What practice helps maintain data integrity in log management?

Implementing a log retention policy is essential for maintaining data integrity in log management. A log retention policy specifies how long logs are kept and the circumstances under which they are archived or deleted. This practice ensures that relevant data remains accessible for future analysis, compliance audits, or investigations. By defining a clear retention schedule, organizations can prevent data loss and ensure that their logs accurately reflect historical activity.

This approach not only supports compliance with legal and regulatory requirements but also helps in maintaining the overall health and performance of the log management system. By systematically reviewing and managing logs, organizations can reduce the risk of data corruption and ensure that the logs that are kept are relevant and trustworthy.

In contrast, merely filtering important logs or ignoring unimportant ones might lead to a loss of potentially valuable data, while dependency on software alone does not guarantee data integrity—human oversight and policy enforcement are critical components of effective log management.