What evidence do auditors commonly ask for on LOG-02 Audit Logs Protection?

Log retention schedule linked to legal and contractual requirements; Log platform configuration showing retention and immutability settings; Access controls on the log store; Restore test or retrieval of older logs.

What is the most common gap auditors find on LOG-02?

Retention set by storage cost, not by requirement

CSA CCM v4.1 · LOG - Logging and Monitoring

`LOG-02` Audit Logs Protection

Define, put in place and assess processes, procedures and technical measures that keep audit logs secure and retained for the required period.

Source: CSA CCM v4.1, LOG-02. The statement above is our statement of the clause, read from the published text and cited so you can check it against the official text, not the instrument verbatim. Open CSA CCM v4.1 in the compliance library.

Version 4.1 adds 11 controls (among them API security, log sanitisation and a service bill of materials) and renumbers several domains. CSA accepts v4.0.x during its transition; if your STAR assessment is still on v4.0.1, check the numbering against it.

artefacts

held by a system

at each review

easy

to go live

SIEM / log platform

where the evidence lives

teal = a system already holds it · olive = produced at each review. To go live: easy when half or more of the artefacts are already held by a system, moderate from a quarter to a half, hard below a quarter.

These are the artefacts auditors commonly ask for on this requirement, our guidance rather than text from the standard. Your assessor decides what is sufficient in your context, and asks for samples across the period when a report covers one.

system holds itEvidence a system already holds

Log platform configuration showing retention and immutability settings · SIEM / log platform
Restore test or retrieval of older logs · Backup / DR tooling

periodic reviewEvidence produced at each review

none for this control

governing documentDocuments that govern the control

Log retention schedule linked to legal and contractual requirements · Policy repository / GRC workspace
Access controls on the log store · Policy repository / GRC workspace

First move

Automate the pull from your SIEM / log platform. Retention and alert rules exported from the SIEM; review evidence is the closed-alert record with reviewer and time.

Common gaps auditors find

Retention set by storage cost, not by requirement
Logs deletable by system administrators
Retention not tested, so older logs prove missing when needed

Do this for your whole sheet

Paste the rows you run your controls from and get this mapping for every control at once, with the periodic-review ones flagged and a first move per row. No account for the first run.

Build my evidence sheet

LOG-01 Logging and Monitoring Policy and Procedures · LOG-03 Security Monitoring and Alerting