CISA's logging guidance works beyond government
CISA released its Logging Reference Architecture in August 2026 to help federal agencies meet OMB M-26-14 logging requirements, usable as a benchmark by critical infrastructure operators.
CISA's Logging Reference Architecture (LRA), released in August 2026, helps US federal civilian agencies satisfy logging requirements in OMB Memorandum M-26-14 and explicitly encourages critical infrastructure operators to use it as a benchmark. The framework is organized around continuous event monitoring and threat hunting, investigation, response, and forensics, with a federal baseline of six months searchable and one year retrievable logs. Agencies must submit Agency Logging Plans within 90 days and work toward Advanced maturity within 320 days; the guidance also treats AI outputs as derived data requiring human review and preserved metadata.
- LRA supports OMB M-26-14 compliance and is offered as a benchmark for critical infrastructure operators.
- Framework goals: continuous event monitoring and threat hunting, investigation, response, and forensics.
- Federal baseline: logs searchable for six months, retrievable for one year.
- Agencies must submit Logging Plans within 90 days and reach Advanced maturity within 320 days.
- AI outputs are treated as derived data requiring human review and preserved metadata.
- Vendors
- CISA
- Products
- Logging Reference Architecture
- Organizations
- OMB
- Countries
- United States
From the original article
3 min read at helpnetsecurity.com
The US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) wants federal agencies to (re)shape their logging strategy around one question: when an attack hits, can you actually use the logs you’ve collected to catch it and reconstruct what happened afterward?
By @zeljkazorz · helpnetsecurity.com
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