| Protection of audit records and audit data is of critical importance. Care must be taken to ensure privileged users cannot circumvent audit protections put in place.
Auditing might not be reliable when performed by an information system which the user being audited has privileged access to.
The privileged user could inhibit auditing or directly modify audit records. To prevent this from occurring, privileged access shall be further defined between audit-related privileges and other privileges, thus, limiting the users with audit-related privileges.
Reducing the risk of audit compromises by privileged users can also be achieved, for example, by performing audit activity on a separate information system where the user in question has limited access or by using storage media that cannot be modified (e.g., write-once recording devices).
If an attacker were to gain access to audit tools he could analyze audit logs for system weaknesses or weaknesses in the auditing itself. An attacker could also manipulate logs to hide evidence of malicious activity.
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