Application logging is the systematic practice of recording significant events, operations, and activities occurring within a software application. This process captures essential data points including user authentication attempts, data access patterns, configuration changes, system errors, and security-related occurrences. By maintaining a detailed audit trail of application behavior and user activity, organizations create an invaluable record that supports monitoring, troubleshooting, and security analysis.

As a critical security control in cybersecurity, application logging enables proactive threat detection by helping security teams identify suspicious patterns, unauthorized access attempts, or potential exploits in near real-time. During security incidents, these logs become essential for forensic analysis and incident response, allowing investigators to determine root causes, assess the scope of compromise, and identify affected assets. Robust application logging also supports regulatory compliance requirements, internal auditing processes, and demonstrates organizational accountability in protecting sensitive information.