What Is SIEM?

Regardless of your company’s size or industry, taking proactive measures to monitor and mitigate IT risks and vulnerabilities is essential, especially since the cybersecurity landscape is constantly evolving.

One way to reduce risks is with SIEM.

What Is SIEM?

Security information and event management, or SIEM (pronounced as “sim”), is a comprehensive security solution that helps detect, analyze and respond to threats, attacks, breaches or incidents in real time before they disrupt business operations or cause lasting damage. It combines security information management (SIM) and security event management (SEM) into one system.

This approach has been around since 2005 and has evolved over the years due to an increase in cloud adoption, mobile technologies and hybrid/remote workplaces; these evolutions include implementing AI, machine learning, threat intelligence feeds, automatic incident responses, user and entity behavior analytics (UEBA) and security, orchestration and automation and response (SOAR) to better handle complex threat detection and incident response protocols.

In a nutshell, SIEM collects event and log data from a company’s IT infrastructure, including applications, devices, servers, users, networks, cloud environments, security hardware and software and firewalls. It then stores that data in one place before staff sorts and organizes it on a central dashboard using policies, rules and correlations that identify any abnormal or suspicious activity. If something is detected, it’s prioritized based on its risk level to the company before a security alert is sent to the IT staff so they can take any appropriate actions or remediation efforts.

The point of utilizing SIEM is that a business can receive real-time visibility and valuable insights into its network activity and security posture so it can respond to potential cyber attacks,  meet cybersecurity compliance and limit access attempts.

SIEM Core Functions

Several core functions compromise SIEM:

1. Log management: SIEM technology gathers data and stores it in one place, making it easier to access and search for signs of threats.
2. Event correlation: Sophisticated advanced analytics and correlation engines identify and understand the relationships, patterns and anomalies so the company can identify and respond to issues quickly and efficiently.
3. Incident monitoring and response: By monitoring the security incident and providing visualizations, your company can identify how the attack took place and what sources, if any, were compromised.

SIEM Benefits

As you’ve probably guessed, implementing SIEM as part of your company’s security posture has many benefits.

• Strengthen your organizational efficiency: Improved visibility into potential threats and vulnerabilities leads to improved efficiency and streamlined workflows. You’re also freeing up resources for other security tasks by tackling these issues.
• Real-time monitoring: With SIEM, you can observe activity as soon as it happens across your IT infrastructure so you can promptly respond and handle the situation. This helps minimize the damage.
• Advanced threat detection and forensic investigating: By storing the data in one secure place, you have efficient and secure data access that allows you to recreate past incidents or analyze new ones to investigate suspicious activity and determine what stronger security measures should be implemented.
• Regulatory compliance auditing and reporting: As previously mentioned, meeting compliance requirements and facilitating auditing processes are significant benefits of using SIEM. Since it collects data across your organization’s infrastructure, verifying if you’re meeting compliance standards is easier.
• Greater transparency and communication: Teams can communicate and collaborate when responding to threats and incidents more easily with SIEM. It also tracks activity across users, devices and applications, which improves transparency.

Implementing SIEM

You should follow these steps to correctly implement SIEM into your company.

1. Define your company’s requirements and goals and identify how your business will benefit from using SIEM
2. Design and apply data correlation rules so that errors and threats can be easily detected
3. Identify your cybersecurity compliance requirements so you can guarantee that the SIEM technology will meet those standards
4. Have an incident response plan in place to ensure your IT team is responding quickly and correctly
5. Constantly monitor and fine-tune your SIEM solution

Or if that sounds like too much work…

Thrivon Can Help

AtThriveon, we understand that most businesses want to take advantage of new innovations but don’t have the time or energy to manage these projects. That’s why our IT project management services follow a standardized, proven process that delivers on the promised ROI.

By working with us, we ensure you never have to worry about your IT investment missing the mark. We help you turn your business technology into an asset so your company can grow.

Schedule a meeting with our staff today to find out more information.