Windows systems generate thousands of logs every single day. Most people see them, but few actually understand them. Do you understand them?
As a cybersecurity professional, especially on the defensive side, your job often starts and ends with logs. When something goes wrong on a Windows system, the truth is almost always written somewhere inside the Event Viewer. The challenge is knowing what to look for without getting lost in noise.
That’s why I revisited Windows logging again and identified the core Windows Event IDs every security professional should recognize immediately. This isn’t an endless list that contains every ID; rather, it highlights just the ones that actually show up during real incident investigations.
This guide explains what each Event ID represents in lay terms first, then lightly connects it to security, so it makes sense whether you’re a beginner or already working in a SOC.
Event ID 4624 means a user successfully logged into a system. This could be through a local login (on your computer), Remote Desktop, a service account, or even a scheduled task running under a user’s context.