CMMC Level 2

Control 3.3.4

Alert on Audit Logging Process Failure

CMMC-RP Certified Team 24+ Years Experience CMMC-AB RPO #1449

Official Requirement

Alert in the event of an audit logging process failure.

What This Means in Plain English

If your logging system stops working or a system stops sending logs, you need to be immediately notified. An attacker's first move is often to disable logging, so logging failures are themselves a critical security event.

How Petronella Implements This Control

Petronella Technology Group implements this control through:

  • Arctic Wolf SIEM heartbeat monitoring alerting when log sources stop sending data
  • Automated email and SMS alerts to the security team when any log source goes silent for 15+ minutes
  • Sophos XDR agent health monitoring detecting endpoint logging failures
  • FortiGate syslog destination health checks with failover to secondary collector
  • ComplianceArmor incident playbook for audit logging failure response

Assessment Guidance

Assessors will verify that alerting is configured for audit logging failures, test by disabling a log source and confirming alert generation, review alert response procedures, and check that logging failure alerts are sent to appropriate personnel.

Common Implementation Gaps

  • No monitoring of logging system health
  • SIEM not configured to detect missing log sources
  • No alerts when endpoints stop sending logs
  • Logging failures go unnoticed for days or weeks
  • No documented response procedure for logging failures

Cross-Framework Mapping

FrameworkMapped Controls
NIST SP 800-53AU-5
PCI DSSReq 10.7 - Retain audit trail history
CP
By Craig Petronella
Founder, Petronella Technology Group | CMMC-RP (RPO #1449) | DFE #604180 | MIT-Certified in AI and Blockchain
Craig has helped North Carolina defense contractors prepare for CMMC assessments since 2002 and authored the CMMC 2.0 Certification Guide. Read the LinkedIn profile or verify the RPO listing at the CyberAB Marketplace.

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