Information
This policy setting allows you to audit attempts to access a shared folder.
The recommended state for this setting is: 'Success and Failure'.
Note: There are no system access control lists (SACLs) for shared folders. If this policy setting is enabled, access to all shared folders on the system is audited.
Rationale:
In an enterprise managed environment, workstations should have limited file sharing activity, as file servers would normally handle the overall burden of file sharing activities. Any unusual file sharing activity on workstations may therefore be useful in an investigation of potentially malicious activity.
Solution
To establish the recommended configuration via GP, set the following UI path to 'Success and Failure':
Computer Configuration\Policies\Windows Settings\Security Settings\Advanced Audit Policy Configuration\Audit Policies\Object Access\Audit File Share
Impact:
If no audit settings are configured, or if audit settings are too lax on the computers in your organization, security incidents might not be detected or not enough evidence will be available for network forensic analysis after security incidents occur.
However, if audit settings are too severe, critically important entries in the Security log may be obscured by all of the meaningless entries and computer performance and the available amount of data storage may be seriously affected.
Companies that operate in certain regulated industries may have legal obligations to log certain events or activities.