If you’re in charge of keeping your company secure from cyber attacks, then you know how important it is to be vigilant around the clock. While there are dozens, if not hundreds of cyber security software types, SIEM cyber security is a unique approach that provides end-to-end visibility.
SIEM, or Security Information and Event Management, refers to software that helps detect cyber security threats, malware, unusual behavior, and suspicious network traffic. The software provides users with insight into their own security systems and a track record of activities across their IT infrastructure. It analyzes log and event data in real-time to provide threat monitoring and incident response. It then collects, analyzes and reports on the log data.
An escalating threat of breaches that leaders and organizations will face in such events are generating a new wave of demand for SIEM.
The Key Functions of SIEM Cyber Security
By collecting information from event logs from a majority or all of a company’s devices, including servers, firewalls, antimalware, and spam filters, SIEM provides oversight of the threat landscape. In addition, a SIEM system offers several functions that help organizations take preventative and active measures to secure their information technology systems.
- Data aggregation – Aggregation is the process of moving data and log files from network, security, server, database, and application sources into a homogeneous data repository. The ability to aggregate SIEM log management information from many sources allows users to get a holistic end-to-end view that is essential for analysis, reporting, and long-term storage for forensics.
- Correlation – Correlation looks for common attributes across the aggregated log files. Correlation algorithms link events together to integrate different sources, in order to turn data into useful information. Using correlation rules in your SIEM cyber security system, you can better understand which sequences of events could indicate anomalies that suggest a security weakness or potential cyber attack.
- Alerting – Alert rules check for correlation and aggregation across multiple devices or applications. SIEM systems convert the automated analysis of correlated events into alerts that can be sent to authorized users. These alerting rules can be set up based on preference so that users receive security notifications when a certain level of cyber attack or danger is present.
- Dashboards – SIEM tools can take log data and turn it into visual charts to further assist your company in identifying activity that is not forming a standard pattern. Most SIEM cyber security solutions will come with pre-configured dashboards. In addition, your team can create their own layouts and charts to provide a comprehensive single view of your IT systems.
- Compliance – Compliance implies detecting and reporting threats using SIEM log management solutions to meet rules and regulations. Applications can be employed to gather compliance data and produce reports to adhere to NIST, SEC, PCI, FFIEC, or HIPAA governance and auditing processes. When implemented properly, SIEM cyber security is a powerful tool that will align with your company’s best practices.
- Retention – It is essential to retain SIEM log data for a long enough time, for compliance and analysis reasons. Having historical data can allow you to see trends in, and causes of, insecure log data. Long-term storage of historical data is a typical solution necessary for compliance requirements, but also helps facilitate data correlation over time. In the case of a breach, long term log data retention helps system administrators and analyst teams with forensic investigations to understand how the network was attacked.
- Forensic Analysis – Using SIEM as a cyber security solution allows you to both analyze and confirm attacks to determine the circumstances and scope of an incident. By searching across data logs on different nodes and time periods you can handle incident investigation and response. This mitigates having to aggregate log information through another third-party tool or having to search across repositories of data logs.
SIEM cyber security and SIEM log management provide an inclusive solution to monitoring and managing your company’s security and complying with regulations. While there are several benefits from SIEM, it is important to note that this solution should not replace security controls for attack detection, including intrusion prevention, firewalls or antivirus technologies.
Why SIEM Cyber Security Outperforms Other Security Solutions
SIEM simply provides a holistic view of IT infrastructure that most other solutions do not offer. SIEM and log management capabilities offer a centralized security navigation system that addresses two mission-critical needs: security and compliance. The ability to help users aggregate, analyze, store, and retain log files in one place provides a simpler method for overseeing your company’s IT security operations.
Different organizations use SIEM systems for different purposes, so SIEM benefits vary across organizations. By bringing together log data from enterprise security controls, operating systems, applications and other software, SIEM software can help analyze security data to identify attacks, security threats and compromises.
Partnering with NIC on SIEM Cyber Security
While SIEM solutions have been largely adopted in the enterprise market they are now trickling down to small and mid-sized businesses. For these small and mid-sized businesses that can’t afford a large-scale SIEM implementation, NIC offers an alternative to that helps you outsource that cost.
If you are interested in understanding how an SIEM cyber security solution could benefit your company, our security specialists can lay out some options and price ranges that are tailored to your business. NIC offers free consultations if you would like to know more about how you can partner with us.
