Availability Management: Assess
As with ITSCM, a record of Service and Component utilization constructed from log data can help identify the most critical assets to protect from Availability Incidents. There is strong correlation between Security Management and Availability Management as well. Even when IT Systems are technically available, data on the system can be Unavailable to a particular user if access rights are configured inappropriately. If Security is set too loosely, this results in Security, Privacy and Information Leakage risk for the organization. If Security is set too tightly, it will result in a higher Availability Incident rate because customers can’t access the data they need when they need it.
Therefore it is recommended that access to information is not restricted too tightly. It is better to err on the side of giving employees and customers access to information, while at the same time monitoring access to that information via log intelligence. Log monitoring provides a complete audit trail of user activity and acts as a powerful deterrent of misuse while maintaining Availability of Service.