Audit Trail
A chronological record of all system activities, data changes, and user actions that provides documentary evidence of compliance. Audit trails are required by DORA, ISO 27001, and SOC 2 to demonstrate accountability, detect anomalies, and support forensic investigations.
An audit trail is a sequential record that captures who did what, when, and why within an information system. It serves as the backbone of compliance evidence, providing regulators and auditors with verifiable proof that controls are operating effectively.
In the context of financial services compliance, audit trails must capture user authentication events, data access and modifications, system configuration changes, administrative actions, failed access attempts, and policy changes. DORA specifically requires financial entities to maintain detailed logs of ICT-related incidents and near-misses.
Modern compliance platforms like Matproof automate audit trail collection across cloud infrastructure, SaaS applications, and internal systems. This continuous evidence collection replaces manual screenshot-based evidence gathering and ensures that audit trails are tamper-proof, complete, and readily available for regulators.
Related Terms
Evidence Collection
The process of gathering, organizing, and maintaining documentation that demonstrates compliance with specific controls and requirements. Automated evidence collection integrates with IT systems to continuously capture proof of control effectiveness.
Continuous Monitoring
An ongoing process of observing, evaluating, and maintaining awareness of information security controls, vulnerabilities, and threats. Continuous monitoring ensures that compliance status is maintained between formal audits and enables rapid detection of control failures.
Compliance Automation
The use of technology to streamline and automate compliance processes including evidence collection, control monitoring, risk assessment, policy management, and audit preparation. Compliance automation significantly reduces manual effort and improves accuracy.
Audit Readiness
The state of being prepared for a compliance audit at any time, with all necessary documentation, evidence, and controls in place. Continuous audit readiness replaces the traditional 'audit scramble' approach with always-on compliance monitoring and evidence collection.
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