Logon Logoff Event: 551

Active Directory Auditing Tool

The Who, Where and When information is very important for an administrator to have complete knowledge of all activities that occur on their Active Directory. This helps them identify any desired / undesired activity happening. ADAudit Plus assists an administrator with this information in the form of reports. In real-time, ensure critical resources in the network like the Domain Controllers are audited, monitored and reported with the entire information on AD objects - Users, Groups, GPO, Computer, OU, DNS, AD Schema and Configuration changes with 200+ detailed event specific GUI reports and email alerts.

Logon Logoff » Logon Logoff Event: 551

Event ID 551 – User Initiated Logoff

Event ID 551
Category Logon/Logoff
Type Success Audit
Description User initiated logoff

This event is generated when a user who had logged on interactively or by terminal services has initiated the logoff process. If this event is not registered, it implies that either the system was shut down before the process could be completed, or, that the access tokens are not being managed properly.

This log data provides the following information:

  • User Name
  • Domain
  • Logon ID

Why does event ID 551 need to be monitored?

  • To prevent privilege abuse
  • To detect abnormal and potentially malicious activity
  • To get information on user activity (like user attendance and peak logoff times)
  • To ensure compliance with regulatory mandates

Pro Tip:

With in-depth reports, real-time alerts, and graphical displays, ADAudit Plus tracks all logoff types, helping you meet your security, operational, and compliance needs with absolute ease.

Event 551 applies to the following operating systems:

  • Windows Server 2000
  • Windows 2003 and XP

Corresponding event ID in Windows 2008 and Windows Vista is 4647.