Why is Choosing a SIEM Vendor Important? 

Introduction How would your organization benefit from a SIEM?  

Security Information and Event Management, or SIEM, is a valued approach to security management that combines security information management (SIM) and security event management (SEM) to make up one highly functional security management system. Organizations find that a strong SIEM can strengthen cyber security by providing complete visibility across the distributed environment. The SIEM detects threats by taking in substantial amounts of data and combs through all of it in mere seconds to find any unusual behavior, automating a task that may be impossible to perform manually. A SIEM tool will provide you with an overview of your IT (Information Technology) and security infrastructure at any given time and ensure you manage log data to ensure compliance with industry regulations.

A SIEM system aggregates event data across disparate sources within the network infrastructure. This event data can come from many sources, such as network devices, routers, servers, security devices, applications, a remote workforce, or Cloud and SaaS solutions. Different data attributes can be analyzed to find any anomalies among them. These attributes, such as users, event types, IP addresses, memory, and processes, are categorized into different deviations, such as “failed login,” “login change,” or “potential malware,” and these deviations can be inspected by analysts to determine whether to investigate the act or dismiss it. You can work with your SIEM vendor to set the guidelines on what should trigger an alert, so choosing a vendor that will agree with your threshold level is essential.

What to know when choosing a SIEM vendor?  

Have you ever considered the number of security alerts your organization goes through in a day? Is the number 100? Less than 100? 38% of SIEM-using respondents to a survey titled 451 Research Survey said they have no idea how many alerts they even deal with in one day, while 30% said they could only investigate up to half. By partnering with an SIEM vendor that knows what they are doing, you will not have to keep track of the number of alerts in your organization; the SIEM technology will do it for you. According to the same survey, half of respondents said their security teams investigate 20 or more alerts, while 26% investigate more than 100 daily alerts.  

When looking into a SIEM vendor, your organization would want to investigate the vendor’s integration and threat intelligence capabilities they are offering. About 97% of the 451 Research Survey said this attribute was crucial since actionability is critical. 

Why is quality so important when it comes to scoping a SIEM vendor?  

SIEM must make information gathered from various security-relevant inputs actionable for security teams. This means prioritizing what alert poses the most severe threat and facilitating an adequate response. Because SIEM is so important when fighting against security threats, 74% of organizations using SIEM give the quality of reporting and alert feedback the highest importance. Every organization planning to deploy SIEM in the next two years gives some importance to the quality of reporting and careful feedback.  

Security teams must deal with a volume of events and alerts that can be overwhelming but can hold valuable information that can initially lead organizations to nip security threats. Triage and prioritization are essential, and threat intelligence is a good enabler. The integration and correlation of threat intelligence when selecting an SIEM vendor was deemed especially important by 64% of organizations. Splunk is the number one vendor currently in use, with 45% of organizations using Splunk, compared to 15% using IBM and 11% using McAfee.  

The three characteristics of the SIEM that yield the best benefits in security analytics and information management are Quality, Actionability, and Effectiveness of resources, making the most of available resources to make security operations more effective.   

What should you know when considering what a SIEM tool can do?  

Cyber security concerns are a big one regarding the day-to-day operations of any business. Especially in recent years, cyber threats have grown in both number and intensity; according to a study done by the University of Maryland, an attack happens on average, every 39 seconds. 64% of companies have experienced web-based attacks while 62% have seen phishing and social engineering attacks. Throughout 2022, cybercrime-related complaints totaled a loss of over $10 billion (about $31 per person in the US), compared to $6.9 billion (about $21 per person in the US) in 2021. With cybercrime on the rise, it is essential to factor in different considerations while choosing a SIEM solution. 

Here are seven things to look out for:  

1. Threat Intelligence and Analytics Capabilities– Machine learning can influence an SIEM’s ability to learn from its host environment. Most SIEM solutions offer regular data logging, so they rely on alerts from a security tool. With machine learning algorithms, you can free up time by automating routine tasks, providing support for security analysis, and providing accurate insights and network behavior while documenting suspicious activity. Your SIEM tool should be able to perform threat intelligence and analysis through machine learning.  

2. Log Analysis– A good SIEM tool should collect logs from various sources and store them in a centralized location to perform analysis on each one to detect threats. By analyzing every log generated, an SIEM tool can point out any anomalies in the data.  

3. Security Incident Reporting– Your SIEM tool should be able to make correlations in repeated malicious activity in your data. If there is one anomaly, the tool should be able to pick it up quickly so it does not have time to escalate and make a record of the attack so it can be detected soon if it happens again.  

4. Timely detection– You may have heard the phrase ‘time is of the essence’ on a high-profile attack in a television show, but that is also the case regarding a cyberattack. Any attack needs to be handled through analysis of real-time and past events and inputs from different data sources. The longer it takes to detect and stop a threat, the more damage it will do to your organization’s data and even reputation. A good SIEM tool will help you prevent any incoming attacks quickly, without hassle.   

5. Accurate Reporting– As important as it is to stop any security breaches that may occur, it is equally essential to keep a record of previous data that can be analyzed so that the same security breach does not happen in the future. The tool should be able to generate reports such as a time series report, overall distribution graph, network traffic, and service usage. A geo IP log trail would also help with general reporting and help track where the attacks keep coming from.  

6. Network Logging– network logging processes typically generate copious amounts of data to be tracked, ingested, and processed. The data can come from any source in different formats, such as firewalls, routers, and anti-virus software. An organization can typically fit an existing SIEM tool with the ability to process network logs. Still, this process can be costly and time-consuming, so finding a SIEM with this ability can be more prudent.  

7. Easy Deployment and Efficient Utilization of Resources– This requirement will make your life easier when deploying the SIEM tool. For the tool to run successfully, it must integrate with different departments within the organization. This can also mean better resource allocation and utilization so your company can save time when integrating a SIEM.

Conclusion  

Choosing a SIEM tool might be your organization’s most important decision. Finding one that works for you is essential to benefit your customers. Contact Prudent now to see if Splunk can be that SIEM tool for you and how you can benefit from it!