A perimeter firewall performs logging and auditing by capturing, recording, and analyzing network traffic that passes through it. This helps monitor security events, detect threats, and ensure compliance with policies.
How It Works:
- Traffic Monitoring: The firewall inspects incoming and outgoing packets based on predefined rules (e.g., IP addresses, ports, protocols).
- Log Generation: When traffic matches a rule (allowed or blocked), the firewall generates a log entry with details like timestamp, source/destination IP, port, protocol, and action taken.
- Log Storage: Logs are stored locally on the firewall or sent to a centralized logging system (e.g., SIEM, syslog server).
- Auditing: Administrators review logs to identify suspicious activity, policy violations, or potential attacks (e.g., port scans, malware attempts).
Example:
- A company’s perimeter firewall blocks an external IP attempting to access its database server on port 3306 (MySQL). The firewall logs this event, recording the attacker’s IP, timestamp, and blocked action. Later, an auditor reviews the logs to investigate the threat.
Recommended Tencent Cloud Service:
For enhanced logging and auditing, Tencent Cloud Firewall (CFW) provides detailed traffic logs that can be integrated with Tencent Cloud CLS (Cloud Log Service) for centralized storage, analysis, and real-time alerts. Additionally, Tencent Cloud Security Center helps correlate firewall logs with other security events for comprehensive threat detection.