Audit trails play a critical role in detecting data breaches by maintaining a chronological record of system activities, user actions, and data access. They provide visibility into who accessed what data, when, and how, enabling organizations to identify suspicious or unauthorized behavior.
For example, if an employee accesses sensitive customer records outside normal working hours, the audit trail will log this event. Security teams can review the trail to detect anomalies, such as repeated failed login attempts or access to files without proper authorization, which may indicate a breach.
In cloud environments, services like Tencent Cloud's Cloud Audit (CAM Audit) automatically record API calls and user activities across resources. This helps track changes to configurations, data access patterns, and potential security incidents, ensuring compliance and faster breach detection.