Creating an Immutable Database for Secure Cloud Audit Trail and System Logging

Conventional web based systems present a multiplicity of attack vectors. One of the main components, the database, is frequently configured incorrectly, often using default settings, which leave the system wide open to attack. Once a system has been attacked, valuable audit trail and system log data is usually deleted to cover the trail of the perpetrator. Given the average industry time between breach and discovery, there is often little forensic trail left to follow. Of equal importance is that in cloud settings, where new instances are automatically spooled and shut down to follow the demand curve, any data stored on the running instance before shut down is lost. We demonstrate how the configuration of a simple immutable database, running on a separate private system can go a long way to resolving this problem.