Audit trails maintain a record of system activity by system or application processes and by user activity. In conjunction with appropriate tools and procedures, audit trails can provide individual accountability, a means to reconstruct events, detect intrusions, and identify problems. Audit trail controls are considered technical controls. Monitoring and tracking of incidents is more an operational control related to incident response capability.

Reference(s) used for this question:

SWANSON, Marianne, NIST Special Publication 800-26, Security Self-Assessment Guide for Information Technology Systems, November 2001 (Pages A-50 to A-51).

NOTE: NIST SP 800-26 has been superceded By: FIPS 200, SP 800-53, SP 800-53A

You can find the new replacement at: http://csrc.nist.gov/publications/PubsSPs.html

However, if you really wish to see the old standard, it is listed as an archived document at:

http://csrc.nist.gov/publications/PubsSPArch.html