🧠 AuditSec Intel™ 1080
“The Detection Delusion: Why Logs Exist but Attacks Still Go Unseen”
🔍 Introduction — The Comforting Lie
Most organizations confidently say:
“Yes, we have logs.”
But 2025 breach investigations revealed a brutal truth:
Logs exist — but detection fails.
Security teams collected terabytes of logs,
yet attackers lived inside environments for weeks or months without alerts that mattered.
This is the Detection Delusion.
⚠️ 2025 Breach Pattern — Logging ≠ Detection
CISORadar Incident Analysis
| Environment | Logging Status | What Failed | Outcome |
|---|---|---|---|
| On-prem AD | Logs enabled | No correlation | Privilege escalation |
| Cloud IAM | Audit logs on | No alert logic | Token abuse |
| EDR | Events captured | No response trigger | Ransomware |
| SIEM | Data ingested | No use cases | Silent breach |
| SOC | Dashboards built | Alert fatigue | Missed intrusion |
💬 CISORadar Insight:
“Logs don’t stop attacks.
Detection logic does.”
🧩 Ignored Control
ISO 27001 A.8.15 / NIST AU-6, AU-12
Log Effectiveness & Security Monitoring
| Control Area | Objective | Common Failure |
|---|---|---|
| Log Coverage | Capture security events | Partial sources |
| Log Integrity | Prevent tampering | No immutability |
| Use-Case Design | Detect attack patterns | Generic alerts |
| Alert Quality | Actionable signals | Noise overload |
| Response Linkage | Detect → respond | Disconnected SOC |
| Review Cadence | Tune detections | Static rules |
💬 CISORadar Observation:
“Organizations measure how many logs they store —
not how many attacks they detect.”
🧠 CISORadar Control Test of the Week
Control Reference: ISO 27001 A.8.15 / NIST AU-6
Objective: Prove detection is effective, not just present.
🔍 Test Steps
1️⃣ Identify top 10 breach-relevant attack paths
2️⃣ Map required detection use cases
3️⃣ Verify log sources feed those detections
4️⃣ Test alert firing with simulated activity
5️⃣ Measure time-to-detect (TTD)
6️⃣ Measure time-to-respond (TTR)
7️⃣ Calculate Log Effectiveness Score (LES)
✅ Expected Outcomes
- Detection aligned to real attack paths
- Alerts trigger responses, not dashboards
- No blind spots in identity, cloud, or lateral movement
- Board-visible detection effectiveness
Suggested Tools:
SIEM | SOAR | EDR | UEBA | CISORadar Detection Lens
🧨 Real Case — “The Logs Nobody Read”
A financial services firm:
- Logged every authentication event
- Stored logs for 12 months
- Had a SIEM dashboard
Attackers:
- Used valid credentials
- Escalated privileges
- Moved laterally
- Exfiltrated data
Detection came… 147 days later.
Impact:
₹690 Crore loss + regulator action.
Lesson:
“Logging without detection is digital theater.”
[Note – Fictitious for educational purposes only.]
🚀 CISORadar Impact Model — Log Effectiveness Score (LES)
| Metric | Before CISORadar | After CISORadar |
|---|---|---|
| Log Coverage | Broad | Targeted |
| Detection Use Cases | Generic | Attack-aligned |
| Mean TTD | 96 Days | 12 Minutes |
| Alert Quality | Low | Actionable |
| Board Visibility | None | Direct |
🧭 Leadership Takeaway
Boards must stop asking:
❌ “Do we have logs?”
And start asking:
✅ “What attacks can we detect?”
✅ “How fast will we know?”
✅ “Which alerts matter?”
Because in modern security:
Detection speed determines damage.
CISORadar transforms logging from compliance noise into attack intelligence.
📩 Download
Log Effectiveness Audit Checklist + LES Scorecard
(ISO 27001 / NIST AU-6)
Available inside the CISORadar Cyber Authority Community.
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