When it comes to auditing mailboxes, the job can be daunting. That’s why I want to share my success tips for mastering mailbox auditing in Exchange & Microsoft 365 (M365).
Whether you’re a seasoned veteran or just starting out in M365 administration, learning how to audit mailboxes can help you gain visibility into the activity going on in your environment and understand how changes affect users and data. With mailbox auditing, you can start tracking user and administrator activities that are recorded in logs so that you’ll be able to detect any suspicious activity and take action quickly.
In this article, I’ll share my best practices for configuring mailbox audits so that you can confidently audit mailboxes in Exchange & M365 with minimal effort.
What Is Mailbox Auditing and Why Is It Important?
Mailbox auditing is a powerful tool that allows Exchange and Microsoft 365 administrators to monitor user activity across their organization. The audit log keeps a record of user actions such as when they log in, move an item, delete an item, etc. The audit log records the date and time of the action along with the user’s identity, so admins can easily identify who did what and when.
By monitoring mailbox activity in this way, you can maintain compliance with industry regulations and company policies by keeping an eye on user activities. It also helps you identify suspicious behavior from both internal and external sources, allowing you to quickly take action to mitigate any issues or threats before they become a problem.
For instance, knowing which users have accessed or attempted to access certain documents can help you spot malicious behavior or unauthorized attempts to access sensitive data. With mailbox auditing in place, admins are presented with clear visibility into user activities and can quickly identify discrepancies.
Exchange Online & Microsoft 365 Mailbox Auditing
If you’re looking for an effective way to stay on top of mailbox activity in Exchange Online and Microsoft 365, mailbox auditing offers a great solution. By enabling this feature, you can keep track of many aspects of mailbox activity, like when messages have been sent, deleted or moved. It also provides an audit log of who makes changes to each mailbox.
Enabling the mailbox auditing feature is the first step in keeping track of activity in your environment. Here’s a quick checklist to make sure you’re getting the most out of your audit log:
- Enable mailbox auditing for all mailboxes in your organization.
- Create a custom policy that takes into account any special requirements you may have for specific mailboxes or users (for example, email accounts for partners and vendors).
- Set up email alerts so that certain events will trigger notifications and keep you informed about changes made within your environment.
- Monitor the audit log regularly and take action if any suspicious activities are detected (like multiple failed login attempts).
- Set up retention policies to make sure that the audit logs are kept up-to-date but not overwritten by older records.
Audit logging can be a powerful tool, but it requires due diligence on your part to use it effectively and keep your users’ data secure.
How to Enable Mailbox Auditing
Wouldn’t it be great if you knew exactly who had been logging into what mailbox, and when? Well, Mailbox Auditing in Exchange and Microsoft 365 makes this possible! But before you can start auditing, you need to know how to enable it.
Here’s how to get started:
- In the Exchange Admin Center (EAC), navigate to recipients > mailboxes.
- Select the mailbox you want to audit and then click the Edit icon in the In-Place Archive List View.
- On the mailbox properties page, select Mailbox Features > Mailbox Audit Logging > Edit.
- Select Enable for all administrators or non-owners and choose whether you’d like to audit deletion of messages from administrator only or both administrator and non-owner users as well as other options for selecting what types of activities to audit for both groups of users.
- Click Save once all the settings are configured properly and then click OK from the mailbox properties page.
And now you’re set! Mailbox Auditing in Exchange and Microsoft 365 makes it easy for administrators to keep track of who is accessing mailboxes, when they accessed them, what type of activity occurred during that access, and more—even allowing them to restore deleted messages as needed
Different Types of Mx Audits
When it comes to mailbox auditing in Exchange and Microsoft 365, there are different types of audits you should be aware of. Whether you’re a newbie or an experienced IT pro, understanding the various types of mailbox audit logging is essential.
Recipient Auditing
The first type of audit is recipient auditing, which takes place when an email recipient interacts with a message that was sent to them. This type of audit logs information about the recipient’s interactions with the message, like when they opened it, if they printed it, or if they forwarded it along to another user.
Admin Audit Logging
The second type of mailbox auditing is admin audit logging. This type is triggered when an admin performs an action on a user’s mailbox like deleting or editing messages. This audit logs information about the operation performed—not only who initiated the action, but also what actions were taken and the date and time that those actions took place.
Finally, there is Modern & Unified Audit Logging. This type of audit works across Exchange Online & SharePoint Online/OneDrive for Business and Office 365 Groups/Teams Audit Logs. It provides detailed information related to write operations on user mailboxes including when someone sent or received emails and accesses attachments. Information will also be logged if someone has edited or deleted files from OneDrive for Business or Teams/Groups sites.
Overall, understanding these different types of mailbox auditing in Microsoft 365 is important for any IT pro who wants to ensure their organization is compliant with regulations regarding message archiving and data protection.
Best Practices for Audit Logging
Audit logging is a powerful tool for mailbox auditing in Exchange and Microsoft 365, but it can be confusing to get started. Here are some best practices that you should consider using:
Configure mailbox audit logging settings
The first step is to ensure that you have the right settings configured. You’ll want to make sure that you have the parameters set properly, so that all of the data you need is being logged, and only the data you want logged is being tracked.
Use a Good Security Policy
Good security policies can help protect your business from potential threats. Make sure that your policy clearly defines who has access to audit information and what categories of events will be logged. This will help ensure compliance with laws and regulations and keep your data secure.
Monitor Audits Regularly
You won’t know what’s happening if you aren’t regularly checking your audit logs. Make sure to set up a schedule for monitoring, so that you can stay on top of changes quickly and accurately. This will help prevent any malicious activity from slipping through the cracks.
Use Automation Whenever Possible
Automation can help make audit logging more efficient and accurate by automating certain tasks, such as log analysis or alerting when specific activity is detected. This can help reduce manual tasks, while still providing valuable insights into user activity in your environment
Advanced Audit Logging Options
Your audit log stores a wealth of valuable information and can be used to gain insight into everything happening in your Exchange and Microsoft 365 environment. But did you know that there are advanced audit logging options available?
Yes, you can configure your mailbox audit logging to capture more comprehensive detail.
Mailbox Access Auditing
Mailbox access auditing allows you to track activities like when a mailbox was accessed, what type of access it was (e.g., Full Access, Read Only, etc.), who the user was, and more. You can also set up notification alerts for any suspicious login activity or failure attempts for added security.
Mailbox Folder Auditing
This type of auditing keeps a record of when folders within the mailbox are added, changed, or deleted. So if someone changes a folder in a shared mailbox or if there’s any unauthorized folder tampering happening, you’ll know right away with this feature enabled.
With these advanced audit logging options enabled in Exchange and Microsoft 365 environment, you’ll be able to get the most out of your audit logs and maximize the security of your data.
Conclusion
In short, mailbox auditing can be a powerful tool for analyzing and tracking user activity within Exchange and Microsoft 365. However, to get the most out of it, it’s important to ensure that all of your systems are configured properly and follow best practices for mailbox auditing.
Take some time to ensure that all of your users have the correct permissions granted and to make sure that your audit settings are configured properly. This will help ensure that data is collected accurately and that it is stored securely and properly.
Mastering mailbox auditing can help provide a better understanding of user activity within your Exchange and Microsoft 365 environments and can help keep your organization’s data secure and compliant with the appropriate regulatory standards and requirements. Implementing mailbox auditing can also provide insights into user access patterns and aid in identifying incidents or anomalous activity.