Compliance and Retention

Firewall logs often serve compliance requirements, necessitating specific retention periods and audit trails. Design logging systems that meet regulatory requirements while remaining practical to manage.

Implement compliant log retention:

#!/bin/bash
# Compliant log retention and archival

RETENTION_DAYS=90      # Real-time access
ARCHIVE_DAYS=2555     # 7 years for compliance
LOG_DIR="/var/log/firewall"
ARCHIVE_DIR="/mnt/archive/firewall"

# Compress logs older than retention period
find ${LOG_DIR} -name "*.log" -mtime +${RETENTION_DAYS} -exec gzip {} \;

# Move compressed logs to archive
find ${LOG_DIR} -name "*.log.gz" -mtime +${RETENTION_DAYS} \
    -exec mv {} ${ARCHIVE_DIR}/ \;

# Create integrity checksums
find ${ARCHIVE_DIR} -name "*.log.gz" -mtime -1 \
    -exec sha256sum {} \; >> ${ARCHIVE_DIR}/checksums.txt

# Delete archives beyond compliance period
find ${ARCHIVE_DIR} -name "*.log.gz" -mtime +${ARCHIVE_DAYS} -delete

# Generate compliance report
echo "Firewall Log Retention Report - $(date)" > /tmp/retention_report.txt
echo "Active Logs: $(find ${LOG_DIR} -name "*.log" | wc -l)" >> /tmp/retention_report.txt
echo "Archived Logs: $(find ${ARCHIVE_DIR} -name "*.log.gz" | wc -l)" >> /tmp/retention_report.txt
echo "Oldest Archive: $(ls -t ${ARCHIVE_DIR}/*.log.gz | tail -1)" >> /tmp/retention_report.txt

Effective firewall monitoring and logging transforms reactive security into proactive threat management. By implementing comprehensive logging strategies, real-time analysis, and actionable reporting, organizations gain deep visibility into their security posture. The investment in proper monitoring infrastructure pays dividends through faster incident response, improved security decision-making, and demonstrated compliance with regulatory requirements.