Why Real-Time Log Encryption Is Now Essential

In the second half of 2025, a series of security breaches involving Salesforce-integrated third-party applications underscored a critical flaw—not in Salesforce itself, but in the security of connected apps. These attacks involved the phishing and social engineering-based theft of OAuth tokens and credentials. Threat actors then impersonated legitimate integrated applications to execute mass SOQL queries across multiple Salesforce instances. As a result, they exfiltrated sensitive data including customer contacts, sales and support history, and confidential business information.

These incidents revealed the limitations of log-based access control. Many organizations failed to monitor or detect anomalies in API call patterns and token usage from these integrated apps. This highlighted the urgent need to shift beyond the outdated mindset of “just protect personal data.” Instead, businesses must now treat access logs, query logs, and token usage histories as core information assets. This shift requires redesigning strategies for collection, storage, monitoring, and anomaly detection in cloud environments.

Logs and Log Encryption: What You Need to Know

Logs serve as digital records of what happened, when, and where within systems and services. They include everything from web server access histories and payment requests to admin changes and error messages. However, these logs often contain sensitive data such as usernames, IP addresses, device identifiers, and partial card numbers. When left in plaintext, logs become easy targets for both insiders and external attackers.

Log encryption applies cryptographic methods to protect log data during storage and transmission. This ensures unauthorized individuals cannot access or misuse the information. Generally, two strategies are combined:

• Data Minimization and Masking: Reducing the presence of sensitive data, or using masking and tokenization to limit exposure (e.g., showing only the last few digits).
• Strong Encryption Algorithms: Applying secure encryption such as AES-256 and robust key management to protect both stored and transmitted logs.

Ultimately, the goal is to minimize who can access logs and ensure that even those who can only see what’s strictly necessary.

Why Real-Time Log Encryption Matters More Than Ever

Previously, it was common to store logs in plaintext and encrypt them periodically or move them to secure storage in batches. However, the rise of Advanced Persistent Threats (APTs)—attacks where intruders quietly lurk inside networks for extended periods—has made these gaps a serious vulnerability.

In high-risk environments like payment or authentication servers, where logs are generated every second, delayed encryption no longer suffices. Here are three major reasons why real-time log encryption is now essential:

1. Logs Are Valuable Intelligence for Attackers: Firstly, logs reveal system architecture, account patterns, and transaction flows. If attackers obtain plaintext logs, they can plan further attacks more easily—for example, by mimicking legitimate admin login behavior.
2. Ransomware Targets Logs Too: Secondly, modern attacks don’t stop at databases. They encrypt or steal backups and logs as well. Encrypting logs from the moment they are created helps neutralize the damage, even if storage systems are compromised.
3. Improved Threat Detection: Lastly, encrypting logs in real time—while collecting them in standard formats—facilitates quicker detection of anomalies and mass data exfiltration patterns. This enhances an organization’s threat response capabilities.

Industries That Need Encrypted Logging

• Finance, Fintech, and Digital Payments: Logs in banking and payment systems often contain account numbers, card data, transaction patterns, and device or location info. If leaked, this data can enable fraud or account takeovers. Encrypting application, database, and access logs is non-negotiable.
• Telecom, Platforms, and Cloud Providers: These sectors handle vast log volumes from user traffic, device info, locations, and more. Even partial log leaks can reveal user behavior, shopping patterns, and search history, making them prime targets for phishing and fraud. Centralized logging systems must default to encryption, masking, and anonymization.
• Healthcare, Government, and Education: Logs in these sectors contain medical records, insurance claims, social security numbers, tax details, and more. Due to long retention periods, secure storage, key lifecycle management, and encrypted archiving are critical.
• Manufacturing, Smart Factories, and OT: Logs from smart factories, energy systems, and logistics include proprietary data like production volumes, process formulas, and facility configurations. For competitors or attackers, this information is highly valuable. As a result, log encryption and integrity verification in OT/ICS environments are increasingly vital.

Penta Security’s Real-Time Log Encryption: D.AMO

As the first company to commercialize encryption in Korea, Penta Security offers D.AMO, a powerful encryption platform backed by over 20 years of experience. D.AMO enables real-time encryption of unstructured data such as logs, images, videos, and recordings in designated directories.

As soon as a file is created or modified, it encrypts it immediately, including all rotated files currently in use.

🔒 Key Features of Real-Time Log Encryption in D.AMO

• Access and Permission Control
  • Granular access control based on specific criteria
  • Server access list filtered by admin role
  • Time-based access permissions
• File-Level Encryption
  • Specify directories for real-time encryption
  • Apply detailed encryption based on filename and extension filters
  • Schedule encryption/decryption tasks
  • Set disk usage thresholds to pause operations automatically
• Integrity Verification
  • Real-time encrypted file previews across multiple screens
  • Secure download and decryption operations
• Backup and Recovery
  • Backup plaintext before initial encryption
  • Restore original files in case of encryption errors
• Strong Key Management
  • CC-certified key management system
  • Physically and logically separates keys from the servers

Rethinking Logs in the Post-Salesforce Breach Era

Since the Salesforce third-party breach, the role of logs has fundamentally changed. No longer mere diagnostic tools, logs now represent blueprints for attackers, evidence for defenders, and critical data protected by law. As a result, organizations must take a more strategic and proactive approach to log management.

Therefore, security planning must include a log strategy from day one. This means defining log structures, minimizing sensitive data, and applying real-time encryption from the start.

Moreover, as the first company in Korea to offer commercial encryption solutions, Penta Security, a top global cybersecurity company, leverages deep expertise to deliver custom-fit solutions for diverse IT environments. With this in mind, you can trust Penta Security to safeguard your log data using proven technology and global cybersecurity leadership.