logging

name	logging
description	Enforce logging of access to sensitive external data sources in AI systems. Use when designing, building, or reviewing audit and logging capabilities for AI systems accessing external databases or data services.
metadata	{"category":"secure_development","subcategory":"external-data-source"}

Logging for External Data Source Access

Security Requirement

If the data contained and served by external data sources is sensitive, accesses to them MUST be logged. The product SHOULD have the functionality to send these events to an external logging facility using industry standards.

What to Log

Event	Details to Capture
Data access	Who accessed what data, when, from where
Data modification	Who modified what data, what changed
Access denial	Failed access attempts (authentication or authorization failures)
Bulk operations	Large data exports or queries
Connection events	Connection establishment and teardown
Schema changes	Structural changes to data sources

Logging Requirements

Requirement	Details
External logging facility	Logs must be sendable to an external SIEM or logging platform
Industry standard protocols	Use syslog, OTLP, Fluentd, or equivalent
Structured format	JSON with consistent field names
Principal identity	Every log entry includes the authenticated principal
Configurable	Customers must be able to configure the external log destination
Non-repudiation	Logs should not be modifiable by the application

Log Safety

Rule	Rationale
No secrets in logs	Credentials, API keys, and session tokens must never appear in log output
No PII in logs	Personally identifiable information creates compliance and privacy risks
No session identifiers	Session IDs in logs can enable session hijacking
Log injection prevention	Untrusted input in logs can exploit log viewers (XSS, RCE in parsers); sanitize all values before logging
Trusted system logging	Logging controls must run on a trusted system (server-side), not client-side

What to Log

Log both success and failure of security events:

• Authentication attempts, especially failures
• Access control failures
• Tampering events (unexpected state changes)
• Invalid or expired session token usage
• System exceptions
• Administrative functions and security configuration changes
• Bulk data operations and large exports

Log Transport

• Use standard protocols such as Syslog (rsyslog with TLS) or OTLP
• Encrypt log transport when possible
• For cloud services, forward to the corporate SIEM (e.g., Splunk)
• Restrict log access to authorized individuals only

Implementation Checklist

• Implement access logging for all connections to sensitive external data sources
• Include principal identity, operation, timestamp, and data accessed in log entries
• Provide functionality to forward logs to an external logging facility
• Support industry standard log protocols (syslog, OTLP, Fluentd)
• Use structured JSON format for log entries
• Make the external log destination configurable by the deploying organization
• Log access denials and authentication failures
• Log authentication successes, admin actions, and security config changes
• Ensure logs are tamper-protected (forward to immutable storage)
• No secrets, PII, or session identifiers appear in log output
• Log entries with untrusted data are sanitized to prevent injection
• Log transport is encrypted (rsyslog with TLS, OTLP over TLS)
• Log access is restricted to authorized individuals