LaserVault Boosts Compliance Efforts with New Audit Log

by Alex Woodie

Finding out exactly who logged onto the file server and when they downloaded a confidential report is a piece of cake with the new audit log that Electronic Storage Corp.'s (ESC) added to its LaserVault Reports software this month. The new capability allows administrators to run queries against the log to check for specific activities, such as logging onto the LaserVault server or printing a report, and should help companies with their compliance efforts, ESC says.

LaserVault Reports is a Windows-based application that archives and indexes spool files and other reports as they are generated from host systems, which could be mainframe, Unix, or Windows servers, but most commonly is an OS/400 server. Once the reports are housed on the inexpensive Windows 2000 or Windows Server 2003 box, users can then search for and pull up the reports at anytime from LaserVault's Windows, Web, or 5250 interface.

LaserVault already featured multiple layers of security, including password-protected access to documents and LDAP integration for identity management. The new audit log feature ESC added to LaserVault version 5.023 this month should provide even tighter security by tracking all activity within the LaserVault system, whether it was authorized or not.

The new audit log records practically every event occurring in the system, including logins, logouts, look-ups, key selects, and printing. Each event is recorded and correlated with a report and an event agent, along with the exact date and time, accurate to one-hundredth of a second, ESC says.

Administrators can query the audit log (which is based on Microsoft's Access technology) by date, report name, user name, archive, and archive date. Results can be exported to Microsoft Excel spreadsheets with the click of the button for further analysis or backup when the log gets too big. Administrators can also turn the audit log on or off, and purge its entries.

Alfred Jensen, a LaserVault spokesman, says the audit log can be used for complying with new regulations, and also for determining how much money LaserVault saves users. "Demonstrating return on investment is now more important than ever. This feature will help provide evidence of value beyond savings on green bar paper," Jensen says.

The LaserVault product updates have been coming steadily out of Tulsa, Oklahoma, where ESC is headquartered. Earlier this month, ESC unveiled a new "TaskAide" feature that allows managers to define the sequence that employees will complete their tasks, and then manage the routing of supporting documents among employees (see "Electronic Storage Unveils New Workflow System for LaserVault").

The new audit log and TaskAide features are available now as add-ons to previous releases of LaserVault Reports, and will be included with an upcoming release that will also feature new records management functions, Jensen says.

Pricing for LaserVault Reports starts at about $7,500 for a three-user license. For more information, go to www.elstore.com.