FHIR Release 3 (STU) 4

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Security Work Group Maturity Level : 3   Trial Use Security Category : Not Classified Compartments : Device , Patient , Practitioner

Detailed Descriptions for the elements in the AuditEvent resource.

Control 0..1 Type Identifier Requirements
AuditEvent
Element Id AuditEvent
Definition

A record of an event made for purposes of maintaining a security log. Typical uses include detection of intrusion attempts and monitoring for inappropriate usage.

Control Cardinality 1..1 0..*
Type DomainResource
Comments

Based on ATNA (RFC 3881). IHE-ATNA.

AuditEvent.type
Element Id AuditEvent.type
Definition

Identifier for a family of the event. For example, a menu item, program, rule, policy, function code, application name or URL. It identifies the performed function.

Control Cardinality 1..1
Terminology Binding Audit Event ID ( Extensible )
Type Coding
Requirements

This identifies the performed function. For "Execute" "Execute" Event Action Code audit records, this identifies the application function performed.

Summary true
AuditEvent.subtype
Element Id AuditEvent.subtype
Definition

Identifier for the category of event.

Control Cardinality 0..*
Terminology Binding Audit Event Sub-Type ( Extensible )
Type Coding
Requirements

This field enables queries of messages by implementation-defined event categories.

Summary true
AuditEvent.action
Element Id AuditEvent.action
Definition

Indicator for type of action performed during the event that generated the audit.

Control Cardinality 0..1
Terminology Binding AuditEventAction ( Required )
Type code
Requirements

This broadly indicates what kind of action was done on the AuditEvent.entity by the AuditEvent.agent.

Summary true
AuditEvent.period
Element Id AuditEvent.period
Definition

The period during which the activity occurred.

Cardinality 0..1
Type Period
Comments

The period can be a little arbitrary; where possible, the time should correspond to human assessment of the activity time.

AuditEvent.recorded
Element Id AuditEvent.recorded
Definition

The time when the event occurred on the source. was recorded.

Control Cardinality 1..1
Type instant
Requirements

This ties an event to a specific date and time. Security audits typically require a consistent time base (e.g. UTC), to eliminate time-zone issues arising from geographical distribution.

Summary true
Comments

In a distributed system, some sort of common time base (e.g. an NTP [RFC1305] server) is a good implementation tactic.

AuditEvent.outcome
Element Id AuditEvent.outcome
Definition

Indicates whether the event succeeded or failed.

Control Cardinality 0..1
Terminology Binding AuditEventOutcome ( Required )
Type code
Summary true
Comments

In some cases a "success" "success" may be partial, for example, an incomplete or interrupted transfer of a radiological study. For the purpose of establishing accountability, these distinctions are not relevant.

AuditEvent.outcomeDesc
Element Id AuditEvent.outcomeDesc
Definition

A free text description of the outcome of the event.

Control Cardinality 0..1
Type string
Summary true
AuditEvent.purposeOfEvent
Element Id AuditEvent.purposeOfEvent
Definition

The purposeOfUse (reason) that was used during the event being recorded.

Control Cardinality 0..*
Terminology Binding PurposeOfUse V3 Value SetPurposeOfUse ( Extensible )
Type CodeableConcept
Summary true
Comments

Use AuditEvent.agent.purposeOfUse when you know that it is specific to the agent, otherwise use AuditEvent.purposeOfEvent. For example, during a machine-to-machine transfer it might not be obvious to the audit system who caused the event, but it does know why.

AuditEvent.agent
Element Id AuditEvent.agent
Definition

An actor taking an active role in the event or activity that is logged.

Control Cardinality 1..*
Requirements

An agent can be a person, an organization, software, device, or other actors that may be ascribed responsibility.

Alternate Names ActiveParticipant
Comments

Several agents may be associated (i.e. have some responsibility for an activity) with an event or activity.

For example, an activity may be initiated by one user for other users or involve more than one user. However, only one user may be the initiator/requestor for the activity.

AuditEvent.agent.type
Element Id AuditEvent.agent.type
Definition

Specification of the participation type the user plays when performing the event.

Cardinality 0..1
Terminology Binding ParticipationRoleType ( Extensible )
Type CodeableConcept
AuditEvent.agent.role
Element Id AuditEvent.agent.role
Definition

The security role that the user was acting under, that come from local codes defined by the access control security system (e.g. RBAC, ABAC) used in the local context.

Control Cardinality 0..*
Terminology Binding SecurityRoleType ( Extensible Example )
Type CodeableConcept
Requirements

This value ties an audited event to a user's role(s). It is an optional value that might be used to group events for analysis by user functional role categories.

Comments

Should be roles relevant to the event. Should not be an exhaustive list of roles.

AuditEvent.agent.reference AuditEvent.agent.who
Element Id AuditEvent.agent.who
Definition

Direct reference Reference to a resource who this agent is that identifies was involved in the agent. event.

Control Cardinality 0..1
Type Reference ( PractitionerRole | Practitioner | Organization | Device | Patient | RelatedPerson )
Requirements

This field ties an audit event to a specific resource. Summary true AuditEvent.agent.userId Definition Unique identifier for the user actively participating in the event. resource or identifier.

Alternate Names This field ties an audit event to a specific user. userId
Summary true
Comments

A unique value within the Audit Source ID. For node-based authentication -- where only the system hardware or process, but not Where a human user, is identified -- User ID would be the node name. is available it will go into who.identifier.

AuditEvent.agent.altId
Element Id AuditEvent.agent.altId
Definition

Alternative agent Identifier. For a human, this should be a user identifier text string from authentication system. This identifier would be one known to a common authentication system (e.g. single sign-on), if available.

Control Cardinality 0..1
Type string
Requirements

In some situations, a human user may authenticate with one identity but, to access a specific application system, may use a synonymous identify. For example, some "single "single sign on" on" implementations will do this. The alternative identifier would then be the original identify used for authentication, and the User ID is the one known to and used by the application.

AuditEvent.agent.name
Element Id AuditEvent.agent.name
Definition

Human-meaningful name for the agent.

Control Cardinality 0..1
Type string
Requirements

The User ID and Authorization User ID may be internal or otherwise obscure values. This field assists the auditor in identifying the actual user.

AuditEvent.agent.requestor
Element Id AuditEvent.agent.requestor
Definition

Indicator that the user is or is not the requestor, or initiator, for the event being audited.

Control Cardinality 1..1
Type boolean
Requirements

This value is used to distinguish between requestor-users and recipient-users. For example, one person may initiate a report-output to be sent to another user.

Summary true
Comments

There can only be one initiator. If the initiator is not clear, then do not choose any one agent as the initiator.

AuditEvent.agent.location
Element Id AuditEvent.agent.location
Definition

Where the event occurred.

Control Cardinality 0..1
Type Reference ( Location )
AuditEvent.agent.policy
Element Id AuditEvent.agent.policy
Definition

The policy or plan that authorized the activity being recorded. Typically, a single activity may have multiple applicable policies, such as patient consent, guarantor funding, etc. The policy would also indicate the security token used.

Control Cardinality 0..*
Type uri
Requirements

This value is used retrospectively to determine the authorization policies.

Comments

For example: Where an OAuth token authorizes, the unique identifier from the OAuth token is placed into the policy element Where a policy engine (e.g. XACML) holds policy logic, the unique policy identifier is placed into the policy element.

AuditEvent.agent.media
Element Id AuditEvent.agent.media
Definition

Type of media involved. Used when the event is about exporting/importing onto media.

Control Cardinality 0..1
Terminology Binding Media Type Code ( Extensible )
Type Coding
Requirements

Usually, this is used instead of specifying a network address. This field is not used for Media Id (i.e. the serial number of a CD).

AuditEvent.agent.network
Element Id AuditEvent.agent.network
Definition

Logical network location for application activity, if the activity has a network location.

Control Cardinality 0..1
AuditEvent.agent.network.address
Element Id AuditEvent.agent.network.address
Definition

An identifier for the network access point of the user device for the audit event.

Control Cardinality 0..1
Type string
Requirements

This datum identifies the user's network access point, which may be distinct from the server that performed the action. It is an optional value that may be used to group events recorded on separate servers for analysis of a specific network access point's data access across all servers.

Comments

This could be a device id, IP address or some other identifier associated with a device.

AuditEvent.agent.network.type
Element Id AuditEvent.agent.network.type
Definition

An identifier for the type of network access point that originated the audit event.

Control Cardinality 0..1
Terminology Binding AuditEventAgentNetworkType ( Required )
Type code
Requirements

This datum identifies the type of network access point identifier of the user device for the audit event. It is an optional value that may be used to group events recorded on separate servers for analysis of access according to a network access point's type.

AuditEvent.agent.purposeOfUse
Element Id AuditEvent.agent.purposeOfUse
Definition

The reason (purpose of use), specific to this agent, that was used during the event being recorded.

Control Cardinality 0..*
Terminology Binding PurposeOfUse V3 Value SetPurposeOfUse ( Extensible )
Type CodeableConcept
Comments

Use AuditEvent.agent.purposeOfUse when you know that is specific to the agent, otherwise use AuditEvent.purposeOfEvent. For example, during a machine-to-machine transfer it might not be obvious to the audit system who caused the event, but it does know why.

AuditEvent.source
Element Id AuditEvent.source
Definition

The system that is reporting the event.

Control Cardinality 1..1
Requirements

The event is reported by one source.

Comments

Since multi-tier, distributed, or composite applications make source identification ambiguous, this collection of fields may repeat for each application or process actively involved in the event. For example, multiple value-sets can identify participating web servers, application processes, and database server threads in an n-tier distributed application. Passive event participants (e.g. low-level network transports) need not be identified.

AuditEvent.source.site
Element Id AuditEvent.source.site
Definition

Logical source location within the healthcare enterprise network. For example, a hospital or other provider location within a multi-entity provider group.

Control Cardinality 0..1
Type string
Requirements

This value differentiates among the sites in a multi-site enterprise health information system.

AuditEvent.source.identifier AuditEvent.source.observer
Element Id AuditEvent.source.observer
Definition

Identifier of the source where the event was detected.

Note This is a business identifer, not a resource identifier (see discussion ) Control Cardinality 1..1
Type Identifier Reference ( PractitionerRole | Practitioner | Organization | Device | Patient | RelatedPerson )
Requirements

This field ties the event to a specific source system. It may be used to group events for analysis according to where the event was detected.

Alternate Names SourceId
Summary true
AuditEvent.source.type
Element Id AuditEvent.source.type
Definition

Code specifying the type of source where event originated.

Control Cardinality 0..*
Terminology Binding Audit Event Source Type ( Extensible )
Type Coding
Requirements

This field indicates which type of source is identified by the Audit Source ID. It is an optional value that may be used to group events for analysis according to the type of source where the event occurred.

AuditEvent.entity
Element Id AuditEvent.entity
Definition

Specific instances of data or objects that have been accessed.

Control Cardinality 0..*
Requirements

The event may have other entities involved.

Alternate Names ParticipantObject
Comments

Required unless the values for event identification, agent identification, and audit source identification are sufficient to document the entire auditable event. Because events may have more than one entity, this group can be a repeating set of values.

Invariants Definition Type Identifier
Defined on this element sev-1 : Either a name or a query (NOT both) ( expression : name.empty() or query.empty(), xpath: not(exists(f:name)) or not(exists(f:query)))
AuditEvent.entity.identifier sev-1 Identifies a specific instance of the entity. The reference should always be version specific. Note Rule This is Either a business identifer, not name or a resource identifier (see discussion ) query (NOT both) Control name.empty() or query.empty() 0..1
Summary AuditEvent.entity.what true
Comments Element Id Identifier detail depends on entity type. AuditEvent.entity.reference AuditEvent.entity.what
Definition

Identifies a specific instance of the entity. The reference should be version specific.

Control Cardinality 0..1
Type Reference ( Any )
Summary true
AuditEvent.entity.type
Element Id AuditEvent.entity.type
Definition

The type of the object that was involved in this audit event.

Control Cardinality 0..1
Terminology Binding AuditEventEntityType Audit event entity type ( Extensible )
Type Coding
Requirements

To describe the object being acted upon. In addition to queries on the subject of the action in an auditable event, it is also important to be able to query on the object type for the action.

Comments

This value is distinct from the user's role or any user relationship to the entity.

AuditEvent.entity.role
Element Id AuditEvent.entity.role
Definition

Code representing the role the entity played in the event being audited.

Control Cardinality 0..1
Terminology Binding AuditEventEntityRole ( Extensible )
Type Coding
Requirements

For some detailed audit analysis it may be necessary to indicate a more granular type of entity, based on the application role it serves.

AuditEvent.entity.lifecycle
Element Id AuditEvent.entity.lifecycle
Definition

Identifier for the data life-cycle stage for the entity.

Control Cardinality 0..1
Terminology Binding ObjectLifecycleEvents ( Extensible )
Type Coding
Requirements

Institutional policies for privacy and security may optionally fall under different accountability rules based on data life cycle. This provides a differentiating value for those cases.

Comments

This can be used to provide an audit trail for data, over time, as it passes through the system.

AuditEvent.entity.securityLabel
Element Id AuditEvent.entity.securityLabel
Definition

Security labels for the identified entity.

Control Cardinality 0..*
Terminology Binding All Security Labels SecurityLabels ( Extensible )
Type Coding
Requirements

This field identifies the security labels for a specific instance of an object, such as a patient, to detect/track privacy and security issues.

Comments

Copied from entity meta security tags.

AuditEvent.entity.name
Element Id AuditEvent.entity.name
Definition

A name of the entity in the audit event.

Control Cardinality 0..1
Type string
Requirements

Use only where entity can't be identified with an identifier.

Summary true
Comments

This field may be used in a query/report to identify audit events for a specific person. For example, where multiple synonymous entity identifiers (patient number, medical record number, encounter number, etc.) have been used.

Invariants :
Affect this element
sev-1 : Rule Either a name or a query (NOT both) ( expression name.empty() or query.empty(), xpath: not(exists(f:name)) or not(exists(f:query))) query.empty()
AuditEvent.entity.description
Element Id AuditEvent.entity.description
Definition

Text that describes the entity in more detail.

Control Cardinality 0..1
Type string
Requirements

Use only where entity can't be identified with an identifier.

AuditEvent.entity.query
Element Id AuditEvent.entity.query
Definition

The query parameters for a query-type entities.

Control Cardinality 0..1
Type base64Binary
Requirements

For query events, it may be necessary to capture the actual query input to the query process in order to identify the specific event. Because of differences among query implementations and data encoding for them, this is a base 64 encoded data blob. It may be subsequently decoded or interpreted by downstream audit analysis processing.

Summary true
Comments

The meaning and secondary-encoding of the content of base64 encoded blob is specific to the AuditEvent.type, AuditEvent.subtype, AuditEvent.entity.type, and AuditEvent.entity.role. The base64 is a general-use and safe container for event specific data blobs regardless of the encoding used by the transaction being recorded. An AuditEvent consuming application must understand the event it is consuming and the formats used by the event. For example, if auditing an Oracle network database access, the Oracle formats must be understood as they will be simply encoded in the base64binary blob.

Invariants :
Affect this element
sev-1 : Rule Either a name or a query (NOT both) ( expression name.empty() or query.empty(), xpath: not(exists(f:name)) or not(exists(f:query))) query.empty()
AuditEvent.entity.detail
Element Id AuditEvent.entity.detail
Definition

Tagged value pairs for conveying additional information about the entity.

Control Cardinality 0..*
Requirements

Implementation-defined data about specific details of the object accessed or used.

AuditEvent.entity.detail.type
Element Id AuditEvent.entity.detail.type
Definition

The type of extra detail provided in the value.

Control Cardinality 1..1
Type string
AuditEvent.entity.detail.value AuditEvent.entity.detail.value[x]
Element Id AuditEvent.entity.detail.value[x]
Definition

The details, base64 encoded. Used to carry bulk information. value of the extra detail.

Control Cardinality 1..1
Type string | base64Binary
[x] Note See Choice of Data Types for further information about how to use [x]
Requirements

Should not duplicate the entity value unless absolutely necessary.

Comments

The value is can be string when known to be a string, else base64 encoded encoding should be used to enable various encodings or protect binary or undefined content. The meaning and secondary-encoding of the content of base64 encoded blob is specific to the AuditEvent.type, AuditEvent.subtype, AuditEvent.entity.type, and AuditEvent.entity.role. The base64 is a general-use and safe container for event specific data blobs regardless of the encoding used by the transaction being recorded. An AuditEvent consuming application must understand the event it is consuming and the formats used by the event. For example if auditing an Oracle network database access, the Oracle formats must be understood as they will be simply encoded in the base64binary blob.