17.6.2 (L1) Ensure 'Audit File Share' is set to 'Success and Failure'

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.

In an enterprise managed environment, it's important to track deletion, creation, modification, and access events for network shares. Any unusual file sharing activity may 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.

See Also

https://workbench.cisecurity.org/benchmarks/16913