Auditing policies in Windows environments is a crucial task for ensuring security and compliance. Windows provides built-in tools and features to help administrators track and monitor changes to system settings, user activities, and access controls. This article will guide you through the process of setting up and managing auditing policies using Windows tools.

Understanding Windows Auditing

Windows auditing allows you to log and monitor various actions on your system. This includes logon attempts, file access, and changes to system settings. The audit logs can be crucial for troubleshooting, security analysis, and compliance reporting.

Setting Up Auditing Policies

To set up auditing in Windows, you will need to configure the Local Security Policy or Group Policy, depending on your environment.

Using Local Security Policy

1. Open Local Security Policy:

   • Press Win + R, type secpol.msc, and press Enter.

2. Navigate to Audit Policy:

   • In the Local Security Policy window, expand Local Policies and select Audit Policy.

3. Configure Audit Settings:

   • Double-click on any of the policies such as "Audit account logon events" or "Audit logon events".
   • Choose whether to audit successes, failures, or both.

4. Apply and Exit:

   • Click OK to apply the settings.

Using Group Policy (for domain environments)

1. Open Group Policy Management:

   • Press Win + R, type gpmc.msc, and press Enter.

2. Create or Edit a Group Policy Object (GPO):

   • Navigate to the domain or organizational unit (OU) where you want to apply the policy.
   • Right-click and choose Create a GPO in this domain, and Link it here... or edit an existing GPO.

3. Configure Audit Policy:

   • Go to Computer Configuration -> Policies -> Windows Settings -> Security Settings -> Advanced Audit Policy Configuration -> Audit Policies.
   • Define the audit policies you need, such as "Audit Logon" or "Audit Object Access".

4. Apply and Exit:

   • Close the Group Policy Management Editor.

Viewing Audit Logs

Once auditing is configured, you can view the logs using Event Viewer:

1. Open Event Viewer:

   • Press Win + R, type eventvwr.msc, and press Enter.

2. Navigate to Security Logs:

   • Expand Windows Logs and select Security.

3. Review Logs:

   • Here, you can see all the events that have been logged based on your audit policies.

Examples

Example 1: Enabling Audit for Logon Events via CMD

You can enable auditing for logon events using the command line:

auditpol /set /subcategory:"Logon" /success:enable /failure:enable

Example 2: Checking Current Audit Policies via PowerShell

To view the current audit policies, you can use PowerShell:

Get-AuditPolicy -Category *