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Netwrix Auditor User Guide

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0% found this document useful (0 votes)
262 views

Netwrix Auditor User Guide

Uploaded by

Amine Atmania
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 102

Netwrix Auditor

User Guide
Version: 10
9/14/2021
Legal Notice

The information in this publication is furnished for information use only, and does not constitute a
commitment from Netwrix Corporation of any features or functions, as this publication may describe
features or functionality not applicable to the product release or version you are using. Netwrix makes
no representations or warranties about the Software beyond what is provided in the License
Agreement. Netwrix Corporation assumes no responsibility or liability for the accuracy of the
information presented, which is subject to change without notice. If you believe there is an error in this
publication, please report it to us in writing.

Netwrix is a registered trademark of Netwrix Corporation. The Netwrix logo and all other Netwrix
product or service names and slogans are registered trademarks or trademarks of Netwrix
Corporation. Microsoft, Active Directory, Exchange, Exchange Online, Office 365, SharePoint, SQL
Server, Windows, and Windows Server are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft
Corporation in the United States and/or other countries. All other trademarks and registered
trademarks are property of their respective owners.

Disclaimers

This document may contain information regarding the use and installation of non-Netwrix products.
Please note that this information is provided as a courtesy to assist you. While Netwrix tries to ensure
that this information accurately reflects the information provided by the supplier, please refer to the
materials provided with any non-Netwrix product and contact the supplier for confirmation. Netwrix
Corporation assumes no responsibility or liability for incorrect or incomplete information provided
about non-Netwrix products.

© 2021 Netwrix Corporation.

All rights reserved.

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Table of Contents
1. Introduction 7

1.1. Netwrix Auditor Features and Benefits 7

1.2. How It Works 11

1.2.1. Workflow Stages 12

1.3. Product Editions 12

2. First Launch 17

3. Home Screen (Navigation) 19

3.1. Home screen tiles 19

3.1.1. “Welcome to Netwrix Auditor” tile 19

3.1.2. AuditIntelligence tiles 20

3.1.3. Configuration tile 21

3.2. Risk assessment, Compliance mapping, Live news, and Health tiles 21

3.3. Favorite reports 22

3.4. Other 22

3.5. Customize Home screen 23

3.6. Customizing Favorite reports 24

3.6.1. Other actions for Favorite reports 25

3.7. Customization examples 27

3.7.1. View a report and add it your Favorites 27

3.7.2. Run a search and create alert based on it 28

3.7.3. Review risks and pin an important one to the home screen 29

3.7.4. What is next? 29

4. View and Search Collected Data 30

4.1. Browsing Your Audit Data 31

4.1.1. Examining Activity Record in Detail 32

4.1.2. Troubleshooting Tips 32

4.2. Use Filters (Simple Mode) 33

4.2.1. Filter Types 33

4.2.2. Modifying and Removing Filters 35

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4.2.3. Exporting and Importing Filters 35

4.3. Customize View 36

4.4. Advanced Mode 36

4.4.1. Apply Additional Filters 36

4.4.2. Search Conditions 40

4.5. Include and Exclude Data 43

4.6. Save Search Query Results 44

5. Reports and Report Packs 46

5.1. Viewing Reports 46

5.1.1. Troubleshooting 47

5.1.2. Using Report Filters 48

5.2. Predefined Reports 49

5.2.1. Overview Dashboards 50

5.2.2. Organization Level Reports 53

5.2.3. Change and Activity Reports 54

5.2.4. State–in–Time Reports 56

5.2.4.1. Baseline Reports 58

5.2.5. User Behavior and Blind Spot Analysis Reports 59

5.2.6. Interactive Reports for Change Management Workflow 61

5.2.7. Reports with Video 63

5.3. Compliance Reports 64

5.3.1. Compliance mappings 65

5.4. Custom Search-Based Reports 65

6. Alerts 68

6.1. Create Alerts 68

6.2. Manage Alerts 72

6.3. Configure a Response Action for Alert 73

6.3.1. Writing data to CSV file 75

6.4. Alerts overview 76

7. IT Risk Assessment Overview 79

7.1. Providing Data for Risk Assessment 79

7.2. Required Monitoring Plan Settings 80

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7.3. IT Risk Assessment Dashboard 83

7.3.1. Customizing Metrics for Your Organization 84

7.3.2. Delivering Assessment Results as a File 86

7.4. How Risk Levels Are Estimated 86

8. Behavior Anomalies 90

8.1. Review Behavior Anomalies Dashboard 90

8.2. Review User Profiles and Process Anomalies 92

8.2.1. Process Anomalies and Reduce Risk Score 93

8.2.2. Customize Anomalies List 94

8.3. Behavior Anomalies Assessment Tips and Tricks 94

9. Subscriptions 95

9.1. Subscription to Reports 95

9.2. Subscription to Search Results 95

9.3. Subscription to Risk Assessment Overview 95

9.4. Subscription to Behavior Anomalies 96

9.5. Create Subscriptions 96

9.6. Review and Manage Subscriptions 99

Index 101

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1. Introduction

1. Introduction
Looking for online version? Check out Netwrix Auditor help center.

This guide describes Intelligence features that help enable complete visibility in your environment. The
guide is intended for Netwrix Auditor users (both Reviewers and Global administrators) who want to take
advantage of searching and filtering of audit data in the easy–to–use searching interface, generating
system–specific and overview reports, etc.

After reading this guide you will be able to:

l Investigate incidents and browse your audit data with Google-like interactive search

l Generate reports and add filters

l Subscribe to important reports you want to receive on a regular basis

l Create alerts to stay notified on actions critical to your organization security

This guide is intended for developers and Managed Service Providers. It provides instructions on how to
use Netwrix Auditor Configuration API for managing Netwrix Auditor configuration objects.

NOTE: It assumed that document readers have prior experience with RESTful architecture and solid
understanding of HTTP protocol. Technology and tools overview is outside the scope of the
current guide.

The product functionality described in this guide applies to Netwrix Auditor Standard Edition. Note that
Free Community Edition provides limited functionality. See Product Editions for more information.

1.1. Netwrix Auditor Features and Benefits


Netwrix Auditor is a visibility platform for user behavior analysis and risk mitigation that enables control
over changes, configurations and access in hybrid IT environments to protect data regardless of its
location. The platform provides security analytics to detect anomalies in user behavior and investigate
threat patterns before a data breach occurs.

Netwrix Auditor includes applications for Active Directory, Active Directory Federation Services, Azure AD,
Exchange, Office 365, Windows file servers, EMC storage devices, NetApp filer appliances, Nutanix Files,
network devices, SharePoint, Oracle Database, SQL Server, VMware, Windows Server, and User Activity.
Empowered with a RESTful API, the platform delivers visibility and control across all of your on-premises
or cloud-based IT systems in a unified way.

Major benefits:

l Detect insider threats—on premises and in the cloud

l Pass compliance audits with less effort and expense

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l Increase productivity of IT security and operations teams

To learn how Netwrix Auditor can help your achieve your specific business objectives, refer to Netwrix
Auditor Best Practices Guide.

The table below provides an overview of each Netwrix Auditor application:

Application Features

Netwrix Auditor for Active Netwrix Auditor for Active Directory detects and reports on all
Directory changes made to the managed Active Directory domain, including AD
objects, Group Policy configuration, directory partitions, and more. It
makes daily snapshots of the managed domain structure that can be
used to assess its state at present or at any moment in the past. The
product provides logon activity summary, reports on interactive and
non-interactive logons including failed logon attempts.

Also, Netwrix Auditor for Active Directory helps address specific


tasks—detect and manage inactive users and expiring passwords. In
addition, Netwrix Auditor for Active Directory provides a stand-alone
Active Directory Object Restore tool that allows reverting unwanted
changes to AD objects down to their attribute level.

Netwrix Auditor for Azure AD Netwrix Auditor for Azure AD detects and reports on all changes
made to Azure AD configuration and permissions, including Azure AD
objects, user accounts, passwords, group membership, and more.
The products also reports on successful and failed logon attempts.

Netwrix Auditor for Exchange Netwrix Auditor for Exchange detects and reports on all changes
made to Microsoft Exchange configuration and permissions. In
addition, it tracks mailbox access events in the managed Exchange
organization, and notifies the users whose mailboxes have been
accessed by non–owners.

Netwrix Auditor for Exchange Netwrix Auditor for Exchange Online detects and reports on all
Online changes made to Microsoft Exchange Online.

The product provides auditing of configuration and permissions


changes. In addition, it tracks mailbox access events in the managed
Exchange Online organization, and notifies the users whose
mailboxes have been accessed by non–owners.

Netwrix Auditor for Netwrix Auditor for SharePoint Online detects and reports on all
SharePoint Online changes made to SharePoint Online.

The product reports on read access and changes made to SharePoint


Online sites, including modifications of content, security settings, and
sharing permissions. In addition to SharePoint Online, OneDrive for
Business changes are reported too.

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Application Features

Netwrix Auditor for Windows Netwrix Auditor for Windows File Servers detects and reports on all
File Servers changes made to Windows– based file servers, including
modifications of files, folders, shares and permissions, as well as
failed and successful access attempts.

Netwrix Auditor for EMC Netwrix Auditor for EMC detects and reports on all changes made to
EMC VNX/VNXe and Isilon storages, including modifications of files,
folders, shares and permissions, as well as failed and successful
access attempts.

Netwrix Auditor for NetApp Netwrix Auditor for NetApp detects and reports on all changes made
to NetApp Filer appliances both in cluster- and 7-modes, including
modifications of files, folders, shares and permissions, as well as
failed and successful access attempts.

Netwrix Auditor for Nutanix Netwrix Auditor for Nutanix Files detects and reports on changes
Files made to SMB shared folders, subfolders and files stored on the
Nutanix File Server, including failed and successful attempts.

Netwrix Auditor for Oracle Netwrix Auditor for Oracle Database detects and reports on all
Database changes made to your Oracle Database instance configuration,
privileges and security settings, including database objects and
directories, user accounts, audit policies, sensitive data, and triggers.
The product also reports on failed and successful access attempts.

Netwrix Auditor for Netwrix Auditor for SharePoint detects and reports on read access
SharePoint and changes made to SharePoint farms, servers and sites, including
modifications of content, security settings and permissions.

Netwrix Auditor for Netwrix Auditor for SQL Server detects and reports on all changes to
SQL Server SQL Server configuration, database content, and logon activity.

Netwrix Auditor for VMware Netwrix Auditor for VMware detects and reports on all changes made
to ESX servers, folders, clusters, resource pools, virtual machines and
their virtual hardware configuration.

Netwrix Auditor for Windows Netwrix Auditor for Windows Server detects and reports on all
Server changes made to Windows– based server configuration, including
hardware devices, drivers, software, services, applications,
networking settings, registry settings, DNS, and more. It also provides
automatic consolidation and archiving of event logs data. With a
stand- alone Event Log Manager tool, Netwrix Auditor collects
Windows event logs from multiple computers across the network,
stores them centrally in a compressed format, and enables

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Application Features

convenient analysis of event log data.

Netwrix Auditor for User Netwrix Auditor for User Sessions detects and reports on all user
Activity actions during a session with the ability to monitor specific users,
applications and computers. The product can be configured to
capture a video of users' activity on the audited computers.

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1.2. How It Works


Netwrix Auditor provides comprehensive auditing of applications, platforms and storage systems.
Netwrix Auditor architecture and components interactions are shown in the figure below.

l Netwrix Auditor Server — the central component that handles the collection, transfer and
processing of audit data from the various data sources (audited systems). Data from the sources
not yet supported out of the box is collected using RESTful Integration API.

l Netwrix Auditor Client — a component that provides a friendly interface to authorized personnel
who can use this console UI to manage Netwrix Auditor settings, examine alerts, reports and search
results. Other users can obtain audit data by email or with 3rd party tools — for example, reports
can be provided to the management team via the intranet portal.

l Data sources — entities that represent the types of audited systems supported by Netwrix Auditor
(for example, Active Directory, Exchange Online, NetApp storage system, and so on), or the areas
you are interested in (Group Policy, User Activity, and others).

l Long-Term Archive — a file-based repository storage keeps the audit data collected from all your
data sources or imported using Integration API in a compressed format for a long period of time.
Default retention period is 120 months.

l Audit databases — these are Microsoft SQL Server databases used as operational storage. This
type of data storage allows you to browse recent data, run search queries, generate reports and
alerts.
Typically, data collected from the certain data source (for example, Exchange Server) is stored to the
dedicated Audit database and the long-term archive. So, you can configure as many databases as
the data sources you want to process. Default retention period for data stored in the Audit
database is 180 days.

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1.2.1. Workflow Stages


General workflow stages are as follows:

1. Authorized administrators prepare IT infrastructure and data sources they are going to audit, as
recommended in Netwrix Auditor documentation and industry best practices; they use Netwrix
Auditor client (management UI) to set up automated data processing.

2. Netwrix Auditor collects audit data from the specified data source (application, server, storage
system, and so on).

To provide a coherent picture of changes that occurred in the audited systems, Netwrix Auditor can
consolidate data from multiple independent sources (event logs, configuration snapshots, change
history records, etc.). This capability is implemented with Netwrix Auditor Server and Integration
API.

NOTE: For details on custom data source processing workflow, refer to the Integration API
documentation.

3. Audit data is stored to the Audit databases and the repository (Long-Term Archive) and preserved
there according to the corresponding retention settings.

4. Netwrix Auditor analyzes the incoming audit data and alerts appropriate staff about critical
changes, according to the built-in alerts you choose to use and any custom alerts you have created.
Authorized users use the Netwrix Auditor Client to view pre-built dashboards, run predefined
reports, conduct investigations, and create custom reports based on their searches. Other users
obtain the data they need via email or third-party tools.

5. To enable historical data analysis, Netwrix Auditor can extract data from the repository and import
it to the Audit database, where it becomes available for search queries and report generation.

1.3. Product Editions


Netwrix Auditor is available in three editions: full-featured Enterprise Advanced and limited Business
Essentials (that are activated with a license key), and the most limited Free Community Edition that is
distributed free of charge.

Netwrix Auditor Enterprise Advanced can be evaluated for 20 days. During this period you have free,
unlimited access to all features and functions. After the evaluation license expires, the product will
prompt you to supply a commercial license where you can choose if you want to stay on advanced
version or have limited set of functions available in Business Essentials. Alternatively, you can switch to
Free Community Edition.

Free Community Edition helps you maintain visibility into your environment by delivering daily reports
that summarize changes that took place in the last 24 hours. However, you will no longer be able to use
interactive search, predefined reports, alerts and dashboards, or store your security intelligence. After
switching to free mode, you may need to re-arrange your audit configuration due to the limitations.

When running Free Community Edition, at any time you can upgrade to Enterprise Advanced or Business
Essentials, simply by supplying a commercial license in Settings → Licenses.

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Refer to a table below to compare product editions.

Feature Free Business Enterprise Advanced


Community Essentials
Edition

Deployment options One Netwrix Multiple Multiple Netwrix Auditor


Auditor client Netwrix client s for Netwrix Auditor
instance per Auditor clients Server
one Netwrix for Netwrix
Auditor Auditor Server
Server

Role–based access and delegation – – +

Support plan Forum Full Full


support only

Automatic audit configuration + + +

Data sources

Active Directory (including Group One domain Unlimited Unlimited


Policy and Logon Activity) domains Up to
250 AD users

Azure AD One Office – Unlimited


365 tenant

Exchange One domain – Unlimited

EMC One server or – Unlimited


one file
share, or one
IP range, or
one OU

NetApp One server or – Unlimited


one file
share, or one
IP range, or
one OU

Windows File Servers One server or Up to 10 TB of Unlimited


one file data
share, or one
IP range, or

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Feature Free Business Enterprise Advanced


Community Essentials
Edition

one OU

Office 365 (including Exchange One Office – Unlimited


Online, SharePoint Online, and 365 tenant
OneDrive for Business)

Network Devices One network – Unlimited


device or one
IP range

Oracle Database One Oracle – Unlimited


Database
instance

SharePoint One – Unlimited


SharePoint
farm

SQL Server One SQL – Unlimited


Server
instance

VMware One VMware – Unlimited


Virtual Center

Windows Server One server or Up to 10 Unlimited


IP range or Windows
one Active Servers
Directory
container

Netwrix Auditor tools

Netwrix Auditor Object Restore for – + +


Active Directory

Netwrix Auditor Event Log Manager – + +

Netwrix Auditor Inactive User Tracker – + +

Netwrix Auditor Password Expiration – + +


Notifier

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Feature Free Business Enterprise Advanced


Community Essentials
Edition

Data collection details

Who – + +

What + + +

When + + +

Where + + +

Workstation + + +

User Activity video recording – + +

Intelligence

Activity Summary 1 recipient 2 recipients Multiple recipients

AuditArchive – Both Long- Both Long-Term Archive


Term Archive and Audit Database
and Audit
Database

Search – No user +
profile details
in Search

Reports (including organization–level – + +


reports, overview diagrams, change
and activity reports, reports with
video and review status) and special
report packs

State–in–time reports – No Risk +


Assessment
reports

Ability to save search as a custom – + +


report

Subscriptions – Up to 2 +
recipients

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Feature Free Business Enterprise Advanced


Community Essentials
Edition

Alerts – Up to 2 +
recipients of
alerts;

No tags in
alerts

Behavior Anomaly Discovery – – +


dashboard

IT Risk Assessment dashboard – – +

Netwrix Auditor Integration API

Data in – – +

Data out – – +

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2. First Launch

2. First Launch
To start using Netwrix Auditor

1. Navigate to Start → Netwrix Auditor.

2. Log into the product.

NOTE: This step is required if Netwrix Auditor is installed remotely (not on computer that hosts
Netwrix Auditor Server).

You can configure a single Netwrix Auditor client to work with several Netwrix Auditor
Servers. To switch to another server, reopen the Netwrix Auditor client and provide another
host name (e.g., rootdc2, WKSWin12r2.enterprise.local).

For your convenience, the Host field is prepopulated with your computer name. By default, you can
log in with your Windows credentials by simply clicking Connect. Select Use specified credentials if
you want to log in as another user.

NOTE: Make sure you have sufficient permissions to access the product. If you cannot log into
Netwrix Auditor with your Windows credentials, contact your Netwrix Auditor administrator.

After logging into Netwrix Auditor, you will see the following window:

Take a closer look at the Home page. It contains everything you need to enable complete visibility in your
environment.

See next:

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l Home Screen (Navigation)

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3. Home Screen (Navigation)

3. Home Screen (Navigation)


Starting with version 10, the home screen in Netwrix Auditor is customizable so you can instantly get
access to the information that’s most relevant to you. This section covers what tiles are available and how
you can use them to create the home screen that works best for you. Then it illustrates the customization
process with several common scenarios.

Review the following for additional information:

l Home screen tiles

l AuditIntelligence tiles

l Configuration tile

l Risk assessment, Compliance mapping, Live news, and Health tiles

l Favorite reports

l Other

3.1. Home screen tiles

3.1.1. “Welcome to Netwrix Auditor” tile


This tile provides a checklist you can use to get started collecting and viewing data about your IT
ecosystem.

l The first link prompts you to create a monitoring plan for at least one data source (such as Active
Directory, Exchange Online or network devices). For detailed instructions on how to create a

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monitoring plan, refer to Monitoring Plans. Wait until the initial data collection completes.

l Clicking the second link opens a dashboard that lists all the monitoring plans you’ve created, along
with the status and last activity time for each. Review this list and address any errors or warnings, as
explained in Monitoring Overview.

l Once have created a monitoring plan and verified that it is properly configured, run one or more
searches to get insights into your IT infrastructure. See View and Search Collected Data for more
information.

When you have completed these three steps, you can close this tile by clicking the "Close" link at the
bottom. The checklist will be replaced by statistics across your audited systems. See Customize Home
screen for more information.

3.1.2. AuditIntelligence tiles


This section contains four tiles for getting security intelligence about your IT infrastructure:

Tile Description

NEW MONITORING PLAN Create a new monitoring plan for a particular data source.

Refer to Netwrix Auditor Administration Guide for instructions on


how to create a monitoring plan.

SEARCH ACTIVITY RECORDS Investigate incidents by running interactive searches using data
collected across the entire IT infrastructure.

See View and Search Collected Data for more information.

REPORTS Access the predefined reports for each data source and create
custom reports.

See Intelligence for more information.

BEHAVIOR ANOMALIES Detect and investigate unusual behavior in your IT environment.

See Behavior Anomalies for more information.

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3.1.3. Configuration tile


This tile helps you set up and fine-tune auditing of your IT infrastructure. It includes the following links:

Option Description

Monitoring plans Opens the Monitoring plans wizard, where you can add, edit and
delete monitoring plans, as well as group them into folders.

Refer to Netwrix Auditor Administration Guide for more information


about monitoring plans.

Subscriptions Opens the Subscriptions wizard, which enables you to subscribe to


Netwrix Auditor reports and searches, so you can easily stay
informed about what is going on in your infrastructure.

See Subscriptions for more information.

Alert settings Opens the All Alerts wizard, where you can create, edit, and enable
or disable alerts on critical events in your environment.

See Alerts for more information.

3.2. Risk assessment, Compliance mapping, Live news,


and Health tiles
Tile Description

RISK ASSESSMENT Opens the Risk Assessment Overview dashboard, which identifies
possible configuration issues in your environment that could impact
security.

See IT Risk Assessment Overview for more information.

COMPLIANCE MAPPING Enables you to review how Netwrix Auditor can help you comply
common standards and regulations.

See Compliance mappings for more information.

LIVE NEWS Shows the latest Netwrix news, including product updates.

HEALTH STATUS Opens the Health Status dashboard, which provides at- a- glance
insight into product health, data collection, storage and more.

See Review Health Status Dashboard for more information.

Refer to Netwrix Auditor Administration Guide for more information


about monitoring plans.

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Tile Description

ALERTS HISTORY Clicking this tile opens the Alerts History dashboard, which provides
detailed information about the latest alerts triggered in your IT
infrastructure, enriched with actionable charts and timelines.

See Alerts overview for more information.

3.3. Favorite reports


Initially, the Favorite Reports tile lists the reports that our customers use most frequently. You can add
and remove reports to reflect your needs and interests. If you have more favorite reports than can fit in
the tile, simply click View all to see the complete list.

See Customizing Favorite reports for more information.

3.4. Other

Opens the Alerts Overview dashboard, which lists the


latest alerts triggered in your IT infrastructure,
enriched with actionable charts and timelines.

See Alerts overview for more information.

This tile shows the current number of users, groups,


and files and folders in your IT infrastructure in one
place.

Clicking the link opens the corresponding report:

l Users — User Accounts state-in-time report for


Active Directory

l Groups — Groups state-in-time report for Active


Directory

l Files and Folders — Folder TreeView state- in-


time report for File Servers

Click Recalculate to update values.

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Clicking the tile opens the Monitoring Overview


dashboard, which shows the current status of each of
your monitoring plans.

Refer to Netwrix Auditor Administration Guide for


more information about monitoring plans overview.

Clicking the tile opens the Activity Record Statistics


dashboard which shows the number of activity
records that were collected from your data sources
during the last 7 days

Refer to Netwrix Auditor Administration Guide for


more information about activity records statistics.

Opens the listed Netwrix Auditor report.

See Custom Search- Based Reports for more


information.

Opens the listed Netwrix Auditor report.

See Predefined Reports for more information.

See next:

l Customize Home screen

l Customization examples

3.5. Customize Home screen


Starting with version 10, you can personalize the home page of Netwrix Auditor to display the tiles that
best meet your needs.

Be sure to plan your screen space, considering which tiles you want to pin and their dimensions. You
cannot modify the size of any tile; however, horizontal scrolling is supported.

Rest assured that your configurations and data will not be affected by any changes you make to the
home screen.

Review the following:

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l Add a tile to the home screen

l To remove a tile from the home screenTo remove a tile from the home screenTo remove a tile from
the home screen

l To restore the default home screen view

Add a tile to the home screen

1. Click Customize in the upper right corner of the home screen.

2. Select Add tile.

3. Either search for the tile you want by name, or select it from the list of tiles. Note that tiles are
grouped into menus; to view all tiles within a menu, check Show all menu tiles.

4. Click Add and the selected tile appears on the home screen.

5. Drag and drop it to the desired location.

6. Click Apply.

To remove a tile from the home screen

1. Click Customize in the upper right corner of the home screen.

2. Select the tile you want to remove.

3. Click close (x):

4. Click Apply.

To restore the default home screen view

1. Click Customize in the upper right corner of the home screen.

Click Restore default.

NOTE: You may rest assured, your configuration and data will be preserved during this operation.

3.6. Customizing Favorite reports


The Favorite reports tile displays a shortened list of your favorite reports. To view, edit or update the full
list, click View all . The Home → Reports page opens. This page includes several folders: Favorites ,
Predefined, Compliance and Custom. Favorite reports are located in the Favorites folder.

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To add or remove a Favorite report

1. Locate the desired report in one of the other folders.

2. Click the name of the report to view its description.

3. To change whether the report is a favorite, click the star icon in the upper right-hand corner of the
report description.

Report Summary with Star icon unchecked

3.6.1. Other actions for Favorite reports


The options on the Reports page for Favorite reports are show below:

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Favorites Sub-Folder Options Favorites > [Report] Options

Option Name Description

Restore Default Repopulates the Favorites sub- folder with all reports that have been marked
Favorite.

When using Role-Based Access in Netwrix Auditor, if several users mark the same
report as Favorite, then that report will be removed from the Favorites list if a
user removes the report from the Favorites list. Using the Restore Default option
will re-add the report to the Favorites list for all users that have not removed the
Favorite mark.

Refresh Runs the reports in the Favorites folder to display the most recent information.

View Opens the Preview Report page. There, you can modify report options (such as
the timeframe) if desired, and then click View Report to see the resulting report.
See Viewing Reports for more information.

Subscribe Opens the Add Subscription to Report page. See Create Subscriptions for more
information.

Add to Favorites This option is greyed out when viewing the Favorites list, since all the reports
shown have already been added to Favorites.

Remove from Removes a report from the Favorites list.


Favorites
This option provides the same function as removing a report as a favorite using
the Star icon.

Go to Original Expands the sub-folder in which the report is originally located. For example,
clicking Go to Original for the Enterprise Overview report will expand the
Predefined → Organization Level Reports sub-folder.

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3.7. Customization examples


Here are several examples of why and how you might customize the Netwrix Auditor main page.

Review the following:

l View a report and add it your Favorites

l Run a search and create alert based on it

l Review risks and pin an important one to the home screen

l What is next?

3.7.1. View a report and add it your Favorites


1. On the main Netwrix Auditor page, click the Reports tile in the upper left corner.

2. Open a report you are interested in; for example, Account Permissions in Active Directory:

3. Click the report menu (three dots) to the right and select Add to favorites. (Alternatively, click the
star icon in the upper right corner of the report description.)

The report is added to the Favorite reports section on the home page and you can run it instantly.

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3.7.2. Run a search and create alert based on it


1. On the main Netwrix Auditor page, click the Search Activity Records tile.

2. Specify search filters to narrow your search results. See Use Filters (Simple Mode) for more
information.

3. Click Search.

4. Review your search results.

5. Navigate to Tools and click Create alert to get instant email or SMS notifications on suspicious
activity that matches your current search criteria.

6. Specify a name for the new alert. See Create Alerts for more information.

Now, whenever there is activity that matches your search criteria, the appropriate people will receive a
notification. You can also review the list of triggered alerts by clicking the Alerts tile on the home page,
which opens the Alerts overview dashboard. See Alerts overview for more information.

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3.7.3. Review risks and pin an important one to the home


screen
1. On the main Netwrix Auditor page, click the Risk Assessment tile.

2. Review the Risk Assessment Overview dasbord and select the risk you are intersted in, such as
" User Accounts with administrative permissions ". See IT Risk Assessment Overview for more
information.

3. To access this risk quickly, pin it to the home page, as follows:

a. On the main product page, click Customize.

b. Click Add tile.

c. Search the group of risks you want to pin to the home page (in this case, the "Permissions"
risks group):

d. Click Add.

The selected risks group is added to the home screen.

3.7.4. What is next?


Personalize the home page of the product depending on your business needs. Review the customization
settings and collect only required tiles for quick access on the Netwrix Auditor home page.See Customize
Home screen for more information.

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4. View and Search Collected Data


Netwrix Auditor delivers complete visibility into your IT infrastructure. Its convenient interactive search
interface enables you to investigate incidents and browse data collected across the entire IT
infrastructure. When running a search, you are not limited to a certain data source, change type, or
object name. You can create flexible searches that provide you with precise results on who changed what,
and when and where each change was made.

NOTE: To review collected data, you must be assigned the Global administrator or Global reviewer
Netwrix Auditor role. Users with the Reviewer role on a certain plan or folder have limited access
to data—only within their delegated scope. See Netwrix Auditor Administration Guide for more
information.

This functionality is currently available for the following data sources:

l Active Directory

l Azure AD

l Exchange

l Exchange Online

l File Servers (Windows File Servers, EMC, and NetApp)

l Network Devices

l Oracle Database

l SharePoint

l SharePoint Online

l SQL Server

l VMware

l Windows Server

l Group Policy

l Logon Activity

l User Activity (Video)

l Netwrix API—data imported to the Audit Database from other sources using Netwrix Auditor
Integration API

l Netwrix Auditor Self-Audit

l Netwrix Data Classification. See NDC Provider for more information.

Netwrix Auditor executes interactive search queries against data stored in the audit databases, that is, on
data collected in the last 180 days (default retention period). If you want to investigate incidents that

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occurred more than 180 days ago, then you should import that data from the Long-Term Archive. See
Investigations.

4.1. Browsing Your Audit Data

On the main Netwrix Auditor page, click on the left.

Starting with version 10, you can add any Netwrix Auditor elements (a dashboard, report, alert, risk, etc.)
to the Home screen to access them instantly. See Home Screen (Navigation) and Customize Home screen
for more information.

There you can use the UI controls to run the variety of search queries that will fecth you exactly the data
you need.

l To view all audit data stored in all Audit Databases by all monitoring plans, click Search button in
the center.

NOTE: Be aware that this type of search query may take time due to a large amount of data. Thus, it
is recommended that instead of retrieveing a massive data set, you pre- configure your
search query using filters.

By default, Netwrix Auditor shows only the top 2,000 entries in the search results.

l To pre-configure your search query before you click Search, you can add filters. Then the search
query will return only data matching your filtering criteria. See Use Filters (Simple Mode)

You can also use advanced filtering capabilities based on regular expressions (they involve filter
fields and conditions). See Advanced Mode for details.

l By default, search results are open in the same window, so the subsequent search results will
overwrite the previous search results. To view them in different windows, click Open in new
window.

l In addition, you can customize your view by selecting columns to display. See Customize View

Use search results for your own needs: save, share, create search-based alerts, subscribe to periodic
delivery of search query results, etc. See Save Search Query Results for more information.

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You can also use the Search window to examine details for the selected activity record, or watch a video
recording (for User Activity data).

4.1.1. Examining Activity Record in Detail


To work with a certain activity record:

1. Select the activity record which details you want to review. Its key fields and user (initiator) account
details will be displayed in the right pane.

2. To display all fields and copy them if necessary, click the Full screen... link on the right.

If you are examining User Activity entries, click the Show video... link below the entry. Review details
and play a video by clicking the Show video on the right.

3. You can instruct Netwrix Auditor to include or exclude this activity record from the search query
results, as described in the Include and Exclude Data

4.1.2. Troubleshooting Tips


If you do not see the expected information in search results, try the following:

l Verify the Audit Database retention and SQL Server settings.

l Make sure that data collection is configured properly in the monitoring plan settings.

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l Check the required audit settings in your monitored infrastructure.

l Verify the data collecting account.

See next:

l Use Filters (Simple Mode)

l Advanced Mode

l Customize View

l Include and Exclude Data

l Save Search Query Results

4.2. Use Filters (Simple Mode)


Filters are used to narrow your search results. To create a unique set of filters, you can:

l Add different filters to your search. Search results will be sorted by all selected filters since they
work as a logical conjunction (e.g., Who: Administrator AND Action: Added).

l Specify several values in the same filter to search for any of them (e.g., Action: Modified ORAction:
Removed). To do this, select a filter again and specify a new value.

NOTE: Spaces do not separate values, so the whole expression will be included in your search as a
single value. For example, if you want to search for any of three names, do not enter Anna
Mark Bill but instead create a separate filter entry for each name.

4.2.1. Filter Types


Filter Description

Filter data by user (initiator) account.

Specify an account name (e.g., John) to find all entries containing it (e.g.,
Domain1\John, Domain1\Johnson, Domain2\Johnny, [email protected]).

For exact match, use quotation marks and provide a user name in Domain\User or
UPN format (e.g., “Domain1\John” or "[email protected]") .

Filter data by action type (Added, Removed, etc.)

Select an action type from the list (Added, Removed, Modified, Read).

For additional actions, navigate to Advanced mode. See Advanced Mode for more
information.

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Filter Description

Specify an object name (e.g., Policy) to find all entries containing it (e.g., HiSecPolicy,
\\FileSserver\Share\NewFolder\NewPolicy.docx,
http://sharepoint/sites/collection1/Lists/Policy).

NOTE: Netwrix Auditor searches across all data sources.

For an exact match, use quotation marks and provide an object name in the
format that is typical for your data source (e.g., “HiSecPolicy”).

Filter data by the time interval when the change occurred.

Specify a timeframe or provide a custom date range. Netwrix Auditor allows you to
see changes that occurred today, yesterday, in the last 7 or 30 days, or within the
specified date range.

Specify a resource name (e.g., Enterprise) to find all entries containing it (e.g.,
Enterprise-SQL, FileStorage.enterprise.local). The resource name can be a FQDN or
NETBIOS server name, Active Directory domain or container, SQL Server instance,
SharePoint farm, VMware host, etc.

NOTE: Netwrix Auditor searches across all data sources.

For an exact match, use quotation marks and provide a resource name in the
format that is typical for your data source (e.g., “Enterprise-SQL”).

To add a filter to your search

1. Click a filter type icon. Enter a value you want to search for.

Alternatively, you can type a value directly into the Search field.

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l For exact match, use quotation marks.

l To further restrict your search, right-click the value and select a filter from the pop-up menu.
To search across all columns in the results view (everywhere—Who, What, Where, Action,
etc.), leave it as is .

2. Click Search to apply your filters. By default, all entries that contain the filter value are shown.

4.2.2. Modifying and Removing Filters


To... Do...

Modify filter Double-click the filter and type a new value.

NOTE: If you need to modify the When filter, delete it and add a new value, or
navigate to the Advanced mode (Simple mode does not support its
modification).

Remove filter Click the Close icon next to it.

4.2.3. Exporting and Importing Filters


To export or import filters as regular expressions, use the Tools menu commands:

To... Use...

Export Copy search — copies the search filters that are currently applied to your search. This
can be helpful if you want to share your search with a colleague (e.g., by pasting it in

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To... Use...

an email) or to modify a saved search query with your current filters.

Import Paste search — pastes the search filters you copied before. These can be filters
copied from a previous search or those someone shared with you.

4.3. Customize View


Having reviewed the search results, you can modify the way the data is presented, for example, hide a
column or change its position, or hide the Details pane on the right.

To modify view:

1. Navigate to Tools

2. Click Select columns. The dialog that opens shows the search columns currently selected for
display.

3. Check the columns you want to include and clear unwanted ones.

4. Set the order of displayed columns using arrows on the right.

5. Click Hide details if you want to hide the Details pane with the activity record and user (initiator)
account details.

6. To restore the original view configuration, click Restore Default.

4.4. Advanced Mode


Netwrix Auditor provides an advanced set of filters and match type operators that enable you to
customize your searches even more precisely.

Switch to Advanced mode to review your current search in details and modify it if necessary. Click Add to
add a new filter to your search.

Review the following for additional information:

l Apply Additional Filters

l Search Conditions

4.4.1. Apply Additional Filters


Expand the Filter list to find additional filters or filter values. The most commonly used filters are
described in Use Filters (Simple Mode). Review the following for additional information:

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Filter Description Example

Action Limits your search to the selected You are investigating suspicious user
actions only. activity. You have already identified the
intruder and now you want to see if any
Specify an action from the Value list or
files were deleted or moved, and emails
type it yourself. The Action filter in the
sent.
Advanced mode contains actions
besides those available in basic mode Since you are interested in specific
(added, modified, removed, and read). actions only, set the Action filter to
Reported actions vary depending on the Removed, Moved, and Sent.
data source and object type. See
Netwrix Auditor Administration Guide
for more information.

l Added l Add (Failed


Attempt)
l Removed l Remove (Failed
Attempt)
l Modified l Modify (Failed
Attempt)
l Read l Read (Failed
Attempt)
l Moved l Move (Failed
Attempt)
l Renamed l Rename (Failed
Attempt)
l Checked in l Checked out
l Discard l Successful
check out Logon
l Failed l Logoff
Logon
l Copied l Sent
l Activated

Object type Limits your search to objects of a You noticed that some domain policies
specific type only. were changed and you want to
investigate this issue.
Specify an object type from the Value
list or type it yourself. This filter modifies Your What filter is set to Policy, and so
the What filter. you keep receiving search results such as
HiSecPolicy, \\FS\Share\NewPolicy.docx,
The value list is prepopulated with the
http://corp/sites/col1/Lists/Policy. These
most frequent object types.
entries correspond to different object
types and data sources.

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Filter Description Example

Since you are looking for GPOs only,


select GroupPolicy from the Value list.

Data source Limits your search to the selected data You are investigating suspicious user
source only. activity. A user specified in the Who filter
made a lot of changes across your IT
Specify a data source from the Value list
infrastructure, so the search results
or type it yourself.
became difficult to review.

Since you are only interested in the way


this user's activity could affect your Active
Directory domain and Exchange
organization, set the Data source filter to
Active Directory and Exchange to limit
the search results.

Monitoring Limits your search to the selected plan You are investigating suspicious user
plan only. activity. A user specified in the Who filter
made a lot of changes across your IT
Specify the name from the Value list or
infrastructure, so the search results
type it yourself.
became difficult to review.

Since you are only interested in the way


this user's activity could affect file shares
audited within a single plan, set the
Monitoring plan filter to "My servers" to
limit the search results.

Item Limits your search to the selected item Your monitoring plan is configured to
only. track domains and includes your secured
corporate domain and a domain for
This filter can be helpful if have several
temporary employees. You are
items of the same type in your
investigating who logged in your secured
monitoring plan (e.g., two Active
corporate domain outside business
Directory domains).
hours.
Specify the name from the Value list or
You can set the Item filter to this domain
type it yourself.
name to limit the search results and
exclude logons to computers from a less
important domain.

Working Limits your search results to entries that You are investigating an incident and
hours occurred within the specified hours. want to know who accessed sensitive
data outside business hours.
You can use this filter together with

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Filter Description Example

When if you need, for example, to You can set this filter as Not equal to and
search for activity in the non- business specify the time interval from 8:00 AM to
hours during the last week. 6:00 PM . Filtered data will include only
operations that occurred outside this
interval, that is, during non- business
hours.

Data Limits your search results to entries that You are searching all documents
categories contain sensitive data comply with a containing cardholder data that can
classification rule. potentially be mapped with the PCIDSS
compliance standard.
You can use this filter together with
Equal to PCIDSS to, for example, to You can set this filter as equal to and
search for sensitive files that contain specify the value as PCIDSS. Filtered data
data regulated by the PCIDSS. will contain only files that match this
criteria.

IMPORTANT! This filter shows activity


records collected from the
following data sources:

l Windows File Servers

l ShrePoint

l SharePoint Online

See NDC Provider for more


information.

Details Limits your search results to entries that You discovered that a registry key was
contain the specified information in the updated to "242464" . Now you want to
Details column. investigate who made the change and
what the value was before.
The Details column normally contains
data specific to your target, e.g., You can set the Details filter to 242464 to
assigned permissions, before and after find this change faster.
values, start and end dates.

This filter can be helpful when you are


looking for a unique entry.

Before* Limits your search results to entries that You are investigating an incident in which
contain the specified before value in the the SAM- account- name attribute was
Details column. changed for an account in your Active
Directory domain.

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Filter Description Example

You can set the Before filter to the


previous name (e.g., John2000) to find the
new name faster.

After* Limits your search results to entries that You are investigating a security incident
contain the specified after value in the and want to know who enabled a local
Details column. Administrator account on your Windows
Server.

You can set the After filter to this


account's current state (e.g., Enabled) to
find this change faster.

Everywhere Limits your search results to entries that You are investigating a security incident.
contain the specified value in any You have already identified the intruder
column. (e.g., BadActor) and now you want to see
all actions made by intruder's account or
with it.

Since the intruder can be the actor (Who),


the object (What), or can even show up in
details, set the Everywhere filter to
intruder's name.

* – If you plan to audit an SQL Server for data changes and browse the results using 'Before' and 'After'
filter values, make sure that the audited SQL database tables have a primary key (or a unique column).
Otherwise, 'Before' and 'After' values will not be reported.

4.4.2. Search Conditions


When you apply filters at search, you can specify operators that should be used as conditions for data
you want to retrieve and compare with the certain filter value. A condition can be, for example, Contains,
Starts with, and so on.

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The following operators can be used to specify search conditions:

Operator Description Example

Contains This operator shows all entries that contain a value If you set the Who filter to
specified in the filter. contains John, you will get
the following results:
Domain1\John,
Domain1\Johnson,
Domain2\Johnny,
[email protected].

Equals This operator shows all entries with the exact value Use this operator if you
specified. Make sure to provide a full object name or want to get precise results,
path. e.g.,
\\FS\Share\NewPolicy.docx.
NOTE: To apply this operator when adding filters in the
Simple mode, provide a value in quotation
marks (e.g., "Domain1\John").

Not equal to This operator shows all entries except those with the If you set the Who filter to
exact value specified. not equal to Domain1\John,
you will exclude the exact
NOTE: In the Search field in the Simple mode, this user specified and find all
operator appears as not, e.g., Who not for the changes performed by

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Operator Description Example

Who filter. other users, e.g.,


Domain1\Johnson,
Domain2\John.

Starts with This operator shows all entries that start with the If you set the Who filter to
specified value. starts with Domain1\John,
you will find all changes
performed by
Domain1\John,
Domain1\Johnson, and
Domain1\Johnny.

Ends with This operator shows all entries that end with the exact If you set the Who filter to
specified value. ends with John, you will
find all changes performed
by Domain1\John,
Domain2\Dr.John,
Domain3\John.

Does not This operator shows all entries except those that If you set the Who filter to
contain contain the specified value. does not contain John, you
will exclude the following
NOTE: In the Search field in the Simple mode, this users: Domain1\John,
operator appears as not, e.g., Who not for the Domain2\Johnson, and
Who filter. [email protected].

In group This operator relates to the Who filter. It instructs If you set the In group
Netwrix Auditor to show only data for the accounts condition for Who filter to
included in the specified group. Domain\Administrators, only
the data for the accounts
included in that group will
be displayed.

Not in group This operator relates to the Who filter. It instructs If you set the Not in group
Netwrix Auditor to show only data for the accounts not condition for Who filter to
included in the specified group. Domain\Administrators, only
the data for the accounts
not included in that group
will be displayed.

NOTE: When you add a new search filter, the Contains operator is used by default.

To modify conditions for the selected filters, make sure you have switched to the Advanced
search mode.

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The image below represents the same search filters as they are shown in the Search field in the Simple
mode.

4.5. Include and Exclude Data


Having reviewed the search results, you can proceed with your investigation by excluding or including
data. Excluding a filter value is helpful if you want to skip it in your search results (e.g., a service account
or trusted user account). On the other hand, including a filter value ensures that only the entries
containing it will be shown (e.g., a suspicious user or potentially violated folder).

To include or exclude data

1. Review your search results and locate an entry with data you want to exclude or include.

2. Select this entry and review details.

3. Click Exclude from search or Include to search and specify a filter value from the list.

4. Click Search to update the search results.

Your exclusions and inclusions will automatically be added to the search filters, limiting the amount of
data shown in the results pane.

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4.6. Save Search Query Results


You can export your search query results, save them as a custom report, subscribe to periodic delivery of
this search results, create a search-based alert.

Navigate to Tools in the top right corner of the Search window and select the required action.

Use... To...

Save as Save your search results as custom reports. See Custom Search-Based Reports.
report

Create alert Create an alert with the same set of filters you have just specified for your search.
Create Alerts

Subscribe Create subscription for periodic delivery of the search query results. See
Subscriptions

NOTE: Subscription to the search results is not the same as creation of a custom
report using this search.

Export data Save your search results as a .pdf or .csv file. All audit data from your search query

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Use... To...

results will be exported (unlike the interactive view which is limited to the top 2,000
entries).

NOTE: When exporting large amount of data (e.g., changes made by a newly retired
employee during the last 8 months), it is recommended to use .csv format.

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5. Reports and Report Packs


Netwrix Auditor provides a variety of reports for each data source. This helps you keep track of all
changes in your IT infrastructure and validate compliance with various standards and regulations (FISMA,
HIPAA, PCI, SOX, etc.). You can also create your custom reports based on the Interactive Search
technology.

NOTE: To review intelligence data, you must be assigned the Global administrator or Global reviewer role
in the product. The users assigned the Reviewer role on a certain plan or folder have a limited
access to data— only within a delegated scope. See Netwrix Auditor Administration Guide for
more information.

Review general report types available in Netwrix Auditor to meet your specific business needs:

Report type Description

Predefined reports Predefined reports pack contains over a hundred SSRS- based reports
grouped by business categories and data sources. Predefined reports are
helpful if you are looking for a ready-to-use template for your business
needs. See Predefined Reports for more information.

Compliance reports For your convenience, specific reports are grouped into folders by
corresponding international standards and regulations such as security
controls, information security, etc. See Compliance Reports for more
information.

Custom reports For your convenience, the Reports section has been enhanced with
Custom reports. Initially, the product provides templates for the best
common workflows within Netwrix Auditor. Later, you can always create
custom report from interactive search and find them here. See Custom
Search-Based Reports for more information.

5.1. Viewing Reports


To view reports, users need the following:

1. Sufficient access rights in Netwrix Auditor, which are provided through role assignment:

o Users with Reviewer role can generate the reports for their delegated scope only, and view
them in any Netwrix Auditor client or in a web browser.

o Users with Global administrator or Global reviewer role can also create subscriptions to reports.

2. The Browser role on the SSRS Report Server. See Netwrix Auditor Installation and Configuration
Guide for more information.

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To view a report

NOTE: Starting with version 10, you can add any Netwrix Auditor elements (a dashboard, report, alert,
risk, etc.) to the Home screen to access them instantly. See Home Screen (Navigation) and
Customize Home screen for more information.

1. In Netwrix Auditor Home screen, click on the left, and in the tree on the left
select the report you need.

TIP: To speed up the process, you can use the Search field, entering the keyword to search by.

2. Click View button in the right pane.

To learn how to subscribe to a report, see Create Subscriptions.

5.1.1. Troubleshooting
If no data is displayed in the report, you may need to do the following:

1. Make sure that the Audit Database settings are configured properly in the monitoring plan, and that
data is written to databases that reside on the default SQL Server instance. See Audit Database and
Database Settings for details.

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2. For SSRS-based reports - verify that SSRS (SQL Server Reporting Services) settings are configured
properly. See Audit Database for details.

3. For state-in-time reports - verify that the monitoring plan that provides data for the report has the
corresponding option selected. See Settings for Data Collection for details.

5.1.2. Using Report Filters


Report filters allow you to display changes matching certain criteria. For example, you can filter changes
by audited domain or object type. Filtering does not delete changes, but modifies the report view,
allowing you to see changes you are interested in.

For example, you can update report timeframe, select specific values for Who and Where, apply sorting,
etc.

Filters can be found in the upper part of the Preview Report page:

To apply filters

1. Navigate to Reports, select the report you need and click View.

2. Specify filters to apply to the report, and click View Report.

When applying filters, mind the following:

l Wildcards are supported.


For example, if you want to view changes made by users with the name containing "administrator"

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(e.g., enterprise\administrator, corp\administrator, sqladmin), type %admin% in the Who


(domain\user) filter field.

l escape_characters are not supported.

l Do not use % in the exclusive filters (e.g., Who (Exclude domain\user)). Otherwise, you will receive an
empty report.

5.2. Predefined Reports


Netwrix Auditor is shipped with 250+ ready-to-use reports designed by Netwrix industry experts. To find
a report that is right for you, check out the predefined report types available in the product.

l Enterprise Overview—A dashboard with a set of widgets that provide quick access to important
statistics across the audited IT infrastructure. They allow you to see the activity trends by date, user,
data source, server or audited IT system, and drill through to detailed reports for further analysis.
The Enterprise Overview dashboard aggregates the information on changes from all data sources
and provides a centralized overview. System- specific dashboards reflect all changes across all
monitoring plans where audit of this target system is enabled. See Overview Dashboards for more
information.

l Organization level reports — High- level reports that aggregate data from all data sources and
monitoring plans. They list all activity that occurred across the audited IT infrastructure. Enterprise
Overview provides bird's eye view of changes and activity from all data sources and provides a
centralized overview. See Organization Level Reports for more information.

l Overview diagrams—System-specific diagram reports that aggregate audit data for an auditing
system. They provide a high-level overview of changes within a selected time period. Overviews
consist of four charts, showing the activity trends by date, user, object type or server, and drill
through to detailed reports for further analysis. See Overview Dashboards for more information.

l Change and activity reports—System-specific reports that aggregate audit data for a specific data
source within specified monitoring plans. These reports show detailed data on changes and activity
and provide grouping, sorting and filtering capabilities. Each report has a different set of filters
allowing you to manage collected data in the most convenient way. See Change and Activity Reports
for more information.

l State-in-time reports—System-specific reports that aggregate data for a specific data source within
a specified individual monitoring plan and allow reviewing the point- in- time state of the data
source. These reports are based on daily snapshots and help you paint a picture of your system
configuration at a specific moment in time. See State– in– Time Reports for more information.
Currently, the Windows Server State-in-Time report set provides baselining functionality that help
identify aberrant servers. See Baseline Reports for more information.

l Changes with video reports—Windows server-based reports that provide video recordings of user
activity on audited computers. See Reports with Video for more information.

l Changes with review status reports—Both system-specific and overview reports that can be used
in the basic change management process. These reports allow setting a review status for each

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change and providing comments. See Interactive Reports for Change Management Workflow for
more information.

Review the following for additional information:

l Refer to Viewing Reports for detailed instructions on how to find the report you need and view
reports in a web browser.

l Refer to Using Report Filters for detailed instructions on how to apply filters to reports.

5.2.1. Overview Dashboards


Overview dashboards offer a bird's eye view of your IT infrastructure. They allow you to see activity
trends by date, user, object type, server or data source, and drill down to detailed reports for further
analysis.

The Enterprise Overview dashboard includes diagrams that aggregate data on all monitoring plans and
all data sources, while system-specific dashboards provide quick access to important statistics within one
data source. All dashboards support the drill-down functionality: by clicking on a widget with diagram,
you will be redirected to a report (with the corresponding filtering and grouping of data) that renders the
next level of detail.

NOTE: Starting with version 10, you can add any Netwrix Auditor elements (a dashboard, report, alert,
risk, etc.) to the Home screen to access them instantly. See Home Screen (Navigation) and
Customize Home screen for more information.

Currently, Netwrix Auditor offers the following dashboard reports:

l Enterprise Overview

l Active Directory

l Active Directory Federation Services (AD FS)

l Azure AD

l Exchange

l File Servers (includes Windows File Servers, EMC, and NetApp)

l Office 365 (includes Exchange Online and SharePoint Online)

l Oracle Database

l SharePoint

l SQL Server

l VMware 

l Windows Server

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To open a dashboard

1. In the Reports window, search for overview keyword, using the search field. Click the search result
you need - for example, Active Directory Overview or File Servers Overview.

TIP: To open the Enterprise Overview dashboard, just click the Enterprise Overview tile in the
main Netwrix Auditor page.

2. To fine-tune the dashboard, you can apply Filters or use the Top and Timeframe parameters in the
upper-right corner of the dashboard window.

3. Click the widget to drill down to the detailed report on your area of interest.

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To review the data source-specific diagrams

l Navigate to Reports and select one of the following locations:

Title Location

Enterprise Overview Organization Level Reports

Active Directory Overview Active Directory → Active Directory Changes

Azure AD Overview Azure AD

Exchange Overview Exchange

Office 365 Overview Exchange Online

SharePoint Online

File Servers Overview File Servers → File Servers Activity

Oracle Database Overview Oracle Database

SharePoint Overview SharePoint

SQL Server Overview SQL Server

VMware Overview VMware

Windows Server Overview Windows Server → Windows Server Changes

NOTE: The example below applies to Enterprise Overview.

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NOTE: Each report has a set of filters which help organize audit data in the most convenient way. See
Using Report Filters for more information. You can also create a subscription to any report you
want to receive on a regular basis. See Subscriptions for more information.

5.2.2. Organization Level Reports


Organization Level reports aggregate data on all monitoring plan s and list changes and activity that
occurred across all data sources. Also, this folder includes a report on Netwrix Auditor self-audit - it
provides detailed information on changes to monitoring plans, data sources and audited items.

Organization Level reports can be found in the Organization Level Reports folder under the Reports
node.

This folder includes:

Report Details

Enterprise Overview Dashboard report with diagrams showing all activities and
changes across the monitored data sources.

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Report Details

See also Overview Dashboards

All Activity with Review Status Shows all activity across the entire IT infrastructure,
including changes, read access and logons. Features
interactive review status to supplement your change
management workflow.

See also Interactive Reports for Change Management


Workflow.

All Changes by Data Source Shows all changes across your IT infrastructure, grouped
by data source.

All Changes by Server Shows all changes across the entire IT infrastructure,
grouped by the server where the change was made.

All Changes by User Shows all changes across your IT infrastructure, grouped
by the user who made the change.

All Integration API Activity Shows all activity records imported with Netwrix Auditor
Integration API.

Netwrix Auditor Self-Audit Help to ensure that the scope of data to be audited is
complete and all changes are in line with the workflows
adopted by your organization.

NOTE: Each report has a set of filters which help organize audit data in the most convenient way. See
Using Report Filters for more information. You can also create a subscription to any report you
want to receive on a regular basis. See Subscriptions for more information.

5.2.3. Change and Activity Reports


Change and activity reports provide information on changes to different aspects of the audited
environment. Depending on the data source, navigate to one of the following locations, or use the search
field to look for the keywords you need:

Data source Report location

Active Directory Active Directory → Active Directory Changes

Active Directory Federation Active Directory Federation Services (AD FS)


Services

Azure AD Azure AD

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Data source Report location

Group Policy Active Directory → Group Policy Changes

Exchange Exchange

Exchange Online Exchange Online

File Servers File Servers → File Servers Activity

Oracle Database Oracle Database

SharePoint SharePoint

SharePoint Online SharePoint Online

SQL Server SQL Server

VMware VMware

Windows Server Windows Server → Windows Server Changes

Event Log Windows Server → Event Log

IIS Windows Server→ Event Log

Logon Activity Active Directory → Logon Activity

Integration API Organization Level Reports

Netwrix Auditor self-audit Organization Level Reports

NOTE: In the report filters, select a monitoring plan you want to generate a report for. To review data
sources and items included in each plan, navigate to the Monitoring Plans section.

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NOTE: Each report has a set of filters which help organize audit data in the most convenient way. See
Using Report Filters for more information. You can also create a subscription to any report you
want to receive on a regular basis. See Subscriptions for more information.

5.2.4. State–in–Time Reports


The state- in- time reports functionality allows generating reports on the system's state at a specific
moment of time in addition to change and activity reports. State-in-time reports are based on the daily
configuration snapshots, and reflect a particular aspect of the audited environment.

This functionality is currently available for the following data sources:

l Active Directory

l Azure AD

l File Servers

l Exchange Online

l Windows Server

l SharePoint

l SharePoint Online

l Group Policy

l SharePoint

l SQL Server

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l Office 365

l VMware

IMPORTANT! To provide data for state-in-time reports, remember to select the Collect data for state-in-
time reports option when you configure a monitoring plan for the selected data source. See
Settings for Data Collection for more information.

The state-in-time reports are available under the Reports node. Depending on the data source, navigate
to the corresponding subfolder, for example, Predefined → Active Directory →Active Directory — State-
in-Time.

NOTE: In the report filters, select a monitoring plan you want to generate a report for. To review data
sources and items included in each plan, navigate to the Monitoring Plans section.

NOTE: Each report has a set of filters which help organize audit data in the most convenient way. See
Using Report Filters for more information. You can also create a subscription to any report you
want to receive on a regular basis. See Subscriptions for more information.

By default, state-in-time reports reflect the current state of the data source. If you want to generate a
report to assess your system at a particular moment in the past, you can select the corresponding
snapshot from the Snapshot Date filter.

NOTE: To be able to generate reports based on different snapshots, ask your Netwrix Auditor Global
administrator to import historical snapshots to the Audit Database, otherwise only the Current
Session option is available in the drop-down list.

When auditing file servers, changes to both access and audit permissions are tracked. To exclude
information on access permissions, contact your Netwrix Auditor Global administrator or Configurator of
this plan.

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5.2.4.1. Baseline Reports


Most reports in Windows Server—State-in-Time folder allow you to specify baselines. A baseline defines
a certain safe level or state. If a server parameter falls below it, it is a considered a threat or at least
merits your special attention. With baselines specified right in report filters, you can easily identify
servers that are different from your corporate policies or best practices. Risks are marked with red color
and are easy to spot in the report.

You can specify baseline values specific to your organization in one of the following ways:

l As a baseline filter value in the report filters. Baselines in the field should be separated by commas.

While inputting text inline is easy, your baseline values will not be preserved for the next report
generation. You will have to input them every time you generate a report. This method is
recommended you plan to subscribe to this report.

l In a special file stored on the computer where your Audit Database resides.

To secure your baseline values for the next report runs, create a text file with baselines; baselines in
this file should on a separate line. In the report, provide a link to this file inside the baseline filter.
You should create a separate file for each baseline. In this case, the baselines will be reused every
time you run the report.

NOTE: Make sure the account running your SQL Server instance service with Audit Database has
permissions to access the baseline file. Otherwise, Netwrix Auditor will not be able to
process them.

To learn more about state-in-time reports, refer to State–in–Time Reports.

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5.2.5. User Behavior and Blind Spot Analysis Reports


The User Behavior and Blind Spot Analysis report pack contains a set of smart reports that help you
identify vulnerabilities and easily answer questions such as:

l Has there been any abnormal access to sensitive data?

l Is anyone accessing stale data?

l Have there been any unusual spikes in failed activity?

l Who is active outside of business hours and what are they doing?

l Has anyone put harmful files on corporate data storage?

l Are there any files likely to contain credentials, Social Security numbers, PHI or other sensitive data?

Analytics reports can be found in the User Behavior and Blind Spot Analysis folder under the
Predefined node.

NOTE: If you are sure that some audit data is missing (e.g., you do not see information on your file
servers in reports and search results), verify that the Audit Database settings are configured and
that data is written to databases that reside on the default SQL Server instance.

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By default, Netwrix Auditor allows generating reports and running interactive searches on data
collected in the last 180 days. If you want to investigate incidents that occurred more than 180
days ago, ask your Netwrix Auditor Global administrator to import that data from the Long-Term
Archive.

NOTE: Each report has a set of filters which help organize audit data in the most convenient way. See
Using Report Filters for more information. You can also create a subscription to any report you
want to receive on a regular basis. See Subscriptions for more information.

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5.2.6. Interactive Reports for Change Management


Workflow
Change management is one of the critical processes for many companies referring to such areas as
requesting, planning, implementing, and evaluating changes to various systems. For your change
management workflow, Netwrix Auditor offers several reports with interactive capabilities – not only they
list changes in your infrastructure but also allow you to track, analyze, assign appropriate status and
comment on these changes.

This capability can supplement your organization's workflow of monitoring and resolving potential issues
through the following automated course of action:

1. The reported changes to the monitored environment are assigned the New status by default.

2. If a change seems unauthorized, or requires further analysis, you can click the Click to update
status link next to the change detailed data:

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3. In the Review status dialog for selected change, set its status to In Review and provide a reason.

4. Once the change has been approved of, or rolled back, you can set its status to Resolved.

This capability is supported for the following reports:

Data source Report location

Entire IT infrastructure Organization Level Reports

Active Directory Active Directory → Active Directory Changes → All Active


Directory Changes with Review Status

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Data source Report location

Exchange Exchange → All Exchange Server Changes with Review Status

SharePoint SharePoint → All SharePoint Changes with Review Status

Windows Server Windows Server → Windows Server Changes → All Windows


Server Changes with Review Status

Group Policy Active Directory → Group Policy Changes → All Group Policy
Changes with Review Status

NOTE: In the report filters, select a monitoring plan you want to generate a report for. To review data
sources and items included in each plan, navigate to the Monitoring Plans section.

They list

NOTE: Each report has a set of filters which help organize audit data in the most convenient way. See
Using Report Filters for more information. You can also create a subscription to any report you
want to receive on a regular basis. See Subscriptions for more information.

5.2.7. Reports with Video


Netwrix Auditor can be configured to capture video of user activity on the monitored computers that
helps analyze and control changes made there. When you click a link, a video player opens and playback
of the recorded user activity starts, showing launched applications, actions, etc.

To view reports with video, navigate to Reports → User Activity.

NOTE: In the report filters, select a monitoring plan you want to generate a report for. To review data
sources and items included in each plan, navigate to the Monitoring Plans section.

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NOTE: Each report has a set of filters which help organize audit data in the most convenient way. See
Using Report Filters for more information. You can also create a subscription to any report you
want to receive on a regular basis. See Subscriptions for more information.

To play a video

1. Navigate to Reports → User Activity. Select any report and click View.

2. Click a link in the When column.

NOTE: To open User Activity report for the selected user or server, you can also click the link in the Who
and Where columns of the All Users Activity report.

5.3. Compliance Reports


For your convenience, besides grouping by data source the reports are grouped by compliance
standards. Netwrix Auditor provides out-of-box reports that allow validating compliance with different
standards and regulations, including but not limited to:

l FERPA

l FISMA/NIST SP800-53 rev4

l GDPR

l GLBA

l HIPAA

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l ISO/IEC 27001

l NERC

l PCI DSS v3.2

l SOX

l CJIS

You can find Compliance folders under the Reports node in the Compliance folder. Each compliance
folder provides overview on a selected standard, to read it, click on the folder name. Click Read More to
learn more about mapping between these standards and Netwrix Auditor reports.

NOTE: In the report filters, select a monitoring plan you want to generate a report for. To review data
sources and items included in each plan, navigate to the Monitoring Plans section.

Review the following for additional information:

l Refer to Viewing Reports for detailed instructions on how to find the report you need and view
reports in a web browser.

l Refer to Using Report Filters for detailed instructions on how to apply filters to reports.

5.3.1. Compliance mappings


Delete this text and replace it with your own content.

5.4. Custom Search-Based Reports


Netwrix Auditor allows you to save your favorite searches as reports to access them instantly. For your
convenience, the product provides predefined templates for some popular usage scenarios. You can save
your custom report or use one of the templates provided by Netwrix. Navigate to Reports → Custom to
review these reports. Click View to generate the selected report.

Moreover, custom reports are shared between all Netwrix Auditor clients that have access to the same
Netwrix Auditor Server (the main component responsible for collecting and processing audit data).

For your convenience, you can create additional folders for your custom reports. Select Add Folder under
the Custom section and specify the name for a new folder. Then, select a custom report and move it to
the new folder.

NOTE: The example custom report results apply to AD or Group Policy modifications by administrator.

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Review the following for additional information:

l To save a search as a custom report

l To modify a custom report

l To subscribe to a custom report

l To delete a custom report

To save a search as a custom report

1. On the main Netwrix Auditor page, navigate to Search.

2. Apply filters and click Search.

NOTE: Refer to View and Search Collected Data for detailed instructions on how to apply filters
when searching audit data.

3. Navigate to Tools and select Save as report.

4. In the Specify a name for your custom report dialog, specify a name. Make sure to specify a
unique name.

To modify a custom report

1. On the main Netwrix Auditor page, navigate to Reports → Custom.

2. Select one of the custom reports in the list and review filters.

3. Click View to open search.

4. Modify filters and click Search.

NOTE: Refer to View and Search Collected Data for detailed instructions on how to apply filters
when searching audit data.

5. Navigate to Tools and select Save as report.

6. In the Specify a name for your custom report dialog, specify a name. Netwrix Auditor
automatically offers a previously used name so that this custom report will be overwritten. If you
want to save both searches, specify a unique name for a modified search.

To subscribe to a custom report

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1. Navigate to Reports → Custom and select the report you want to subscribe to.

2. Click Subscribe and complete the Add Subscription to Search wizard.

To delete a custom report

l Navigate to Reports → Custom, select a report and click Delete.

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6. Alerts
If you want to be notified about suspicious activity, you can configure alerts that will be triggered by
specific events. Alerts are sent after the specified action has been detected. Alerts are helpful if you want
to be notified about actions critical to your organization security and have to mitigate risks once the
suspicious action occurs.

The example alert is triggered when a new user is created in the monitored domain.

6.1. Create Alerts


To create new alerts and modify existing alerts, the account used to connect to Netwrix Auditor Server via
Netwrix Auditor client must be assigned the Global administrator or Global reviewer role in the product.

To set up a response action, this account must also be a member of the local Administrators group on
Netwrix Auditor Server.

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See Role-Based Access and Delegation for more information.

To create a custom alert

1. On the main Netwrix Auditor page, click the Alert settings link under the Configuration section on
the left:

See Home Screen (Navigation) for more information.

NOTE: You can also create new alert directly from the interactive search results. Navigate to Tools
and select Create alert to add a new alert with the same set of filters as your search.

2. In the All Alerts window, click Add. Configure the following:

Option Description

General l Specify a name and enter the description for the new alert.

NOTE: Make sure that the Send alert when the action occurs option is
enabled. Otherwise, the new alert will be disabled.

l Apply tags—Create a set of tags to more efficiently identify and sort your
alerts. Select Edit under Apply tags to associate tags with your alert. Later,
you can quickly find an alert of interest using Filter by tags in the upper
part of the All Alerts window.

NOTE: To see a full list of alerts ever created in the product, navigate to
Settings → Tags.

Recipients Select alert recipients. Click Add Recipient and select alert delivery type:

l Email—Specify the email address where notifications will be delivered. You


can add as many recipients as necessary.

NOTE: It is recommended to click Send Test Email. The system will send a
test message to the specified email address and inform you if any
problems are detected.

l SMS-enabled email—Netwrix uses the sms gateway technology to deliver

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Option Description

notifications to a phone number assigned to a dedicated email address.


Specify email address to receive SMS notifications.

NOTE: Make sure that your carrier supports sms to email gateway
technology.

Filters Apply a set of filters to narrow events that trigger a new alert. Alerts use the
same interface and logic as search.

l Filter—Select general type of filter (e.g., "Who", "Data Source", "Monitoring


plan", etc.)

l Operator—Configure match types for selected filter (e.g., "Equals", "Does


not contain", etc.)

l Value—Specify filter value.

Refer to View and Search Collected Data for detailed instructions on how to
create and modify filters.

NOTE: The Filters section contains required fields highlighted with red.

Once you completed all filters, click Preview on the right pane to see search-
based list of events that will trigger your alert.

Thresholds If necessary, enable threshold to trigger the new alert. In this case, a single alert
will be sent instead of many alerts. This can be helpful when Netwrix Auditor
detects many activity records matching the filters you specified.

Slide the switch under the Send alert when the threshold is exceeded option
and configure the following:

l Limit alerting to activity records with the same...—Select a filter in the


drop-down list (e.g., who). Note that, Netwrix Auditor will search for activity
records with the same value in the filter you selected.

NOTE: Only alerts grouped by the Who parameter can be included in the
Behavior Anomalies list. Mind that in this case, the product does

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Option Description

not summarize risk scores and shows the value you associated with
this alert. This may significantly reduce risk score accuracy.

l Send alert for <...> activity records within <...> seconds — Select a
number of changes that occurred in a given period (in seconds).

For example, you want to receive an alert on suspicious activity. You select
"Action" in the Limit alerting to activity records with the same list and specify a
number of actions to be considered an unexpected behavior: 1000 changes in
60 seconds. When the selected threshold exceeded, an alert will be delivered to
the specified recipients: one for every 1000 removals in 60 seconds, one for
every 1000 failed removals in 60 seconds. So you can easily discover what is
going on in your IT infrastructure.

Risk Score l Slide the switch to On under Include this alert in Behavior Anomalies
assessment. See Behavior Anomalies for more information.

l Associate a risk score with the alert—Assign a risk score based on the
type of anomaly and the severity of the deviation from the normal
behavior. An action's risk score is a numerical value from 1 (Low) to 100
(High) that designates the level of risk with 100 being the riskiest and 1 the
least risky.

These are general guidelines you can adopt when setting a risk score:

l High score — Assign to an action that requires your immediate


response (e.g., adding account to a privileged group). Configure a
non-threshold alert with email recipients.

l Above medium score—Assign to a repetitive action occurring during


a short period of time. While a standalone action is not suspicious,
multiple actions merit your attention (e.g., mass deletions from a
SharePoint site). Configure a threshold- based alert with email
recipients.

l Low score—Assign to an infrequent action. While a single action is


safe, multiple occurrences aggregated over a long period of time may
indicate a potential in-house bad actor (e.g., creation of potentially
harmful files on a file share). Configure a non-threshold alert, email
recipients are optional but make sure to regularly review the
Behavior Anomalies dashboard.

l Low score — Assign to a repetitive action that does not occur too
often (e.g., rapid logons). Multiple occurrences of action sets may
indicate a potential in- house bad actor or account compromise.
Configure a threshold-based alert, email recipients are optional but
make sure to regularly review the Behavior Anomalies dashboard.

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Option Description

Response You can instruct Netwrix Auditor to perform a response action when the alert
Action occurs — for example, start an executable file (command, batch file, or other)
that will remediate the issue, or open a ticket with the help desk, and so on. For
that, you will need an executable file stored locally on the Netwrix Auditor
server. Slide the switch to turn the feature ON, then follow the steps described
in Configure a Response Action for Alert section.

6.2. Manage Alerts


For your convenience, Netwrix provides you with a set of predefined alerts that are commonly used for IT
infrastructure monitoring. The out-of-the-box alerts include those that help you detect suspicious activity
and inform you on critical changes to your environment. The alerts contain pre-configured filters and in
most cases you only need to enable an alert and select who will receive notifications.

NOTE: Starting with version 10, you can add any Netwrix Auditor elements (a dashboard, report, alert,
risk, etc.) to the Home screen to access them instantly. See Home Screen (Navigation) and
Customize Home screen for more information.

To... Do...

Enable / disable an 1. Select an alert from the list and enable it using the slider in the Mode
existing alert column.

2. Double-click the selected alert and specify alert recipients or set a risk
score want to include an alert in Behavior Anomalies assessment. You
can go on with a score suggested by Netwrix industry experts or fine-
tune it to fit your organization's priorities. Refer to Risk Score for
detailed instructions on how to configure scoring settings.

3. Review and update filters. For some alerts you should provide filter
values, such as group name or user.

Modify an existing l Select an alert from the list and click Edit.
alert

Create a new alert l Select an alert from the list and click Duplicate at the bottom of the
from existing window.

Remove an alert
l Select an alert from the list and click in the right pane.

Find an alert l Use the Filter by tags option to find an alert by tags associated with this
alert.

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To... Do...

OR

l Use a search bar in the upper part of All Alerts window to find an alert
by its name or tag.

6.3. Configure a Response Action for Alert


Upon the alert triggering, you can instruct Netwrix Auditor to run a command, a script or other
executable file that will perform a remediation action, open a ticket with the organization help desk, and
so on.

For that, configure the required settings in the Response Action tab of the alert properties.

1. Turn the switch On if you want a response action to be taken when the alert occurs.

2. In the Run field, specify the path to the executable file (.exe, .cmd, .bat; for .ps1 files see step 3
below). The file must be located on the machine where Netwrix Auditor server runs.

3. In the With parameters field, enter the parameters to be used by the executable file. Use space
character as a separator.

l To run .exe, .cmd and .bat files, you can enter the path to your command-line or batch file
directly in the Run field, for example:

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l To run .ps1 files, you will need to enter the path to powershell.exe and path to your script. For
example:

l In the Run field, enter C:\Windows\system32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\powershell.exe

l In the With parameters field, enter


–File <path_to_your_ps_script>

NOTE: Unless you select to Write data to CSV file, Netwrix Auditor will also pass the following
parameters to the command line:

l AlertID — alert ID

l RecordID — ID of the activity record that triggered the alert

Selecting Write data to CSV file will change this behavior, as described Writing data to CSV
file section below.

4. In the Working directory field, specify path to the working directory of the executable file on
Netwrix Auditor server.

If you leave this field empty, then the path to the file specified in the Run field will be used as a
working directory. As shown in the example with the .ps file, this may be the system directory. So, to
avoid system directory cluttering, it is recommended not to leave the Working directory field empty
but to explicitly specify the directory where your executable file is located, or a dedicated directory
for that purpose. In the latter case, make sure the directory exists on Netwrix Auditor server.

5. Write data to CSV file — select this option if you want Netwrix Auditor to locate the activity records
associated with the alert, and write the record fields and their values in a structured way to a .csv
file. For each new alert being created, this option is selected by default, as well as for the predefined
alerts installed with Netwrix Auditor.

NOTE: After the upgrade, all alerts with previously configured response action will have this option
cleared.

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6. Limit row count in a file to <N> — limit the number of rows (activity records) to be written to a
single .csv file. Enter a value from 1 to 1000.

NOTE: Learn more about how these options work in Writing data to CSV file section.

7. By default, the executable file will be launched under the LocalSystem account. If you want to use
another account, select the Use custom credentials checkbox and specify user name and
password. Make sure this account has Log on as batch job privilege.

8. The resulting command line including executable file name and execution parameters will appear in
the Сommand line preview:

l If you selected to Write data to CSV file, the command line will include {CsvFile}, i.e. the file
path

l Alternatively, the command line will include {AlertID} and {RecordID}, i.e. related IDs

9. Test run — if you click this button, the executable file will be run with the specified parameters on
Netwrix Auditor server. This can be helpful, for example, if you want to ensure script operability
before the related alert is triggered.

NOTE: As there is no actual alert triggering in this case, sample alert ID and sample activity record ID will
be passed to the executable file. If you selected to write data to CSV file, a sample file will be
created and populated with these sample IDs.

To be able to perform the test run, current user account (logged on to Netwrix Auditor client) must have
local Administrator privileges on Netwrix Auditor server where the executable file is located.

After the test run, you will get a notification message with the exit code. Typical values are as follows:

l 0 — the response action completed successfully

l Any other value — the response action was not a success

It is strongly recommended to apply similar logic if you plan to use custom exit codes in your response
action script.

NOTE: Same exit codes will be returned by response action regular runs.

If the action is not a success (exit code is not 0), the program will try to perform response action
again (up to 200 times) with increasing time interval.

6.3.1. Writing data to CSV file


In Netwrix Auditor 9.7, just the alert ID and activity record ID were passed to the executable file in order
to locate the associated data in the database. With this approach, to retrieve the activity record field
values (required for service ticket creation or other response actions), a user needs to perform a number
of API requests. Also, consider that for every alert triggering, the response action will be launched once,
retrieving a single activity record per launch. Using CSV files simplifies and optimizes this data retrieval
process.

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Starting with Netwrix Auditor 9.8, to pass certain activity record fields to the executable file, you can
instruct the program to write the fields and their values in a structured way to a CSV file.

Here is an example of a CSV file structure:

The number of activity records retrieved per every response action launch will be only limited by user
(see below for details). If the number of records associated with the alert exceeds this limit, the program
will create multiple CSV files, storing data in chunks.

For example, if there are 50 records associated with the alert (e.g., “Scanning threat is detected on network
device” alert), and the number of records for one CSV is set to 10, the program will create 5 CSV files, with
10 records in each chunk. Also notice that the response action will be launched once for every such
chunk (5 times in this example), and will retrieve multiple activity records per launch (not more than the
specified limit, i.e. 10 records in this example).

A CSV file is named using the timestamp and GUID and stored in the subfolder of Netwrix Auditor
working folder (by default, %ProgramData%\Netwrix Auditor\AuditCore\AuditArchive\AlertsToolLauncher\Csv).
Note that a CSV file will exist only while the executable file is running – after the execution is completed,
the CSV file will be deleted. So if you plan, for example, to obtain some data from that file for further
processing, you may need to copy it to a permanent location in a timely manner, e.g., using a script.

6.4. Alerts overview


Aggregated statistics on the alerts is provided in the Alerts overview widget. It displays currently
triggered alerts with detailed information.

To view the dashboard, on the main Netwrix Auditor page, click the Alerts tile.

The dashboard includes the following widgets:

l Alerts triggered – shows amount of alerts triggered for the last 7 days (by default). Use this tile to
inspect the trend.

l Top 5 alerts by count – shows most recently triggered alerts for the selected time period (7 days by
default).

l Risk score by top 5 users – shows potentially harmful users for the selected time period (7 days by
default). Clicking the tile opens the Behavior Anomalies dashboard. See Behavior Anomalies for
more information.

l Alerts timeline – shows the number of alerts triggered at the specific day.

l Recent alerts – shows all the triggered alerts in chronological order.

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Clicking any tile except for Risk score by top 5 users drills down to the Alert history dashboard that
provides users with the detailed information about the latest alerts triggered in their IT infrastructure
enriched with the actionable chart and timeline.

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Review detailed information about the triggered alerts and change anomaly status. Review the following
for more information: Process Anomalies and Reduce Risk Score.

On the Details pane, you can review alert details and manage your alerts:

l Select columns – select colums to be displayed.

l Show reviewed alerts – click to view all alerts you have already reviewed.

l Mark all as reviewed – click to mard all alerts in the list as reviewed. Netwrix recommends doing
this only if you are completely sure that there are no critical alerts in your infrastructure.

l Edit alerts settings – click to modify settings of the selected alert. See Create Alerts for more
information.

l Show activity record in new window – click to view more information about the activity record that
triggered an alert. See Activity Records Statistics for more information.

You can also refresh the alerts information by clicking the Refresh button at the bottom or go to the
general alerts settings page clicking the Alert settings. See Manage Alerts for more information.

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7. IT Risk Assessment Overview

7. IT Risk Assessment Overview


To help you identify configuration gaps in your environment and understand their impact on overall
security, Netwrix Auditor offers a dashboard with a number of metrics and drill-down reports on IT risk
assessment. They pinpoint the weak points in your IT infrastructure such as overly broad assignment of
access rights, loose password policies, and stale accounts. This information will help you to take
corrective measures in the required area, ensuring the IT risks stay in the safe zone.

Risk assessment dashboard can be accessed by clicking the Risk assessment tile in the main window of
Netwrix Auditor. For details about using the dashboard, see IT Risk Assessment Dashboard.

For details about metrics calculation, see How Risk Levels Are Estimated .

Looking for real-life use cases and walk through examples? Check out Netwrix training materials. Go
theIIT Risk Assessment videos.

7.1. Providing Data for Risk Assessment


To provide data for metrics and reports that belong to different categories, you will need to configure
monitoring plans that will process related data sources. These monitoring plans should have at least one
item added. See the following table for the certain reports:

Category Report name Collect data from

Users and Computers User accounts with "Password never expires" AD domain

User accounts with "Password not required" AD domain

Disabled computer accounts AD domain

Inactive user accounts AD domain

Inactive computer accounts AD domain

Servers with Guest account enabled Windows Server

Servers that have local user accounts with Windows Server


"Password never expires"

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Category Report name Collect data from

Permissions User accounts with administrative permissions AD domain

Administrative groups AD domain

Administrative group membership sprawl Windows Server

Empty security group AD domain

Site collections with the "Get a link" feature enabled SharePoint farm

Sites with the "Anonymous access" feature enabled SharePoint farm

Site collections with broken inheritance SharePoint farm

Data Files and folders accessible by Everyone Windows File


Server

File and folder names containing sensitive data Windows File


Server

Potentially harmful files on file shares Windows File


Server

Direct permissions on files and folders Windows File


Server

Documents and list items accessible by Everyone SharePoint farm


and Authenticated Users

Infrastructure Servers with inappropriate operating systems Windows Server

Servers with under- governed Windows Update Windows Server


configurations

Servers with unauthorized antivirus software Windows Server

7.2. Required Monitoring Plan Settings


To provide data needed for risk assessment, the related monitoring plan must be set up to store data to
the audit database.

Also, consider that all risk metrics and related reports require state-in-time data to be collected. You can
select the relevant option when creating a new monitoring plan, as described in the Settings for Data
Collection section. For the exising plan, refer to the procedure below.

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To verify the necessary settings of the existing plan

1. Select the monitoring plan you need and click the Edit button.

2. In the right pane of the dialog displayed, select Edit settings from the Monitoring plan section.

3. Go to the Audit Database section and make sure that Disable security intelligence ... checkbox is
cleared. This will instruct Netwrix Auditor to store data to both Long-Term Archive and audit
database:

4. Save the settings and return to the window with the monitoring plan details. Make sure you have at
least one monitored item in the plan. If necessary, add an item.

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5. Select the data source you need (for example, Active Directory) and click Edit data source from the
Data source section on the right.

6. Make sure that:

a. Monitor this data source and collect activity data is switched ON.

b. Collect data for state-in-time reports is switched ON.

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7. Save the settings and close the dialog.

7.3. IT Risk Assessment Dashboard


To access the Risk Assessment dashboard, click the corresponding tile in the main window.

NOTE: Starting with version 10, you can add any Netwrix Auditor elements (a dashboard, report, alert,
risk, etc.) to the Home screen to access them instantly. See Home Screen (Navigation) and
Customize Home screen for more information.

The IT risks are grouped into the following categories:

l Users and Computers

l Permissions

l Data

l Infrastructure

Within each category there are several key metrics identified by Netwrix industry experts who also
suggested formulas for calculating metrics values. Risks are assessed against these metrics and displayed
with the color indicators in accordance with the level:

l High — red

l Medium — yellow

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l Low — green

After reviewing general risks assessment results in each category, you can drill-down to details covered in
the underlying report— for that, double-click the selected metric or use the View Report button.

7.3.1. Customizing Metrics for Your Organization


Default threshold values for risk levels are set in accordance with recommendations of Netwrix industry
experts, as described in How Risk Levels Are Estimated . They can be, however, easily customized to
reflect your organization's internal security policies and standards. For that, do the following:

1. In the dashboard pane, select the metric you need and in the Actions section on the right click
Modify thresholds.

2. In the dialog displayed, specify new threshold values for risk levels.

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3. Click OK to save the settings and close the dialog.

Also, for several metrics the Customize risk indicators command is available.

For metric... Use Customize risk indicators command to...

File and folder names containing sensitive data Edit the list of words you consider to be
indicators of sensitive content if detected in
the file or folder name.

Potentially harmful files on file shares Edit the list of extensions you consider to be
indicators of potentially harmful files detected
in the file share.

Servers with inappropriate operating systems Edit the whitelist of permitted OS versions. Any
other OS version will be considered a risk
factor.

Servers with unauthorized antivirus software Edit the whitelist of permitted antivirus tools.
Any other antivirus will be considered a risk
factor.

Administrative group membership sprawl Edit the whitelist of permitted accounts that
can be the members of local administrative
groups. Any other account will be considered a
risk factor.

NOTE: New settings will be applied/risk level thresholds will be refreshed after the next data collection
session.

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7.3.2. Delivering Assessment Results as a File


You can create a subscription to periodically receive IT risk assessment results by email or using a file
share. For that, in the dashboard window click Subscribe and configure the necessary settings. See
Create Subscriptions for more information.

You can also save current results to a PDF file, using the Export button in the dashboard window.

7.4. How Risk Levels Are Estimated


As mentioned, dashboard and built-in reports give you a bird's eye view of the following high-risk areas:

l User and computer accounts

l Permissions

l Data

l Infrastructure

Within each area, Netwrix Auditor industry experts identified risk categories and suggested guidelines for
them. For example, if the number of administrative accounts in your organization is less than 2%, the risk
should be considered insufficient. If the value is between 2% and 3%, the risk is moderate, while any
value that exceeds 3% should be considered a high risk. These guidelines are based on security best
practices and analytical data.

The product compares your environment configuration against these metrics and assigns a risk level to
each category. The risk levels in each category determine the overall risk level for the area you review.
The following risk levels are used:

Risk level Color Comments

Low Green Keep monitoring your environment on a regular basic.

Medium Yellow Proactively mitigate risks and adjust your workflows before a
breach occurs.

High Red Respond to the threat as soon as possible.

Calculation formulas for each metric are provided in the table below.

NOTE: The following signs are used to define risk level intervals and threshold values:

l > —More than, exclusive

l ≥ —This value or more, inclusive

l = —Equals

l < —Less than, exclusive

l ≤ —This value or less, inclusive

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l [ ] —Inclusive interval

l ( ) —Exclusive interval

l [ ) or ( ] —Half-closed interval, where 1 value is inclusive and the other is exclusive or vice versa.

Risk Assessment formula Default risk level thresholds

Users and computers

User accounts with Number of enabled user accounts with l 0 — Low


"Password never Password never expires property set
l [1 – 5] — Medium
expires"
l > 5 — High

User accounts with Number of enabled user accounts with l 0 — Low


"Password not Password not required property set
l [1 – 2] — Medium
required"
NOTE: Interdomain trust accounts are l > 2 — High
excluded from total count.

Disabled computer Number of disabled computer accounts / l ≤ 1% — Low


accounts Overall number of computer accounts (%)
l (1% – 3%) — Medium

l ≥ 3% — High

Inactive user accounts Number of inactive but enabled users / l 0% — Low


Overall number of enabled user accounts
l (0% – 1%) — Medium
(%)
l ≥ 1% — High

Inactive computer Number of inactive but enabled computer l 0% — Low


accounts accounts / Overall number of enabled
l (0% – 3%) — Medium
computer accounts (%)
l ≥ 3% — High

Servers with Guest Number of servers with enabled Guest l 0%— Low
account enabled* account / Overall number of servers (%)
l (0% - 1%] — Medium

l >1% — High

Servers that have local Servers that have local user accounts with l 0% — Low
user accounts with Password never expires / Overall number
l >0% — High
"Password never of servers (%)
expires"*

Permissions

User accounts with Number of administrative accounts / Overall l ≤ 2%— Low

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Risk Assessment formula Default risk level thresholds

administrative number of accounts (%) l (2% – 3%) — Medium


permissions
l ≥ 3% — High

Administrative groups Number of administrative groups / Overall l ≤ 2% — Low


number of groups (%)
l (2% – 3%) — Medium

l ≥ 3% — High

Administrative group Number of Windows servers whose Local l 0% — Low


membership sprawl* Administrators Group members differ from
l >0% — High
those specified in the whitelist / Overall
number of servers (%)

Empty security groups Number of security groups without l ≤ 1% — Low


members / Overall number of security
l (1% – 2%) — Medium
groups (%)
l ≥ 2% — High

Site collections with the Number of site collections with the Get a l ≤30% — Low
"Get a link" feature link feature enabled / Total number of site
l (30% - 60%) —
enabled collections (%)
Medium

l ≥60% — High

Sites with the Number of sites with the Anonymous l ≤30% — Low
"Anonymous access" access feature enabled / Total number of
l (30% - 60%) —
feature enabled sites (%)
Medium

l ≥60% — High

Site collections with Number of site collections with broken l ≤30% — Low
broken inheritance inheritance / Total number of site collections
l (30% - 60%) —
(%)
Medium

l ≥60% — High

Data

Files and folders Files and folders shared with Everyone l ≤ 1% — Low
accessible by Everyone security group /Overall number of shared
l (1% – 5%) — Medium
folders (%)
l ≥ 5% — High

File and folder names Number of files and folders with names that l 0 — Low

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Risk Assessment formula Default risk level thresholds

containing sensitive suggest they contain sensitive data l 1 — Medium


data
l > 1 — High

Potentially harmful files Number of detected harmful files l 0 — Low


on file shares
l 1 — Medium

l > 1 — High

Direct permissions on Number of shared objects with at least one l 0% — Low


files and folders direct permission / Overall number of
l (0% – 5%) — Medium
shared objects (%)
l ≥ 5% — High

Documents and list Number of documents and list items shared l ≤25% — Low
items accessible by with the Everyone and Authenticated Users
l (25% - 50%) —
Everyone and groups / Total number of documents and list
Medium
Authenticated Users items (%)
l ≥50% — High

Infrastructure

Servers with Number of Windows servers with OS not l 0% — Low


inappropriate included in the whitelist / Overall number of
l >0% — High
operating systems* servers (%)

Servers with under- Number of servers with Windows Update l 0% — Low


governed Windows configuration source set to Local Settings
l >0% — Medium
Update configurations* AND/OR with auto-update set to Not
configured or Disabled / Overall number of
servers (%)

Servers with Number of Windows servers with antivirus l 0% — Low


unauthorized antivirus tools not included in the whitelist / Overall
l >0% — High
software* number of servers (%)

* -here the Overall number of servers means the number of Windows servers for which data collection was
a success. That said, this count may vary across the risks. In such a case, it is recommended to examine
Netwrix Auditor health log and omit lists.

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8. Behavior Anomalies

8. Behavior Anomalies
Netwrix Auditor enables you to detect behavior anomalies in your IT environment, such as activity surges
or mass deletions of archived data. As you investigate suspicious activity and review incidents, you can
identify intruders or in-house bad actors who keep violating your company's security policies.

The behavior anomalies assessment extends the alerting functionality and provides both a high-level
visualization and a detailed history of malicious user activity. While alerts notify you on a single or
repetitive action almost immediately, the Behavior Anomalies dashboard accumulates this data over time
and thus gives you the bird's eye view of activity patterns. With Behavior Anomalies, you can step beyond
individual actions and investigate more complicated user behavior scenarios that might otherwise stay
concealed for a long time.

On a high level, your behavior anomalies assessment workflow can be described as follows:

1. You create alerts on threat patterns specific to your company. You include these alerts in Behavior
Anomalies assessment and associate a risk score with each alert. The score, that is between 1 and
100 points, reflects how critical the action is for your organization. Refer to Risk Score for detailed
instructions on how to set a risk score for an alert.

Although Netwrix industry experts suggest risk scores for alerts that are provided out-of-the-box,
you can easily tailor these scores to your organization needs and priorities. You can always adjust
risk scores over time as you become more aware of behavior patterns and anomalous actions in
your environment.

2. Each action that provokes an alert is treated as anomaly. Once the anomaly is detected, it appears
on a dashboard's timeline and its risk score is added to the user's total score.

3. Every now and then, you review the Behavior Anomalies dashboard—the risk score timeline with
anomaly surges, and the most active users. The general rule of thumb is: the more risk score points
the user has the more he or she merits your attention. See Review Behavior Anomalies Dashboard
for more information.

4. To learn more about user activity, you can drill-down to a user profile to review all alerts provoked
by this user. As you review anomalies and mitigate risks, the user's total score reduces. See Review
User Profiles and Process Anomalies for more information.

The purpose of the dashboard is to keep risks low and help you spot and address issues as they occur.
The risk score assigned to a user does not qualify him or her as a bad actor but rather brings your
attention to behavior patterns. Depending on the role in your organization, users might have different
safe levels while you should make your priority to review the anomalies on time, stay focused, and
proactively mitigate risks.

8.1. Review Behavior Anomalies Dashboard


NOTE: To review the Behavior Anomalies dashboard, process and filter anomalies in user profiles, you
must be assigned the Global administrator or Global reviewer role in the product. See Netwrix

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Auditor Administration Guide for more information.

To review the Behavior Anomalies dashboard

NOTE: Starting with version 10, you can add any Netwrix Auditor elements (a dashboard, report, alert,
risk, etc.) to the Home screen to access them instantly. See Home Screen (Navigation) and
Customize Home screen for more information.

l On the main Netwrix Auditor page, click on the left.

The dashboards includes the following sections:

l The Risk score timeline that helps you review anomaly surges over time.

l The Risk score by top five users chart that helps you identify the most active users. To see the
chart, click the pie chart icon in the upper left corner of the page.

l The user list with all users who provoked alerts and their total risk scores.

Once you reviewed the general anomaly trend and identified users that merit your special attention,
review their profiles and process anomalies. Click View Profile next to a user name to dive into user
activity and investigate each action in details. See Review User Profiles and Process Anomalies for more
information.

See Review User Profiles and Process Anomalies for more information.

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8.2. Review User Profiles and Process Anomalies


The user profile enables you to investigate user behavior and take a closer look at anomalies.

To view a user profile

l On the Behavior Anomalies assessment dashboard, locate a user and click View Profile next to his
or her name.

The user profile page contains the following sections:

l User data with the name and the total risk score. Click Show user activity below the total risk score,
to launch the Interactive Search in a new window. Use it to see all user actions, including those that
were not treated as anomalies.

l The Risk score timeline that demonstrates anomalous activity surges. Modify the timeframe to
narrow down the results.

l The Risk score by top five alerts chart that outlines the most frequent anomalies provoked by
user. To see the chart, click the pie chart icon in the upper left corner of the page.

l The anomalies list displays details for each anomaly: the alert that was triggered, the date and time,
the risk score and anomaly status.

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Double-click an entry to see more details: who did what, when and where the action was made, etc.
Navigate to Linked actions and click Show user activity or Show this activity record to invoke
Interactive Search and see all user actions or a specific action correspondingly.

NOTE: Netwrix Auditor shows only the top 2,000 anomalies. Modify the timeframe or hide reviewed
anomalies, and then click Refresh to see more anomalies.

8.2.1. Process Anomalies and Reduce Risk Score


By default, the anomaly status is active and it indicates that the incident still requires some examination
or is kept for further investigation. As you inspect anomalies and respond to threats, update statuses and
add comments.

To change an anomaly status

1. Specify an anomaly from the list and click the Active link in the Status column.

2. In the Change Status dialog, set the status to "reviewed" and provide a justification.

NOTE: You can add comments without changing a status. This might be helpful if the anomaly
remains active for a long period of time and you need even more time to examine it closely.

Once the anomaly is reviewed, it disappears from the timeline and chart, and its associated risk score is
taken from user's total score. The reviewed anomalies supplement the status with the reviewer name
and date (e.g., Reviewed by CORP\Administrator (10/02/2017 10:12:03 AM)).

You can always revert changes and assign the Active status back.

To process all anomalies

l In the Actions section, select Mark all as reviewed.

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In this case, all anomalies that are currently in view will be set to "reviewed". Perform this operation only
with a proper justification. Since Netwrix Auditor shows only the top 2,000 anomalies, make sure to click
Refresh to check if there are more anomalies to be reviewed.

NOTE: The anomalies that are excluded from view by filters are not affected by the Mark all as reviewed
action. For more information about filters, see Customize Anomalies List.

8.2.2. Customize Anomalies List


By default, all anomalies are in view. The Filters section helps you show or hide anomalies.

Click Customize view and clear the checkboxes next to alert names, if you do not want to see anomalies
associated with them.

When you hide an alert from view, its associated anomalies will no longer be displayed on a timeline,
chart, or in the list but the user total score will remain unchanged. Note that hidden anomalies cannot be
reviewed in bulk with the Mark all as reviewed action.

Hide reviewed anomalies enables you to modify the anomalies list so that you can focus on active
anomalies only. To see reviewed anomalies, click Show reviewed anomalies.

8.3. Behavior Anomalies Assessment Tips and Tricks


This topic contains various frequently asked questions as well as tips and tricks you might find helpful
when configuring scoring settings and reviewing behavior anomalies.

l The user has a high score and keeps provoking same alerts almost every day.

Drill-down to the user profile and then click Show user activity. Review user actions and compare
them to his or her job responsibilities. Does the user seem trustworthy? Are there any rights
elevation or suspicious access attempts?

Try to review user tasks—you may find out that the anomaly the user keeps provoking is a genuine
part of his or her daily routine. For example, the office staff should not reset passwords for other
accounts while this is a basic task for a system administrator. In this case, review your alert settings
and exclude the user from the alert filters.

l Everyone in organization has a huge score

Probably, you have configured too many alerts that turn behavior anomalies assessment into mess.
It takes some time to learn what matters most to your organization and get accustomed to setting
proper risk scores. Try to review your scoring settings regularly and adjust them when necessary.

l Is anyone who is charge of "Failed..." anomaly a bad actor?

Anyone can forget a password or accidentally try to access some data in a wrong folder. Such users
are not subject to immediate prosecution unless they do not provoke repetitive alerts. The best
practice is to review user profile after some time and check if there are any threat patterns in user
behavior.

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9. Subscriptions

9. Subscriptions
Subscriptions enable you to schedule email delivery of a variety of reports or set of specific search
criteria. Subscriptions are helpful if you are a rare guest of Netwrix Auditor and you only need to get
statistics based on individual criteria. For example, an IT manager can easily provide auditors with weekly
reports to prove compliance with regulations.

You can configure subscriptions to reports (including dashboards) risk assessment overview and
interactive search.

NOTE: Starting with version 10, you can add any Netwrix Auditor elements (a dashboard, report, alert,
risk, etc.) to the Home screen to access them instantly. See Home Screen (Navigation) and
Customize Home screen for more information.

9.1. Subscription to Reports


This subscription type has the following key features:

l Predefined change reports to monitor important cases for all data sources.

l State-in-Time reports to monitor data source state at a specific moment of time.

l Predefined User Behavior and Blind Spot Analysis report pack with complex logic to identify
vulnerabilities (e.g., data access, suspicious files, etc.).

l Organization level reports to visualize what is happening in your environment.

l Reports with review status to track team workflow.

l Compliance reports to stay compliant with different standards.

9.2. Subscription to Search Results


This subscription type has the following key features:

l Flexible set of filters to modify search for your business use and create another subscription based
on the existing one.

l Advanced filters to make your results context match.

l The History option to verify that the subscription is configured properly.

l On-demand delivery to send the subscription to a recipient at any moment.

9.3. Subscription to Risk Assessment Overview


This subscription type has the following key features:

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l Risk assessment overview based on the latest state-in-time data to monitor the state of your Active
Directory users and computers, as well as files and folders and other data at a specific moment.

l Automatically calculated metrics to identify risks and potential vulnerabilities (sensitive data,
malicious files, etc.).

l Filters for monitoring plans and risk categories to receive exactly the data you need.

l Subscription options - delivery by email or upload to the specified file share.

l History option to verify that the subscription was configured properly and delivered successfully.

l On-demand delivery (Run Now) to send the subscription to a recipient at any moment.

NOTE: Subscription emails may vary slightly depending on the file delivery method and subscription type.

9.4. Subscription to Behavior Anomalies


This subscription type is similar to the predefined reports.

Review the following for additional information:

l Refer to Create Subscriptions for detailed instructions on how to create new subscriptions.

l Refer to Review and Manage Subscriptions for detailed instructions on how to manage
subscriptions.

9.5. Create Subscriptions


NOTE: To create new subscriptions and manage existing subscriptions, you must be assigned the Global
administrator or Global reviewer role in the product. See Netwrix Auditor Administration Guide
for more information.

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9. Subscriptions

1. Do one of the following depending on subscription type:

To... Do...

Subscribe to a report On the main Netwrix Auditor page, navigate to Reports. Specify the
report that you want to subscribe to and click Subscribe.

Subscribe to Behavior On the main Netwrix Auditor page, navigate to Behavior anomalies,
anomalies dashboard then in the dashboard window click Subscribe.
report

Subscribe to search 1. Navigate to Search and set appropriate search criteria. See Use
Filters (Simple Mode) for more information. Click Search.

2. Navigate to Tools and select Subscribe.

Subscribe to risk On the main Netwrix Auditor page, navigate to Risk assessment and
assessment overview in the dashboard window click Subscribe.

2. On the Add Subscription page, complete the following fields:

Option Description

General

Subscription name Enter the name for the subscription.

Report name For report subscription—You cannot edit report name.

OR For subscription to search and risk assessment overview—Specify


email subject to identify subscription emails from Netwrix Auditor. For
Email subject
example, "Successful read attempts on important file shares".

Send empty Slide the switch to Yes if you want to receive a report even if no
subscriptions when no changes occurred.
activity occurred

NOTE: Available for


report and
search
subscriptions
only.

Specify delivery options l File format—Configure reports to be delivered as the pdf or csv
files for search subscriptions; and pdf, docx, csv or xls files for
report subscriptions.

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Option Description

NOTE: Available for report and search subscriptions only.

l File delivery—Select delivery method:

l Attach to email—Select this option to receive data as email


attachments.

The maximum size of the attachment file is 50 MB.


Attachments larger than 50MB will be uploaded to
\\<NAservername>\Netwrix_Auditor_
Subscriptions$\LostAndFound\ folder on Netwrix Auditor
server. They will be available for 7 days. Check the
subscription email to get the files.

l Upload to a file share—Select this option to save data on


the selected file share. Click Browse to select a folder on
the computer that hosts Netwrix Auditor Server or specify a
UNC path to a shared network resource.

NOTE: Make sure that the recipients have sufficient rights


to access it and the Long- Term Archive service
account has sufficient rights to upload reports. See
Netwrix Auditor Installation and Configuration
Guide for more information.

Other tabs

Recipients Shows the number of recipients selected and allows specifying emails
where reports are to be sent.

Expand the Recipients list and click Add to add more recipients.

Schedule Allows specifying report delivery schedule (daily, certain days of week,
a certain day of a certain month).

NOTE: By default, risk assessment overview and search subscription


delivery is scheduled to 7.00 am daily, report subscription
delivery - to 8.00 am daily.

Filters l For report subscription—Specify the report filters, which vary


depending on the selected report.

l For subscription to risk assessment overview—Select one or


several monitoring plans and risk categories whose data you
want to be included. By default, you will receive data on all risk
categories, provided by all monitoring plans configured for risk

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9. Subscriptions

Option Description

assessment.

l For search subscription—Specify filters in the same way as for


search. See Apply Additional Filters for more information.

NOTE: For search subscription, you can also select a parameter


to sort actions by and the sorting order.

History l Contains subscription generation details (intervals, status, last


run time, start type). If the subscription failed, expand its details
NOTE: For search and to understand and resolve error, then click the Try again link.
risk assessment
l Allows for on-demand subscription delivery—for that, click Run
subscriptions
Now.
only.
On successful subscription generation you will receive the results that
match your criteria for the scheduled period.

9.6. Review and Manage Subscriptions


On the main Netwrix Auditor page, navigate to Subscriptions to review a list of your subscriptions.

The table below provides instructions on how to manage your subscriptions.

To... Do...

Browse subscriptions Type the target subscription name in the search bar in the upper part
of the Subscriptions window and click the Search icon to review
results.

Enable or disable Pick a subscription and select On or Off in the Mode column.
subscriptions

Modify subscriptions Select the subscription that you want to modify and click Edit at the
bottom of the Subscriptions window. Update the subscription and
save your changes.

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9. Subscriptions

To... Do...

Remove subscriptions
Click icon next to the selected subscription.

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Index

Index How it works 11


H

I
A
Intelligence
Alerts 68, 72
Enterprise Overview 50
Apply tags 69
Reports 46
Configure 68
Search 30
Predefined alerts 72
L
Risk score 71
Launch 17
Search by tag 72
Licensing
Threshold-based alerts 70
Product editions 12
B
O
Baselines 58
Overview 7
Behavior Anomalies
R
Concept 90
Reports
Customize view 94
Baselines 58
Dashboard 90
Change management 49
Process anomalies 93
Change reports 49, 54
Timeline 90
Change Review Status reports 49
User profile 92
Changes with video 49
Browse audit data 30
Compliance 64
C
Custom 65
Custom reports 65
Dashboards 49
D
Filtering 48
Dashboard 86
How to find 46
Diagrams 50
Organization Level reports 49, 53
E
Overview diagrams 50
Enterprise Overview 50
Overview reports 49
F
Reports for change management 61
Free Community Edition 12
Reports with video 63

SSRS-based Reports 46

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Index

State-in-Time Reports 49, 56

Subscriptions 95

User behavior and blind spot analysis 59

Response action 73

Risk assessment 79, 83

Overview 79, 86

Saved searches 65

Search

Advanced 36

Browse data 30

Columns 36

Condition 40

Copy and paste 44

Export data 44

Filters 33

Include and exclude data 43

More filters 36

Save as report 65

Subscribe 95

Subscriptions 95

Create 96

Manage 99

Tags

Apply to alerts 69

Windows Server

Baseline reports 58

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