Zero Trust has become the standard for information security as cyberattacks become more sophisticated and IT infrastructure and workplaces become increasingly complex and geographically distributed. A Zero Trust architecture (ZTA) is comprised of tools that promote the security principles of “never trust; always verify.”
Security information and event management (SIEM) can be a key part of your company’s ZTA because of its ability to monitor network traffic, log incidents, and prevent breaches from occurring. SIEM has many advantages as an intelligent and proactive security solution.
Here’s an overview of 5 top benefits of SIEM.
1) Real-Time Threat Identification
To effectively block threats, your company must use security tools that can detect and identify threats immediately. The longer it takes your business to detect a threat, the more chances cybercriminals are given to breach your systems and move laterally across your IT environment.
SIEM actively monitors the entire system, giving your organization a head-start on responding to any potential threats and preventing a breach. SIEM can identify any threats or vulnerabilities in real-time, delivering current threat data that can be used to produce actionable insights.
2) Detection of Advanced Threats
The threat landscape is constantly changing. New and more advanced threats continue to emerge that your security tools may not recognize.
Using threat intelligence, combined with artificial intelligence (AI), SIEM can detect even previously undiscovered threats. Threat intelligence allows the SIEM solution to analyze threat data, sniffing out advanced and unknown threats that include insider threats, phishing attacks, distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks, SQL injections, and advanced persistent threats (APTs).
3) Threat Investigation
Threat detection and identification is the first step, but to be truly effective, your company’s security strategy should involve threat mitigation and investigation. Not every incident can be prevented, so your business needs to be prepared to take steps if a cyberattack succeeds.
After an incident occurs, SIEM can conduct a forensic investigation based on the data that has been collected and logged. Your company can gather all the data related to a threat and analyze it to recreate an incident and develop a strategy for preventing similar future attacks.
4) Monitoring All Devices and Applications
Today’s remote workplaces make it difficult for companies to gain visibility into the entire infrastructure. Many devices are in workers’ homes and often belong to the employee.
With SIEM, your business can track all suspicious activity, even that which extends outside the perimeter to the edge of the network. SIEM can monitor applications that are running in the cloud and remote devices, even those that are owned by employees.
5) Intelligence and Automation
SIEM uses AI to automate many of the security functions that IT teams traditionally perform manually. By integrating with security orchestration, automation, and response (SOAR), SIEM can take over these security tasks, freeing your staff to focus on business strategy.
Machine learning enables SIEM to adapt to trends in network patterns and the evolution of the threat landscape. AI and automation accelerate threat detection and response times by eliminating manual steps.
The Key to Security and Compliance
Not only does SIEM have many security capabilities, but it also helps your company stay compliant in a time of tightening regulations. Leading SIEM solutions include built-in reporting functions that prevent lapses in compliance and make the auditing process easier.
At Dynamix Group, we can help your company decide if SIEM is right for you and choose the right solution if it is. We are a Cisco Premier Certified Partner, so we provide expertise in designing security tools and strategies using Cisco SIEM and other leading solutions.
Our Cisco Security Audit can get you on the path to uncovering and filling gaps in your security architecture.
Does your company need SIEM? Find out by participating in a Dynamix Cisco Security Audit.