Log Files Are About Security and Compliance

• Microsoft 365 log files are needed to find and resolve security problems and achieve policy compliance.
• Organizations must take steps to ensure log data is available when needed.
• The log requirements for security and compliance are not necessarily consistent with each other.

IT security and regulatory compliance require regular collection and analysis of log data from systems. Microsoft 365 does not collect or analyze the necessary log data by default, so organizations will need to configure the services to collect what they need, and periodically review that configuration to ensure they are not collecting too much or too little data. The log requirements of security and compliance have diverged, so organizations face trade-offs between the two when configuring their logging.

Security vs. Compliance

Security and compliance are about helping an organization meet specific requirements:

• Security is generally about preventing intrusion into or damage to systems by trying to actively