Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) technologies integrate with a wide range of event log and threat intelligence sources to help organisations identify and respond to security incidents. SIEM combines the event monitoring, correlation and notification capabilities of security event management (SEM) with the analysis, retention and reporting functions of Security Information Management (SIM).

SIEM solutions work by aggregating and analysing log data from devices, infrastructure, systems and applications and generating alerts for security teams to review and respond to.

SIEM is used by organisations to improve visibility of Cybersecurity threats inside a network. SIEM solutions can help to achieve the cyber security monitoring capabilities needed to support compliance with the POPI, GDPR, NIS Directive, PCI DSS, as well as other data regulations and standards.

What is the best SIEM solution for your business’s needs?

With so many SIEM solutions available, it can be difficult to know which one to choose. Some technology vendors incorporate SIEM as part of broader threat management platforms.

Rather than focusing purely on price or reputation, buyers should consider how well a SIEM solution will integrate with existing data sources to provide the threat coverage and visibility needed to address SIEM use cases. Deployment options, support for threat intelligence sources and incident response capabilities are also important considerations.

What are the main SIEM challenges?

If not deployed and maintained properly, SIEM solutions can generate a sizeable volume of alerts. Organisations without a large, dedicated security team often struggle with the time-consuming task of trawling through SIEM alerts to identify genuine security incidents. Even when genuine threats are identified, knowing how to quickly and effectively respond them is a separate challenge in itself.

A managed SIEM service helps organisations to bridge the resource gap by providing the latest SIEM technology as well as the security professionals needed to manage and monitor it, 24/7.

What tools does SIEM integrate with?

Organisations that invest in SIEM can quickly realise that they are unable manage it without a large team of security experts to deploy their chosen solution and analyse and respond to the high volume of alerts it is likely to generate. Alert fatigue is a common problem for security teams, often leading to important alerts being missed or overlooked. A high proportion of SIEM alerts are also false positives.