Role of Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) Systems

At the most basic level, all SIEM solutions perform some level of data aggregation, consolidation and sorting functions to identify threats and adhere to data compliance requirements. While some solutions vary in capability, most offer the same core set of functions:

Log management

SIEM ingests event data from a wide range of sources across an organization’s entire IT infrastructure, including on-premises and cloud environments.

Event log data from users, endpoints, applications, data sources, cloud workloads and networks, as well as data from security hardware and software, such as firewalls or antivirus software, is collected, correlated and analyzed in real-time.

Event correlation and analytics

Event correlation is an essential part of any SIEM solution. Using advanced analytics to identify and understand intricate data patterns, event correlation provides insights to quickly locate and mitigate potential threats to business security.

SIEM solutions significantly improve mean time to detect (MTTD) and mean time to respond (MTTR) for IT security teams by offloading the manual workflows associated with the in-depth analysis of security events.

Incident monitoring and security alerts

SIEM consolidates its analysis into a single, central dashboard where security teams monitor activity, triage alerts, identify threats and initiate response or remediation.

Most SIEM dashboards also include real-time data visualizations that help security analysts spot spikes or trends in suspicious activity. Using customizable, predefined correlation rules, administrators can be alerted immediately and take appropriate actions to mitigate threats before they materialize into more significant security issues.

Compliance management and reporting

SIEM solutions are a popular choice for organizations subject to different forms of regulatory compliance. Due to the automated data collection and analysis that it provides, SIEM is a valuable tool for gathering and verifying compliance data across the entire business infrastructure. 

SIEM solutions can generate real-time compliance reports for PCI-DSS, GDPR, HIPPA, SOX and other compliance standards, reducing the burden of security management and detecting potential violations early so they can be addressed. Many of the SIEM solutions come with pre-built, out-of-the-box add-ons that can generate automated reports designed to meet compliance requirements. 

Incident Detection

SIEM enables the detection of incidents that otherwise would go unnoticed. Not only can this technology log security events, they have the ability to analyze the log entries to identify signs of malicious activity. And by gathering events from all of the sources across the network, a SIEM can reconstruct the series of events to determine what the nature of the attack was and whether or not it succeeded.

Efficient Incident Management

An SIEM solution can significantly increase the efficiency of incident handling, saving your security professionals time and resources. More efficient incident handling ultimately speeds incident containment, therefore reducing the extent of damage that many incidents cause. A SIEM improves efficiency by enabling rapid identification of all sources that were affected by a particular attack and by providing automated mechanisms to attempt to stop attacks that are still in progress.

AI Cybersecurity

In recent years, advanced technologies like machine learning have made SIEM platforms more robust. It gives the companies the power to defend their businesses with complex threats before they become irreparable. It accurately analyzes event correlations for unique patterns that may lead to the detection of complex concerns over information and system security.

Better Security Analysis

With SIEM solution, organizations get to integrate risk assessment services. SIEM tools make it possible for you to analyze network behavior in different circumstances and factors based on security sources for that particular condition.

Proper Categorization

Businesses can categorize and standardize network logs for effective monitoring and achieve a responsive workflow with in-depth visibility of your backups and security. It provides your IT team with access to additional features like quick data encryption, system access management, SSO integration, and other quality management services.