugins are added automatically so the user is ready to discover new cyber-attacks. Configuring Nessus is easy because you have the support of over different configuration templates. The variety of templates makes it easy to find the vulnerabilities you need.

You can also generate customizable reports to reflect on new entry points. Create reports detailing specific vulnerabilities by host or plugin.