What practice is required to ensure all critical system clocks are synchronized?

• A. Relying on local time on each server without coordination
• B. Using time-synchronization technology with designated central time server(s) and UTC
• C. Setting clocks manually by administrators
• D. Accepting time updates from any external source

Answer: (B)

In a security monitoring and auditing context, consistent timestamps across all systems are essential for reliable log correlation and incident response. Using time-synchronization technology with a designated central time server and UTC provides a single authoritative reference that all devices share. When critical servers pull their clocks from a trusted, centralized source (often via NTP) and report times in UTC, events from different systems line up correctly in the logs, making it possible to reconstruct sequences of activity and detect anomalies accurately.

Relying on the local time on each server invites drift and divergence between systems, which can obscure when and how incidents occurred. Manually setting clocks is error-prone and hard to maintain, especially in large environments. Accepting time updates from any external source can introduce inconsistencies or tampering risks. Centralized, UTC-based time synchronization prevents these issues and supports compliant, auditable logging across the network.