Does Advanced Audit in Microsoft 365 support the same retention period of audit logs as core auditing?

Advanced Audit in Microsoft 365 indeed supports a different retention period for audit logs compared to the core auditing capabilities. Advanced Audit is specifically designed to provide enhanced logging features and extended retention periods for audit logs, which gives organizations greater visibility into user and administrative activities over a longer timeframe.

In core auditing, the retention period for audit logs may be limited to a shorter duration, often just a few months, which can be inadequate for compliance and security investigations that require detailed historical data. On the other hand, Advanced Audit allows organizations to retain logs for a longer period (typically up to one year or more), depending on the licensing and specific audit log types being captured.

This difference is critical for organizations that must meet stringent compliance requirements or need to perform in-depth security investigations, as having access to extended audit logs can facilitate better threat detection and response capabilities.

Given these distinctions, the accurate understanding of the retention capabilities of Advanced Audit compared to core auditing leads to the conclusion that they do not support the same retention period.