Modern cybersecurity teams are battling too many cyber threats, security tools, and alerts with not enough time to react and address every single issue.
Security Information and Event Management (also known as SIEM) connects the dots between managing automated data concerning the state of security and dealing with threats in real-time.
Early versions of SIEM have been disappointing. Virtually any disruption was red-flagged, sending out a high number of false alerts to the teams.
New developments have been slowly making a shift and rebuilding SIEM into what it was supposed to be in the first place — the tool that can make sense of large amounts of data and aid teams in using it to mitigate incidents on the go.
As a result, next-generation SIEM tools are built differently.
We cover the five key capabilities of next gen SIEM that aids businesses in protecting their assets.
#1 Making Jobs of Security Analysts Manageable
Good security teams are difficult to find nowadays. Many cybersecurity professionals have been switching to the company in favor of better work conditions or leaving the field altogether.
For starters, stress, poor company culture, and low compensation are just part of the problem.
The teams that left are understaffed, overwhelmed and facing unanticipated threats every day.
How does the latest reiteration of the SIEM platform aid them in managing security? It does so with the following:
- Versatile automated security tools
- Better data management
- Sandboxing used for testing in an isolated environment
The combination of machine learning and automation aids security teams in prioritizing their tasks. Automated tools can link the alert with a specific incident that is taking place within the system.
Even more, it can instantly mitigate known threats and afford teams more time to dedicate to things like more advanced tasks, alert investigation, and hunting threats.
With more nuanced collections and analysis of the intel data that is also presented, starting with the biggest risks and followed up with actionable tips, teams can make faster data-based security decisions.
The next-gen SIEM platform also combines more tools into one, eliminating the fatigue that stems from continual shifting between versatile dashboards.
As a bonus, the key information is presented in a straightforward way, facilitating the training of inexperienced members.
#2 Scaling With the Company
Since many businesses have adopted the cloud, they require security solutions that can aid them in managing threats as they add even more cloud-based features and components to their infrastructure.
However, complex multi-cloud systems have been difficult to defend. Also, companies have more vulnerable points that can be attacked nowadays than ever before.
The attack surface is widening with every new software, cloud component, and remote worker (and their at-home devices) linked to the system.
The next-generation SIEM platform is cloud-powered as well. This means that scaling is possible at any given moment, and the company can invest in parts of the security with the rising need and not all at once.
What’s more, the next-gen SIEM platform is also designed to scale with added components to the big data infrastructure that has ever-increasing information that needs to be managed.
#3 Defending Against Modern Attacks
Cyber threats nowadays are more complex, featuring more and more techniques that haven’t been encountered before. Besides zero-day threats, organizations are also up against a higher frequency of attacks.
How to keep up with unexpected attacks, such as zero-day exploits, and more threats than ever before?
The important tool in the SIEM platform toolkit is Network Detection and Response (NDR). It observes the organization to establish what is normal behavior within it by investigating traffic at any given time.
That is, NDR security catches the threats in real time by taking the context of the company into consideration. This tool also utilizes machine learning to aid teams in prioritizing the patching and mitigation of said threats.
#4 Facilitating Cybersecurity Data Management
Too much information generated by versatile cybersecurity tools has been an ongoing struggle for security teams that need to make sense of data and make swift and informed decisions on the go.
Two security tools are the key to a more sophisticated intelligence data collection, analysis, and presentation for the next-gen SIEM platform — Threat Intelligence Platform (TIP) and User Entity and Behaviour Analytics (UEBA).
TIP is a tool that can gather, categorize, and organize information regarding threat intelligence.
UEBA, similar to NDR, uses machine learning to take the context of the organization into account. As a result, security teams receive more accurate information on whether the threat is severe for the organization.
#5 Reducing Cybersecurity Spending
Some SIEM platform factors that cut costs include:
- Early discovery of threats and vulnerabilities
- Multiple tools under one umbrella platform
- Cloud-based solution
- Prevents the spread of the threat within the system
The longer it takes to uncover critical threats and incidents within the system, the more it costs the company to recover following a costly breach. Preventing further lateral movement of the hacker within the system is part of that too.
Instead of investing in separate tools that are provided by multiple vendors, SIEM gathers all the best tools and makes them compatible under a single platform.
Cloud technology enables flexibility and scalability that suit the needs of a business.
Out With the Old, in With the New?
The SIEM platform that a business would use today is a better, faster, and stronger version of the early version of the tool.
Next-generation SIEM has been improving to better adapt to the modern cyber environment that features a rapidly growing number of attacks.
The result of the evolution of the SIEM from its early stages is the platform that combines multiple tools that are the key to automated and fast-paced data analytics and threat response. They include NDR, TIP, sandboxing, UEBA, and more.
Information security specialist, currently working as risk infrastructure specialist & investigator.
15 years of experience in risk and control process, security audit support, business continuity design and support, workgroup management and information security standards.
