Oracle 23ai Auditing: Unified Audit Trail, Features, and Best Practices
Why Auditing Matters in Oracle Database 23ai
In today’s high-stakes data environment, knowing who accessed your database, what they did, and when they did it is a fundamental part of database security.
Data breaches can lead to regulatory fines, reputational damage, and financial loss. Auditing is how you detect suspicious activities, prove compliance, and maintain trust.
With Oracle Database 23ai, auditing is simpler, faster, and smarter thanks to Unified Auditing — a single framework for tracking database activity.
What Is Unified Auditing?
Unified Auditing consolidates all database audit records into one central repository — the Unified Audit Trail.
Why this matters:
-
Simplified management — One place for all audit logs.
-
Faster searches — Query a single unified source.
-
Lower overhead — Optimized performance, even for large audit trails.
In older Oracle versions, audit records were split across multiple tables and files. Unified Auditing eliminates that complexity.
What’s New in Oracle 23ai Auditing
Oracle Database 23ai brings significant improvements to Unified Auditing, including:
AI-powered anomaly detection — Analyze audit data to spot suspicious patterns faster.
Faster performance — Optimized large-audit-trail handling with native JSON indexing.
Simplified policy management — Create, enable, or disable audit policies with one command.
PDB autonomy — Fully independent audit policies at the PDB level.
Seamless SIEM integration — JSON output ready for ingestion without custom parsing.
Oracle 19c vs 23ai Unified Auditing: Key Differences
|
Feature |
Oracle 19c |
Oracle 23ai |
|
Audit Record Format |
Relational view output only |
Native JSON storage & querying |
|
PDB Control |
Some changes require CDB-level actions |
Fully independent PDB-level policies |
|
Performance |
Optimized but slower for large CLOBs |
Faster CLOB handling & JSON indexing |
|
AI Integration |
Manual export to ML tools |
Direct Vector Search queries on audit data |
|
Retention Automation |
Manual purge scripting |
AI-assisted retention recommendations |
|
Export to SIEM |
Requires custom parsing |
JSON output ready for SIEM ingestion |
Unified Audit Trail Structure: Oracle 19c vs 23ai
|
Aspect |
Oracle 19c |
Oracle 23ai |
|
Main View |
|
|
|
Storage Format |
Relational table-like columns (VARCHAR2/CLOB) |
Native JSON column |
|
Key Columns |
|
Same as 19c plus JSON-based event data |
|
JSON Support |
Not available |
Full JSON query support with |
|
PDB Autonomy |
|
True independent PDB-level policies ( |
|
Performance |
CLOB parsing required |
Faster retrieval with JSON indexing |
|
Retention |
Manual purge via |
AI-driven retention suggestions |
Example Query – Oracle 19c
SELECT
event_timestamp, dbusername, action_name
FROM
unified_audit_trail
ORDER
BY event_timestamp DESC;
Example Query – Oracle 23ai
SELECT
JSON_VALUE(audit_event_json, '$.event_timestamp') AS event_time,
JSON_VALUE(audit_event_json,
'$.dbusername') AS user_name,
JSON_VALUE(audit_event_json,
'$.action_name') AS action
FROM
unified_audit_trail
ORDER
BY event_time DESC;
Benefits of Auditing in Oracle Database 23ai
With Unified Auditing, you can:
Monitor logins, logouts, and failed login attempts.
Track changes to critical schema objects and sensitive data.
Comply with regulations like GDPR, HIPAA, and SOX.
Investigate incidents with clear, timestamped evidence.
Example: Checking Recent Logins
SELECT
event_timestamp, dbusername, action_name
FROM
unified_audit_trail
ORDER
BY event_timestamp DESC
FETCH
FIRST 5 ROWS ONLY;
Sample Output:
EVENT_TIMESTAMP
DBUSERNAME ACTION_NAME
-----------------------------
------------ -----------------
13-AUG-25
03:32:18.568318 PM SYS ALTER VIEW
12-AUG-25
02:56:42.326889 PM SYS ALTER VIEW
12-AUG-25
02:56:20.371172 PM SYS EXECUTE
12-AUG-25
02:56:20.327784 PM SYS ALTER PROCEDURE
12-AUG-25
02:56:20.289039 PM SYS ALTER PROCEDURE
Best Practices for Oracle 23ai Auditing
Enable auditing for sensitive actions like logins, privilege grants, and DDL changes.
Secure your audit data by storing it in protected tablespaces.
Automate monitoring with alerts for unusual activity patterns.
Use AI analytics to detect potential threats before they escalate.
Conclusion
Auditing in Oracle Database 23ai is not just about logging — it’s about building visibility, accountability, and proactive security into your database operations.
With Unified Auditing, AI-powered insights, and streamlined policy management, Oracle 23ai makes compliance and security monitoring faster, easier, and more effective than ever.
