In every tech environment, both OT and IT, many of your systems are constantly generating logs: records of logins, connections, blocked traffic, process starts, and more. If you’ve ever had to investigate an incident, you know how critical these records are. They can tell the story of what happened, when it started, and what systems were touched.
In practice, however, many organizations collect logs but rarely monitor them. Logs often end up stored for compliance purposes and only reviewed after an incident has already occurred. But logs aren’t just a forensic resource; they can also serve as early warning signals.
Patterns in the data often reveal suspicious activity long before it escalates into a major event. Guidance from frameworks like the CIS Critical Security Controls and NIST emphasizes the importance of collecting, reviewing, and retaining logs as a core part of a strong security program. Similarly, the MITRE ATT&CK framework highlights how log evidence maps directly to attacker behaviors such as brute force, lateral movement, and persistence.
Patterns often hide in log data, and when you know how to look for them, they can tell you a lot about what’s happening in your environment. There’s nothing exciting about manually watching logs scroll by, but with a solution like Industrial Defender you can uncover patterns that may indicate security issues worth investigating.
Take brute-force login attempts as an example. Imagine an outsider is trying to gain access into your system by guessing passwords. In your logs, this shows up as a string of failed login attempts in a short time window. Maybe it’s happening well outside of working hours. You might even see the same pattern across multiple systems. Put together, those entries are no longer just noise, they’re a signal that someone is probing for access.
Firewall logs tell another story. A single blocked connection is routine, but when you start seeing repeated denied outbound traffic to strange or unfamiliar IP addresses, that’s different. It could be an indication of malware on a device trying to “phone home.” Industrial Defender makes it possible to review actual firewall activity alongside asset data, so those suspicious patterns are easier to spot and put into operational context.
Workstation logs are also critical. Windows Security Events, for example, can reveal when new permissions are suddenly added, services are installed or running unexpectedly, or audit logs are being cleared. As everyday users of these workstations, such events can easily be overlooked or ignored. Industrial Defender can be set to prioritize the important ones and alert teams accordingly.
Logs should also be reviewed in tandem with network anomalies. Some issues surface first in IDS alerts, like a user logging in from an unexpected geography or a sudden surge of devices all connecting to a single host. Monitoring related logs (such as VPN connections, authentication attempts, or device activity) provides the context needed to confirm, prioritize, and investigate these alerts. Industrial Defender makes it easy to connect these pieces, combining log review with integrated IDS capabilities for a more complete picture of what’s happening in your environment.
There are a few reasons why logs don’t get the attention they deserve:
The result is that logs get treated as an archive for compliance and forensics, rather than as a living, breathing security tool.
With Industrial Defender, you don’t have to manually sift through logs hoping to catch suspicious patterns. The platform automatically monitors log files, turns routine entries into meaningful events, and alerts your team when something needs attention.
Industrial Defender makes log data more useful by combining log management with OT asset visibility and compliance in a single platform. It can handle virtually any text-based log and also receive Syslog directly from application servers, firewalls, and other critical systems. This breadth of coverage makes it possible to centralize more data sources in one place and see the full picture.
Because every log entry is tied to asset inventory, security teams can see not just what happened, but where it happened and how critical the affected system is to operations.
This approach makes it possible to:
And because Industrial Defender integrates with SIEM and SOAR platforms, log data and events can flow seamlessly into existing SOC workflows for deeper correlation, advanced analysis, and automated response.
Stay Vigilant with Logs
Logs might sound basic — and they are. But the basics are critical to get right in OT cybersecurity. They can help you catch problems early, guide investigations, and provide the audit-ready records needed to prove compliance.
By making log management part of your OT cybersecurity strategy, you align with best practices recommended by frameworks like CIS Controls, NIST CSF, and MITRE ATT&CK, and you give your team the visibility and vigilance needed to detect risks sooner and keep operations running securely.
