# Ensure 'Windows Firewall: Private: Logging: Log successful connections' is set to 'Yes'

The 'Log successful connections' setting for the Windows Defender Firewall determines whether the system logs inbound and outbound connections that are permitted by firewall rules. 

**Necessity:** Enabling this setting is crucial for security monitoring, intrusion detection, and forensic analysis. By logging successful connections, administrators can create a baseline of normal network activity, identify anomalous traffic patterns that could indicate a compromise, and trace the source of a security incident. Failure to log successful connections creates a significant visibility gap, making it difficult to detect or investigate unauthorized access or data exfiltration.

**Auditing and Remediation:** The audit script checks the current state of the 'successconnections' setting for the firewall's Private Profile. The remediation script modifies this setting to either 'enable' or 'disable' based on the provided input, ensuring that logging conforms to the desired security policy.

**Recommended State Rationale:**
- **Basic: ['Yes']** This is the minimum acceptable state for any security-conscious environment. It provides essential data for incident response and troubleshooting.
- **Moderate: ['Yes']** As this is a binary setting (either on or off), the moderate recommendation is the same as the basic one. Logging is a foundational security practice, and there is no middle ground.
- **Strict: ['Yes']** For environments requiring the highest level of security and compliance, enabling this setting is non-negotiable. It ensures a complete and detailed audit trail of all successful network activity, which is indispensable for advanced threat hunting and comprehensive forensic investigations.

## Recommended State Configuration

| Security Level | Value |
|----------------|-------|
| **Basic** | `['Yes']` |
| **Moderate** | `['Yes']` |
| **Strict** | `['Yes']` |
| **Type** | `ENUM` |

## Audit Script Working

PowerShell script that uses the 'netsh advfirewall' command to retrieve the current setting for 'successconnections' on the Private Profile. The script must parse the command's output and return only the current value, mapping the system's 'Enable' to 'Yes' and 'Disable' to 'No', with no additional text or formatting.

## Remediation Script Working

PowerShell script that accepts a single positional command-line argument, which must be either 'Yes' or 'No'. The script will map this argument to 'enable' or 'disable' respectively and use the 'netsh advfirewall set privateprofile setting successconnections' command to apply the new state. The script must return the boolean value '$true' if the configuration is successfully applied, and '$false' otherwise.

