File Access Auditing Service
The University holds a huge amount of sensitive data, much of which is subject to strict requirements about how and where it can be stored. The File Access Auditing service can enable you to satisfy these compliance requirements.
This service is available free of charge to any customer with a Storage filestore.
Features
- Tracks all content changes across your files, with the option to granularly audit specific parts of the filestore.
- Provides detailed reports on successful and failed file access to see who is using what or uncover any unauthorized attempts to access sensitive data (available on request from IT Services).
- Offers retention of access records for a minimum of five years from the date of access.
My sensitive data is stored in a single folder, can I just audit that folder and not others?
Yes. We can selectively enable auditing on one or more folder. When auditing is enabled, all files and folders within the nominated folder(s), including any new folders that you create within it/them, are automatically audited.
Will this solution prevent someone from moving the data to an unaudited folder?
No, the software doesn't stop data from being moved, so your users need to be aware of this. However, it does audit what data was moved, by whom, and when.
Does this solution record file permissions changes?
This isn't enabled by default, but it can be switched on if required.
Can I see exactly what change has been made to a document?
No, the solution will record who changed the file, and when, but not what the change was.
If you want to see details of the changes, you can use the Previous Version feature in Windows Explorer to view any file differences.
I need to retain auditing information for longer than 5 years, can this be done?
We can retain the auditing information for longer, but in most cases 5 years is sufficient. If you require a longer retention period, please contact us (itsupport@york.ac.uk) to discuss this.