Keeping an Eye on SQL Server Login History

Whenever a user logs in into a SQL Server database, there should be a legitimate business need behind their actions. Any unauthorized access can signal privilege abuse or identity theft, which can lead to a data breach or other damage none of us wants to deal with. To prevent such security issues, you need to do more than simply monitor database activity and manage passwords. You also need to keep abreast of SQL Server login history with an audit trail that delivers comprehensive details about every change and access event in your SQL Server databases.

Tracking SQL Server user login history with built-in tools

To strengthen security and ensure your security controls align with the data privacy policy in your organization, you need detailed information about who tried to access your SQL databases, when it happened and what actions were performed, such as which specific data was changed or which table was deleted. If you use the built-in SQL Server tools, you’ll need to write queries to get, for example, the login history of a specific user. That means you need to be fluent in Transact-SQL; otherwise, important details can simply go under your radar. Another inconvenience in using the native tools to understand user login statistics when you start viewing the audit data:  The list of events is presented in a hard-to-read format, so putting the pieces of the puzzle together will require some time and effort. Are you ready to stop wasting your time on this manual work and leave it to a solution you can trust?

Saving time staying abreast of SQL Server login history with Netwrix Auditor

Simply recording SQL Server login history is not enough to ensure system security. You need complete visibility that provides insight into all activity in your databases, including not just the logins themselves, but what actions were performed, when and by whom, so you can spot privilege abuse or other aberrant activity before a breach occurs.

With Netwrix Auditor for SQL Server at hand, you can:

  • Stay on top of every attempt, both successful and failed, to access your production databases, so you can check whether each attempt was legitimate and detect privilege abuse faster.
  • Keep track of changes to database objects, permissions, instances and more in order to identify threatening activity faster and strengthen your SQL Server security.
  • Slash time on report preparation and stay informed about the logon activity and changes that you deem most critical by subscribing to the reports you need.
  • Investigate anomalous logons or other suspicious activity faster with the Google-like interactive search.  
  • Be the first to know about critical actions, such as multiple failed logons or unnecessary logons to highly sensitive assets. Netwrix Auditor’s alerts help you minimize the risk of privilege abuse and data breaches.
  • Pass compliance audits more easily than ever before by keeping your SQL Server login history in a two-tiered (file-based + SQL Server database) storage for years and having easy access to it at any time.

All SQL Server Logons report from Netwrix Auditor: Action, Logon Type, Who and When