As IT environments become more complex and attacks increase in frequency and sophistication, it’s vital for organizations to adopt solutions that can help them promptly identify, investigate and respond to suspicious behavior in their IT environments. One option is security information and event management (SIEM) solutions. This article reveals the capabilities and limitations of SIEM tools to help you decide whether to invest in one.
What is SIEM?
SIEM tools are software solutions that help organizations detect and respond to security threats in a timely and effective manner. They collect security event log data across multiple systems across the IT ecosystem, as well as other information about users, assets, threats and vulnerabilities. They correlate and analyze that data to identify threats, such as activity indicative of malware or escalation of privileges, and alert security teams or other personnel.
Most SIEM cybersecurity platforms combine the capabilities of security event management (SEM), security information management (SIM) and security event correlation (SEC) into a single solution.
Popular SIEM solutions include:
- ArcSight Enterprise Security Manager
- IBM Security QRadar Suite
- LogRhythm SIEM
- McAfee Enterprise Security Manager
- Rapid7 InsightIDR
- SolarWinds Security Event Manager
- Splunk Enterprise Security
Core Capabilities
A security information and event management delivers the following core capabilities:
- Data collection and log management — SIEM systems collect data from a wide range of sources, including event logs, network devices, servers, applications and security tools.
- Data aggregation and normalization — After collection, the data is aggregated and normalized into a consistent, structured format to facilitate analysis. This process includes removing any duplicate or irrelevant information.
- Event correlation and analysis — The SIEM system correlates data from different sources to generate a coherent view of activity, and performs analysis to identify patterns or anomalous behavior that may indicate a threat, such as failed access attempts or unusual network traffic. The threat detection process can be augmented with features like user and entity behavior analytics (UEBA). It can also involve integration with threat intelligence feeds that provide indicators of compromise, such as URLs, IP addresses and malware hashes known to be related to cyberattacks.
- Alerts — When a potential security threat is identified, the SIEM system generates an alert to notify security personnel.
- Incident response — SIEM systems can also provide tools for investigating security incidents, containing threats and implementing remediation measures.
- Dashboards and reports — SIEM systems generally offer advanced dashboards and reports on security events, security posture, compliance status and more. Often, these dashboards and reports can be customized to meet the needs of different stakeholders, such as security teams, compliance officers and executives.
- Auditing — Security information and event management tools provide robust auditing capabilities that track user activity, system changes and access to sensitive data. This information can be used during investigations, forensic analysis, audits and more.
Additional Capabilities of Cloud SIEM (Modern SIEM)
Cloud SIEM solutions are designed to address the security needs of cloud-based and hybrid IT environments. The key characteristics of these modern SIEM tools include:
- Scalability and agility — Modern SIEM solutions have a cloud-native architecturethat enables rapid deployment, flexibility and scalability.
- AI and machine learning — Cloud SIEM platforms use advanced analytics, machine learning and artificial intelligence to enhance threat detection across diverse IT environments. In particular, machine learning-based UEBA capabilities can spot suspicious behavior indicative of insider threats and compromised accounts.
- Integration with cloud services — Modern SIEM solutions are designed to integrate with cloud services and platforms such as AWS, Azure and Google Cloud Platform.
- Automation — Cloud SIEM solutions deliver automation features to streamline security operations and often integrate with security orchestration, automation and response (SOAR) platforms.
Why Organizations Adopt SIEM Solutions
The key use case for SIEM solutions include the following:
- Basic security monitoring — A SIEM can provide quick answers to questions like “Who logged into the system yesterday between noon and midnight?”
- Threat detection — SIEM solutions can help organizations discover threats by delivering near- real-time security event monitoring and analysis.
- Incident investigation and incident response — SIEM solutions enable search through historical data to inform incident response and enable forensics analysis.
- Compliance oversight — SIEM technology can help organizations comply with standards like HIPAA, PCI/DSS, SOX, FERPA and HITECH that require information security controls.
- Log management and log retention — SIEM solutions can provide effective log management and retention of the huge volumes of log data that organizations generate. Long-term storage of logs is often required for both forensic purposes and regulatory compliance.
SIEM Deployment Models
There are two main deployment options for SIEM solutions:
- Traditional — The vendor supplies the software but the day-to-day functions are in the hands of the buyer. The vendor may provide support as part of the purchase or through a separate contract This approach can be attractive to organizations that want to maintain full control over their network security.
- Software as a service (SaaS) — With a SaaS solution, the vendor provides the underlying architecture and handles back-end details. The buyer runs the day-to-day operations, including fine-tuning and incident response. Some of the main SaaS SIEM vendors also provide managed security services (MSS) and managed detection and response (MDR).
Drawbacks and Limitations of SIEMs
A SIEM solution can be a valuable component in a mature security strategy. But before you leap into a SIEM purchase, it’s critical to look into their key limitations:
- SIEM solutions are complex and expensive. SIEM tools are complex to operate, so they require a high IT security maturity level and specialized (and therefore costly) IT team expertise. They also require frequent fine-tuning and other management, since both your IT environment and the threat landscape are constantly changing.
- SIEM solutions often generate numerous false alarms. Organizations typically purchase SIEM products expecting reliable security alerts that provide the threat intelligence required to respond promptly and prevent breaches. However, without proper tuning, SIEMs tend to generate a never-ending flood of alerts — often up to 4,000 a week — and don’t always provide the meaningful data required for proper analysis and response. As a result, IT teams end up spending enormous amounts of time chasing down false positives and worrying that true security incidents are being overlooked.
- SIEM tools are not designed to identify vulnerabilities. SIEMs are designed to help detect active threats. They are not designed to identify security gaps to help organizations reduce their attack surface, which is a critical part of a risk-based security strategy, as recommended by frameworks like NIST CSF.
- SIEM tools don’t provide details on data sensitivity. Without clear information about whether a security incident involved sensitive data, security teams risk wasting your time on less important events and letting critical attacks continue unchecked. Moreover, many compliance standards require organizations to report breaches that involve regulated data within a limited timeframe, and a SIEM alone will not give you the details you need to avoid steep compliance penalties.
Deciding Whether to Invest in a SIEM
Any software purchase should be evaluated in the context of your specific IT infrastructure, risks and business use cases. In particular, before investing in a SIEM, be sure to consider the following:
- The capabilities of the tools you already have
- Scale and complexity considerations, such as the types and locations of data sources
- Your preferred deployment model
- Applicable compliance requirements
Be sure to answer these key questions:
- Is a SIEM solution manageable, scalable, sustainable, reliable and cost-effective for the organization?
- Do we have the experience to deploy and maintain a SIEM solution, or will we need to bring on a new hire to handle it (and is that talent readily available)?
- Do we have established security processes and data-handling policies that can be easily applied to the SIEM configuration?
- How will the SIEM meet our auditing and regulatory compliance needs?
- What is the relative value of a SIEM compared to other security investments, such as data discovery and classification?
- Does the SIEM support integrations with other solutions, such as threat intelligence feeds like the Ransomware Tracker and Internet Storm Center. Threat intelligence services continuously provide indicators of compromise, such as URLs, email and IP addresses, and malware hashes known to be related to cyberattacks.
How the Netwrix Data Security Platform Can Help
If you choose to invest in a SIEM, consider integrating it with Netwrix Auditor. The Netwrix solution enriches the cryptic and incomplete data from SIEM solutions with critical details and makes everything easy to understand. Plus, integrating Netwrix Auditor with your SIEM is easy, thanks to prebuilt add-ons for most popular SIEMs, as well as generic add-ons for integration with other SIEMs.
Conclusion
Investing in a SIEM solution can enhance security with advanced threat detection. However, SIEMs have important limitations. If you do invest in a SIEM, consider coupling it with Netwrix Auditor for a comprehensive approach to cybersecurity.
Read this ebook for further help determining whether a SIEM is the best answer to your IT security challenges and more details about how Netwrix will help you build a comprehensive security strategy.
FAQ
What is a SIEM and how does it work?
SIEM tools aggregate event log data from various systems, applications and devices, and analyzes that data to spot threats like malware activity or suspicious login attempts. When the SIEM identifies a potential security issue, it alerts the security team or other designated personnel.
What key capabilities should you look for in SIEM?
Top SIEM capabilities include data aggregation, event correlation, alerting on security events, log retention, and reporting for incident investigation and response.
Who can benefit from a SIEM solution?
Large organizations with complex, hybrid network infrastructures can benefit the most from SIEM solutions.
Does SIEM differ from log management?
A SIEM is a more robust solution. For example, log management does not provide advanced analytics or alerting, and doesn’t convert log data across disparate sources into a unified format. For a detailed comparison of the two technologies, see this blog post on SIEM vs log management.
What is the best SIEM solution?
The best SIEM solution is the one your organization uses to its fullest potential. Remember that SIEMs can help detect threats, provide information about them and automate some response processes, but that functionality by itself will not reduce your attack surface or help you recover from attacks.
What is SIEM threat intelligence?
SIEM threat intelligence includes correlation of logs and use of user behavior analysis to identify threats and send alerts.
What are threat data feeds?
Threat data feeds help organizations spot threats by continuously providing indicators of compromise, such as URLs, malware hashes, and email and IP addresses known to be related to cyberattacks.
What are threat intelligence sources?
Threat intelligence sources include third-party feeds, system logs and open-source intelligence feeds like the Ransomware Tracker and Internet Storm Center.
