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Set the scope and time window
Identify the affected mailbox or mailboxes and choose the earliest plausible time for suspicious activity. Record the time bounds and why you chose them in the case notes. If remediation is still underway, include the period through its completion so the review covers the relevant activity before and during the response.
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Confirm the Exchange Server version and whether the deployment is hybrid or on-premises only. Audit availability and configuration can vary by environment; cloud procedures should not be assumed to apply to an on-premises server.
Check what the mailbox was configured to audit
Mailbox auditing is configured separately for each mailbox. Exchange Server logs some administrator and delegate actions by default, but mailbox owner actions are not logged by default. Check the affected mailbox’s audit configuration before interpreting search results.
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A search with no owner-action events does not establish that the owner did not access the mailbox or that the mailbox was not compromised. The available findings depend on the actions and logon types configured for auditing.
Choose a mailbox audit search method
Exchange documents three ways to review mailbox audit activity. Choose based on the number of mailboxes, whether you need results synchronously or an asynchronous search, and whether a non-owner report or export is suitable.
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| Method | Best suited to | What it provides |
|---|---|---|
Search-MailboxAuditLog |
A synchronous search of one mailbox | Search results for that mailbox, subject to its audit configuration |
New-MailboxAuditLogSearch |
An asynchronous search of one or more mailboxes | A search that runs asynchronously, useful when reviewing multiple mailboxes |
| Exchange admin center (EAC) Auditing tab | A non-owner mailbox access review | A non-owner mailbox access report or export of non-owner entries |
These are different search paths, not a ranking of effectiveness. None can return actions that were not being audited or are no longer retained.
Inspect and correlate the audit entries
For each relevant entry, review the operation and its result, then assess the access context. Documented fields can include:
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- Logon type: Owner, Delegate, or Admin
- Client IP address and client machine name
- Client process name and client information string
- Folder information; for a move, the destination folder may also be recorded
Compare those details with known legitimate users, administrators, delegates, client applications, and expected access patterns for the mailbox and time window. The documented fields help characterize an event, but there is no universal anomaly threshold: an unfamiliar client or address needs to be assessed against the specific environment.
Review administrator audit logs separately
Mailbox access records and administrator audit records answer different questions. Exchange Server administrator audit logging records Exchange Management Shell cmdlets; Microsoft documents it as enabled by default in new installations. Review the administrative changes relevant to the incident window, especially changes related to access or auditing, and keep those records distinct from mailbox access events.
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Account for retention and missing records
On-premises mailbox audit entries are stored in the audited mailbox’s Recoverable Items Audits subfolder. Microsoft documents a default retention period of 90 days, after which entries are deleted unless the configured retention period has been changed. Confirm the actual setting for the mailbox and preserve or export available records promptly.
A gap in the audit results can reflect what was configured to be logged or what remains within retention; it is not, by itself, evidence that no access occurred. Record the audit settings and retention context alongside the results so that conclusions do not exceed what the logs establish.
Keep Exchange Online procedures separate
Microsoft’s compromised-account guidance using MailItemsAccessed and Search-UnifiedAuditLog is for Exchange Online and Microsoft 365. Do not treat those as on-premises Exchange Server commands. Microsoft 365 sign-in logs, Defender audit logs, and message trace may be relevant to a hybrid or cloud-connected incident, but their availability and applicability are not established for every on-premises deployment.
Know what mailbox auditing can establish
This workflow examines mailbox and Exchange administrator audit evidence. It does not provide a complete host-level forensic acquisition sequence or a server-specific containment playbook. Those depend on the Exchange version, topology, configuration, and incident facts; mailbox audit findings should be interpreted within that scope.
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