Skip to content

Use Case & User Stories: Security Audit Trail
Use Case ID: UC-10
Use Case Name: Review Security-Sensitive System Events
Feature: Security Audit Trail
Actors: System Administrator, IT Security Officer (Primary)

1. Use Case Description

This use case describes how a highly privileged user, such as a System Administrator or an IT Security Officer, accesses and reviews the Security Audit Trail. The audit trail is a read-only, immutable log of all critical security-related events that occur within the system. The user can view, search, and filter this log to monitor administrative actions, investigate security incidents, and ensure accountability. Access to this sensitive information is strictly controlled.

2. User Stories

  • US-39: Investigate Specific User Modifications > As a System Administrator, > I want to filter the audit trail to see all changes made to a specific user's account, > so that I can quickly investigate how and when their permissions were changed or their account was deactivated.

  • US-40: Ensure Administrator Accountability > As an IT Security Officer, > I want every critical administrative action (like user creation, status change, or group modification) to be automatically and immutably logged, > so that I can have a definitive record of "who did what, and when" to ensure accountability for all privileged users.

  • US-41: Perform Time-Based Security Audits > As an IT Security Officer, > I want to be able to filter the audit trail by a specific date range, > so that I can perform periodic reviews, such as seeing all users who were deactivated in the last quarter.

  • US-42: Restrict Access to the Audit Trail > As a System Architect, > I want access to view the Security Audit Trail to be governed by a unique and highly restricted permission (audit:view:security), > so that this comprehensive log of system changes is protected from unauthorized viewing.

  • US-43: Immutable Log Entries > As a Compliance Officer, > I want the application to ensure that audit log entries, once written, cannot be altered or deleted through the application UI, > so that the integrity and trustworthiness of the audit trail are guaranteed for forensic and compliance purposes.

3. Preconditions

  • The user is a highly privileged administrator with an active session (UC-01).
  • The user's effective permissions include audit:view:security (UC-04).
  • The system has been in use, and auditable events (e.g., user creation, logins, status changes) have occurred and been logged by the backend.

4. Postconditions

  • The administrator is presented with a list of audit trail entries that match their specified filter criteria.
  • The system's security state remains unchanged as the interface is read-only.

5. Main Success Scenario (Happy Path - General Review)

Step User Action System Response
1 Navigates to the "Security Audit Trail" page. The system verifies the user has the audit:view:security permission.
2 The page loads and displays a paginated table of all audit events in reverse chronological order (most recent first).
3 Each row in the table clearly displays the Timestamp, Actor (who performed the action), Action (what they did), Target (what entity was affected), and human-readable Details of the event.
4 Filter controls for Date Range, Actor, and Action are visible on the page.

6. Alternative & Exception Flows

  • Scenario A: Investigating a Specific Incident

    • 2a. A user, Bob, is found to be in the wrong group. An admin, David, needs to investigate. He navigates to the audit trail.
    • 2b. David uses the filters: he selects "User: Bob" from the "Target" filter (assuming this is possible) or filters by the "USER_GROUP_UPDATE" action type.
    • System Response: The list updates to show only the relevant entries. David can see a single entry showing the exact timestamp, the administrator who made the change in the "Actor" column, and the "Details" column which reads "Added user to 'Content Approvers' group."
    • Outcome: David has the precise information needed to understand and rectify the situation.

  • Scenario B: Backend Logging (System Action)

    • Trigger: An administrator, David, successfully creates a new user, Jane Doe (as per UC-06).
    • System Response: In the background and completely invisible to David, the system automatically creates a new, immutable entry in the audit trail database. The entry contains:
      • Timestamp: The exact time of creation.
      • Actor: "David (david@example.com)".
      • Action: "USER_CREATE".
      • Target: "User: Jane Doe (jane.doe@example.com)".
      • Details: "User account created with status 'Active' and assigned to groups: [Group Names]".

  • Exception Flow C: Unauthorized Access Attempt

    • 1a. A regular marketing manager, Carol, obtains the URL for the audit trail page and tries to access it.
    • System Response: The system checks Carol's effective permissions, does not find audit:view:security, and immediately redirects her to the standard "Access Denied" page.