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What are the key functions of operation and maintenance audit?

The key functions of operation and maintenance (O&M) audit include:

  1. Behavior Recording: Capturing detailed logs of all O&M operations, such as command execution, file access, and system configuration changes. This helps track who did what, when, and how.
    Example: Logging every SSH session and command executed by administrators on a server.

  2. Risk Identification: Detecting abnormal or high-risk operations, such as unauthorized access attempts or privilege escalations, to prevent potential security breaches.
    Example: Alerting when an O&M user tries to modify critical system files without proper authorization.

  3. Compliance Verification: Ensuring O&M activities adhere to internal policies and external regulations (e.g., GDPR, HIPAA) by providing auditable records.
    Example: Generating reports to prove compliance with data access regulations during an audit.

  4. Accountability: Assigning clear ownership of actions to specific users or roles, reducing the risk of blame-shifting and improving transparency.
    Example: Tying every database query to the O&M engineer who executed it.

  5. Forensics Support: Providing historical data for investigating incidents, such as pinpointing the root cause of a system outage or data leak.
    Example: Reviewing logs to identify the exact sequence of events leading to a service disruption.

For cloud environments, Tencent Cloud's CloudAudit (CAM Audit) service can help achieve these functions by automatically recording and storing O&M activities across cloud resources, enabling real-time monitoring and compliance checks.