What is SIEM and How Does It Work? A Complete Guide

What is a SIEM Solution?

A SIEM solution will provide a centralized console where you can monitor all network activity and launch investigations into actual or potential security incidents, which will involve sorting/searching event logs, presented in a human-readable format.

What are the benefits of SIEM?

When it comes to cyber-security, visibility is key! However, trying to gain visibility by manually sifting through the events logs generated by each and every network component would be impractical, if not impossible. A SIEM solution will automate the process of collecting, normalizing, storing, and organizing these event logs, enabling your security team to respond to security incidents in a fast and efficient manner.

What are the Limitations of SIEM?

Too expensive

That’s right, SIEM solutions are expensive! The SIEM software itself may cost anywhere between $20,000 to $1M, and you will also have to pay notable sums of money for installation, consultancy, and support. And let’s not forget, you will also need a team of IT security specialists to monitor the event logs, and be ready to respond to potential security incidents around the clock. As I’m sure you can imagine, this is usually too much for small to mid-sized companies.

Too much noise

Even though the reports generated by SIEM solutions are considerably more intuitive than the native logs generated by the components on your network, they still produce a lot of noise and require some level of expertise to make sense of them. This can result in security teams chasing false flags, while important events are overlooked. Customers have often reported that they find it difficult to resolve problems based on the data produced by their SIEM solution.

Limited contextual information

Given the large number of security threats that exist, it is crucially important that security teams prioritize their workflow, which means identifying their most critical assets and the biggest threats to those assets. SIEM solutions provide limited contextual information, which makes it difficult for security teams to differentiate between a genuine, and potentially serious incident, and legitimate network activity.

Limited data-centric auditing

While SIEM solutions have a very broad scope in terms of the data they can collect, they have blind spots when it comes to monitoring unstructured data, such as Word documents, spreadsheets, emails, and so on. Likewise, a SIEM solution will supply limited information about which users performed which operations. For example, a SIEM solution will be able to detect anomalous traffic coming from a specific IP address, but it won’t provide information about the user account(s) responsible for the traffic, which files were accessed, and whether or not they contain sensitive data.

These days, given that companies are storing increasingly more unstructured data, and that increasingly more employees are working remotely, the cyber-security paradigm has been shifting away from one that focuses on perimeter security, to one that is more data-centric. As such, the limitations mentioned above are not trivial.

How SIEM Works

Data Collection: SIEM acts like a giant vacuum cleaner for security data. It continuously sucks up log files and event data from a massive range of sources across your network. These sources include firewalls, servers, operating systems, antivirus software, applications, and more. This raw data is the essential fuel for the SIEM system.

Normalization and Storage: The raw data collected is often in different formats and needs cleaning up. SIEM systems normalize this data, translating it into a common language it can understand. This standardized data is then stored in a centralized location. The ability to search and analyze this vast storehouse of security events is vital for threat hunting and investigations.

Correlation and Analysis: This is where the magic happens. SIEM uses a combination of techniques to analyze the data it has collected. It employs pre-defined rules, statistical patterns, and even machine learning to tease out anomalies and suspicious activity. Think of it like a super-smart detective constantly looking for connections between events that might indicate a threat.

Alerting and Incident Response: When the SIEM detects something suspicious, it raises an alert. These alerts highlight threats and provide context and information to your security analysts. SIEM alerts can range from low to critical, helping your team prioritize where to focus their attention. It may also automate certain response actions in some cases, like blocking an IP address or quarantining a file.

Compliance and Forensics: SIEM doesn’t just help you find threats in the moment. That immense archive of log data is also a treasure trove when it comes to compliance reporting and forensic investigations. SIEM allows you to track user activity, demonstrate compliance with regulations, and piece together events during a security breach so you can learn and improve.

Is SIEM Right for You?

Essentially, it depends on your budget. For smaller companies, the answer is probably no!, especially when there are lightweight alternatives available. For example, a data-centric real-time auditing solution focuses more on users, and how they interact with your data.

While there are obvious limitations associated with these solutions, it’s worth bearing in mind that when you try to do everything, you may end up achieving nothing. Even without a full-blown SIEM, you still have access to the event logs produced by your AV software, firewall, or Intrusion Prevention System (IPS), and as these technologies evolve, the logs which they generate will probably become more intuitive to the end-user.

Additionally, for companies that use a lot of cloud services, such as Office 365, Azure AD, and Amazon S3, a SIEM solution will be even less relevant. After all, when using a cloud provider, they are responsible for securing their own infrastructure, and will no doubt have their own SIEM solution in place. In which case, your security team can focus on keeping track of who has access to what data, when, and why.

How Does Lepide Help?

Integration and contextualization

The Lepide Data Security Platform can integrate with any SIEM solution, including Splunk, LogRhythm, IBM QRadar, HP ArcSight, and you can even integrate multiple SIEM solutions simultaneously. It will provide real-world context around the data collected from your SIEM solution(s), thus enabling your security team to quickly identify anomalous activity, and spend less time investigating false flags.

Data Classification

Lepide Data Security Platform provides data discovery and classification out-of-the-box. As mentioned previously, the cyber-security landscape has been gradually shifting towards a paradigm that is centered around users, and the data they interact with. However, in order to adopt a data-centric model, you must first ensure that you know exactly what data you store, how sensitive the data is, and where it is located. Having this information available will make it easier for security teams to filter the relevant data produced by your SIEM solution. After all, why would you want to receive alerts on data that is freely available to the public?

Threshold alerting

Unlike most SIEM solutions, it also has the ability to respond to events that match a pre-defined threshold condition, such as successive failed logon attempts, or when multiple files have been encrypted or downloaded within a given time frame. For example, if X number of events occurred within Y seconds, a custom script can be executed which might disable a user account, stop a specific process, change the firewall settings or simply shut down the affected server.

Compliance

These days, organizations, big and small, are legally required to monitoring access to the personal data they collect from their customers. While most SIEM solutions will provide the logging functionality required to comply with data privacy regulations such as GDPR, HIPAA, PCI, and so on, they may underperform when it comes to demonstrating this knowledge to the supervisory authorities. For example, with Lepide Data Security Platform, you can generate pre-defined reports at the push of a button, that are customized to meet the requirements of most well-established data privacy laws.

Time and money

You should have at least one member of staff on standby 24/7 to address any security incidents that arise. However, given that it is considerably easier to use than SIEM software, you won’t need to employ as many security professionals, and it will be considerably easier to train existing staff to use the platform. Obviously, this will save both time and money.

If you’d like to see how the Lepide Data Security Platform can help you overcome the limitations of SIEM solutions and get better visibility over your data, schedule a demo with one of our engineers.

FAQs

How much does a SIEM solution typically cost?

While SIEM solutions offer valuable security benefits, their cost can be significant. Understanding the total cost of ownership (TCO) is crucial before diving in.

The software license itself varies based on the vendor’s pricing model, which can be per user, per device, or per data volume. For a small deployment, expect to pay around $2,000 per month, while larger implementations can reach $10,000 or even more.

Beyond the software, additional costs add up. Threat intelligence feeds, providing context for security events, can cost over $10,000 annually. Setting up and configuring the SIEM often requires vendor services, typically costing around $8,000 for mid-sized businesses. Don’t forget ongoing maintenance and security expertise, which add to the overall cost.

Remember, hidden costs like data storage fees might exist. SIEM pricing can be complex, so carefully evaluate vendor quotes and ensure transparency in all cost components. To get a more precise estimate, directly consult with SIEM vendors and request personalized quotes based on your specific needs and environment.

What are the different features offered by different SIEM solutions?

SIEM solutions, while sharing core functionalities like log collection and analysis, offer a diverse range of features depending on the vendor and chosen tier. Here’s what to consider:

Data is key: Look for solutions that ingest data from various sources like security devices, applications, and operating systems. The ability to normalize data formats and correlate events from different sources is crucial for threat identification.

Advanced threat detection: SIEMs should leverage both rule-based and machine learning-based approaches to detect both known and unknown threats. Additionally, integration with external threat intelligence feeds enriches the context of security events.

Automated response: Advanced SIEMs offer features like automated incident response actions, such as isolating compromised systems. The ability to build and manage workflows for different security scenarios further streamlines response efforts.

Visualization and reporting: User-friendly dashboards are essential for visualizing and analyzing security data effectively. Additionally, the ability to generate customized reports for compliance and security audits is crucial.

Beyond features: Consider scalability to accommodate future growth and ensure seamless integration with your existing security infrastructure.

Remember, the ideal SIEM solution aligns with your organization’s specific needs. Carefully evaluate different options based on your size, security posture, and compliance requirements to find the best fit.

How can a company determine if a SIEM solution is right for them?

Choosing a SIEM solution requires careful consideration, as it’s not a one-size-fits-all solution.

Consider the size and complexity of your organization’s IT environment. SIEMs are most beneficial for companies handling a large volume of diverse security data from various sources. Smaller companies with simpler setups might find the investment less justifiable.

Evaluate your security maturity. SIEMs require dedicated personnel with the expertise to manage and interpret the data effectively. Do you have a skilled security team capable of setting up, configuring, and responding to the insights provided by a SIEM?

Consider your compliance requirements. Industries with strict regulations, like healthcare and finance, often require centralized log management and real-time alerting for compliance purposes, which SIEMs can provide.

Assess your threat landscape. If your organization frequently faces sophisticated cyber threats, a SIEM’s advanced threat detection and correlation capabilities can offer a significant advantage.

Carefully consider your budget and resources. The total cost of ownership for a SIEM solution goes beyond licensing. It includes initial setup, additional features, and the personnel needed to manage the solution effectively.

Before making a decision, take some additional steps. Assess your current security posture to identify gaps in areas like log management and incident response. Map your data sources to determine which systems and applications will generate essential logs for the SIEM. Finally, consult with SIEM vendors to discuss your specific needs and get tailored recommendations and pricing assessments.