What evidence do auditors commonly ask for on AU-3 Content of Audit Records?

Audit and accountability policy; System security plan; Privacy plan; Procedures addressing content of audit records; System design documentation; System configuration settings and associated documentation.

What is the most common gap auditors find on AU-3?

Audit records lack the source and outcome fields in AU-3 d and e, so success or failure cannot be determined

NIST SP 800-53 Rev 5 · AU - Audit and Accountability

`AU-3` Content of Audit Records

Ensure that audit records contain information that establishes the following: a. What type of event occurred; b. When the event occurred; c. Where the event occurred; d. Source of the event; e. Outcome of the event; and f. Identity of any individuals, subjects, or objects/entities associated with the event.

Source: NIST SP 800-53 Rev 5, AU-3. 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 NIST SP 800-53 Rev 5 in the compliance library.

Base controls and their enhancements. Which apply follows the baseline you are assessed against (for example FedRAMP Moderate or High, or the low, moderate and high baselines of SP 800-53B). Text in square brackets is a parameter your organisation sets.

artefacts

held by a system

at each review

hard

to go live

Policy repository / GRC workspace

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

System incident reports · Policy repository / GRC workspace

periodic reviewEvidence produced at each review

Procedures addressing content of audit records · Policy repository / GRC workspace
System audit records · Policy repository / GRC workspace
Test of Mechanisms implementing system auditing of auditable events · Policy repository / GRC workspace

governing documentDocuments that govern the control

Audit and accountability policy · Policy repository / GRC workspace
System security plan · Policy repository / GRC workspace
Privacy plan · Policy repository / GRC workspace
System design documentation · Policy repository / GRC workspace
System configuration settings and associated documentation · Policy repository / GRC workspace
List of organization-defined auditable events · Policy repository / GRC workspace

First move

Mostly documents and reviews. Pull the 1 system-held artefact from your Policy repository / GRC workspace on a schedule; put the documents under version control with an owner and review date, and log each review as a dated record with a named reviewer.

Common gaps auditors find

Audit records lack the source and outcome fields in AU-3 d and e, so success or failure cannot be determined
Records capture a service account instead of the individual identity required by AU-3 f for user-initiated events

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

AU-2 Event Logging · AU-3(1) Content of Audit Records | Additional Audit Information