After more than a decade in the siem as a managed service security and event management platform market, many companies still need advanced reporting and correlation mechanisms. In most IT departments, people check logs from time to time, usually after a network problem occurs. Continuous log monitoring is rarely done. Implementing a Security Information and Event Management (SIEM Underdefense) platform can benefit from constant event monitoring. This helps to take data from distributed logs and collect it in one central place where it can be monitored, reported, and cleaned. This centralization provides comprehensive information about the current IT operations, which is essential for effective risk management. There are many manufacturers on the market that offer such solutions. Unfortunately, none of them provide a complete product. Underdefense presents the full results of testing SIEM tools created following modern tools and technologies to ensure an adequate level of cybersecurity.
The tested product was put into production and tested for several months. During this time, you could observe both the maturity of some mechanisms of these tools and the shortcomings of others. The user interface is designed so that users have no problem analyzing the log data. SIEM platform tools are not new in IT standards. Fundamental logic analysis and alerts have been around for decades. After all this time, these tools are still unused. If you look at the history of these solutions, you will see that many start from the basics. Some have real-time reporting tools without a user interface. Others had such an interface but did not have a mechanism for reducing events. So far, most solutions only support firewalls and IDS, and some focus on OS-related events. Today, SIEM tools have evolved to offer additional functional components.
Components include the following mechanisms: data collection, data storage, and archiving systems, event parsing and normalization and reporting, query tools, and a real-time analytics tool. Testing shows that the maturity of individual modules varies widely across products, so potential buyers should think carefully about which mechanisms are most important to their organization.
As for the data recovery mechanism, all products have tools for receiving events. However, there are differences in the maturity of this type and the accompanying instruments for analyzing incoming event streams. This approach is very problematic in networks with dozens of device types. Underdefense’s SIEM platform automatically receives input data, determines the format, and determines which events should occur. Other data collection mechanisms in Underdefense products include protocol support and database scanning mechanisms. All tested SIEM products also offer data storage mechanisms. Most of them have a general relational database, but they increasingly use a particular simplified database for significant events. The argument for such a decision is that not all existing mechanisms of relational databases are needed here. Therefore, it is recommended to create such a database from the perspective of performance and code size.
Are SIEM And Log Management The Same Thing?
When it comes to SIEMs, as with many IT products, there are many terms on the market that describe their capabilities. Yes, the original name was SIM (Security Information Management), another marketing term was SEM (Security Event Management), and finally, the modern combination of SIEM. How does all this fit into a business organization’s usual process of managing security processes? The basics of management are nothing new. Operating systems, devices, and applications create certain logs containing system events and messages. Journal information may vary in general utility, but before anyone can gain valuable information from journals, they must first be shared, transmitted, and possibly preserved. The first task in log management is the collection of data from distributed systems and their central storage. There are several methods for achieving this centralization, from standardizing logging mechanisms and implementing centralized logging servers to using commercial products to collect, move, and store log records. Additional log management challenges include network failures, ensuring reliable event forwarding, setting encryption requirements, and managing data storage. The first step in this process is determining the type of logs and event information, how to transfer them, and where to store them. When these problems are solved, another problem arises. What can you do about it? This is where essential log management ends, and the advanced features of SIEM Underdefense begin.
SIEM Underdefense works across an organization’s infrastructure, collecting logs and events generated by hosts, security systems, and applications and compiling them into a central platform. A SIEM collects this data, from antivirus events to firewall logs, and categorizes it to help you with your security challenges. When the software detects activities that may threaten your business, it creates alerts that indicate potential problems, immediately notifying the appropriate security services. Notifications can be set to low or high priority using predefined rules.
All rules and dependencies in your SIEM Underdefense system are static. This means that once configured; it will not adapt to a changing environment. Choosing the right conditions is often difficult, not only to avoid too many false alarms, but also to avoid missing actual events. Underdefense’s modern SIEM solution is equipped with UBA and AI modules that create dynamic rules and can learn more about your organization’s network based on your provided data.
Typically, a SIEM is not a single tool or program, but a set of components that together create a single system. There is no specific protocol standard or method for SIEM systems. Logs, the raw data of processes running in your environment, are a great source of data for a detailed real-time view of what’s happening. It is the primary source of SIEM information that collects and stores data in one central location, whether it is data from other security systems or service failures. The data collection process is usually performed by agents or programs deployed in monitoring systems and configured to export data to a shared database. After the log data has been collected, processed, and stored, the next step is correlating the events. It contains essential information from the organization’s infrastructure and connects it with security events. Correlation operations are based on rules built into a specific SIEM system, predefined attack scenarios, or policies created and configured by company analysts. Correlation rules clearly define the set of events that can indicate a security event. The ability to visualize data and events is another essential feature of SIEM systems. Dashboards, visualizations, and views help identify trends and cyber anomalies and monitor the overall health of your business environment. When events are properly correlated and tracked, fully protecting the system requires responding to events as soon as they are detected. Most SIEM systems include mechanisms that automatically block and restrict access to compromised devices and resources. You can also automate calling scripts, creating service requests, and sending e-mails.
