Bonus Question: Are network time, logging, and synchronization mechanisms standardized across all devices and monitored for drift?

Why This Matters

Accurate time and consistent logs are critical for incident correlation and forensic accuracy. Clock drift can break event sequencing and weaken audit trails.

Maturity

0 — Unaware
No NTP configuration; logs unsynchronized.

1 — Ad Hoc
Some devices manually synced; no validation.

2 — Defined
Central NTP servers configured; manual drift checks.

3 — Managed
Automated synchronization and log timestamp validation.

4 — Integrated
NTP and log servers monitored for tampering or failures.

5 — Optimized
End-to-end log integrity validation integrated with SIEM analytics.

How to Level Up

| From → To | Actions | |—|—| | 0 → 1 |Enable NTP on all critical devices.|
| 1 → 2 |Use central, authenticated time sources.|
| 2 → 3 |Automate drift detection and alerting.|
| 3 → 4 |Integrate time and log servers with SIEM.|
| 4 → 5 |Implement log-integrity validation and tamper-proof storage. |

Enablers

People: Infrastructure Admin, SOC Analyst
Process: Configure → Monitor → Validate
Technology: NTP, Syslog, SIEM

Evidence

NTP configuration snapshots
Log correlation reports
Drift or sync-failure alerts

KPIs

Number of systems synchronized to NTP
Average clock drift across devices
Percentage of logs correlated by timestamp

Low-Cost / Open-Source Options (MSME)

Common Pitfalls

Using public NTP without authentication
Ignoring failed synchronization alerts
Logs with inconsistent time zones

Compliance Mapping