Aviz Networks details federal logging gap under OMB M-21-31

Federal agencies are being asked to pair existing log stacks with wire-level telemetry so investigators can retain visibility when devices are compromised. The article ties this requirement to OMB M-21-31 and NIST SP 800-92r1, with a focus on meeting logging maturity goals without replacing current SIEM and observability systems.

Research Overview

The post centers on federal logging guidance issued after the SolarWinds and Microsoft Exchange incidents. It says those events showed that device and application logs can be incomplete or subject to tampering once an attacker gains access.

The article describes M-21-31 as defining three event logging maturity levels for civilian agencies: basic, intermediate, and advanced. It also says the implementation deadline has passed, but the visibility problem behind the memo remains.

Key Findings

The article argues that logs generated by endpoints and applications cannot be treated as a complete record because the systems producing them may already be under attacker control. It points to MITRE ATT&CK techniques for deleting, disabling, or filtering logs as examples of how defenders can lose visibility.

It also states that East-West traffic remains a gap for many agencies, even when they have basic and intermediate logging in place. According to the post, that gap limits the ability to reach the highest logging maturity level described in the memo.

Technical Breakdown

The article says packet-derived telemetry provides a record captured on the wire, rather than from a device reporting on its own activity. In that framing, a compromised host cannot alter the wire-level record after the traffic has crossed the network.

It links this approach to NIST SP 800-92r1, which it describes as emphasizing telemetry assurance. The post says the definition of a federal log is shifting toward network data that is less exposed to tampering.

Product Update

The post presents Aviz Deep Network Observability as a way to collect continuous, wire-level telemetry without replacing existing tools. It says the platform ingests traffic through Tap or SPAN and delivers optimized packets and metadata to security and observability systems already in use.

According to the article, the platform can provide packet-derived metadata such as DNS details, application names, session information, TLS posture, and flows. It also says the product can feed SIEM, NDR, IDS, NPM, and AIOps tools across datacenter, hybrid cloud, edge, and remote environments.

Operational Impact

The article says agencies that rely only on logs may still miss lateral movement, encrypted traffic abuse, and anomalous DNS activity. It cites a customer deployment in which packet-derived metadata exposed East-West attacks, expired SSL certificates, unapproved AI platform use, and DNS activity not visible in device logs.

It concludes that logging improvements alone do not resolve the visibility gap needed for EL3. The post says continuous wire-level capture is intended to supplement current SIEM and IDS tools rather than replace them.

This Blog Summary is a fact-based summary of the vendor blog and is intended for enterprise decision-makers evaluating logging maturity, network visibility, and telemetry assurance.

Blog post, originally published by Ram Mohan Hariprasad at aviznetworks.com.