Audit Logging

What Is Audit Logging?

Every meaningful action in Nutan is recorded in an audit log — who did what, when, and whether it succeeded. This creates a tamper-evident trail that satisfies compliance requirements and helps with security monitoring.

Why It Matters

Audit logs are required for:

• SOC 2 (CC7.2) — Detection of unauthorized or anomalous activity
• GDPR — Demonstrating that data processing is lawful and traceable
• HIPAA — Activity tracking for protected health information
• Internal security — Investigating incidents, verifying access patterns

Dual-Output Architecture

Nutan writes audit logs to two independent locations:

1. Queryable Audit Store

Audit events are written to your local encrypted database. This allows:

• Querying audit events in the desktop app
• Filtering by event type, date range, or outcome
• Joining audit data with other application data
• Fast lookups for recent events

2. Append-Only Audit File

Every audit event is also appended to a separate audit file:

• Format: One structured record per line, chronologically ordered
• Append-only: Nutan only appends to this file, never modifies or deletes entries
• Tamper-evident: Any modification to earlier lines is detectable by integrity checks

The audit file serves as an independent backup — even if the database is corrupted or deleted, the audit trail survives.

What Gets Logged

Every audit event records:

Example Events

• User signed in via Google OAuth
• 15 deals synced from Salesforce
• Contact deleted (GDPR erasure)
• CRM token refresh failed
• Cloud sync completed (42 records pushed)
• Knowledge item uploaded (PDF, 2.3 MB)

No PII in Audit Logs

Audit logs record what happened but never include personally identifiable information:

• No names, emails, or phone numbers
• No transcript content
• No deal values or details
• Record IDs are used for traceability without exposing content

This means audit logs can be retained long-term without creating a secondary privacy liability.

Retention

Local Logs

Local audit logs are retained as long as you keep the app installed. They grow slowly (a few KB per day for typical use). The audit file can be rotated or archived manually if needed.

After Data Deletion

When you exercise your right to erasure (GDPR Article 17), audit logs are preserved. This is legally required under Article 17(3)(e) — logs demonstrating lawful processing are exempt from the right to erasure.

Accessing Audit Logs

In the App

Navigate to Settings → Security to view recent audit events. You can filter by event type and date range.

Raw File Access

The audit file is a standard text file stored locally. You can read it with any text editor, import it into a log analysis tool, or parse it with a script.