Cybercriminals have never been as sophisticated as they are today. With access to AI-powered tools, they are launching attacks left and right, making it mandatory for businesses to upgrade their cybersecurity postures.
A crucial step in addressing these risks is to be proactive about identifying threats. The sooner you detect and respond to potential vulnerabilities, the less impact they will have. When vulnerabilities are known, cyber teams can patch software, tighten controls and feel good about their postures. But zero-day attacks are on the rise to the tune of 50% year-over-year growth, meaning that breaches are taking place, with malware running amok and security teams not even aware that they’ve been hacked.
Given these dynamics, one of the most essential tools for proactive threat detection is a security information and event management system, also known as “SIEM”. After all, modern organizations host most, if not all, of their data digitally. A big priority for someone who may be interested in that data (i.e. a cybercriminal) is to gain persistent access to systems, allowing them to monitor, manipulate, or steal data over time without detection.
Some of the biggest attacks in recent times have involved cybercriminals penetrating systems for longer periods, allowing them to do maximum damage. Detecting these threats and any other suspicious activity early allows organizations to react and mitigate risks before they escalate. But how exactly do you use SIEM to stay proactive about threat detection, especially given that new risks are emerging on a daily basis?
SIEM: A Must-Have Cybersecurity Tool
SIEM is one of the most popular tools used by security-conscious organizations around the world. A SIEM platform collects logs and data from multiple sources – such as firewalls, networks, endpoints, and applications – and consolidates them into a central system for analysis.
Not only does it allow security teams to see exactly what’s going on across their entire IT environment in real-time, but it also correlates the data to help prioritize risks and automate responses to mitigate threats.
This makes SIEM the perfect solution for proactive cybersecurity, as it can detect malicious activity early, such as logins from a suspicious IP address, and prevent attackers from doing significant damage as all of their actions are visible and traceable.
Here are the main SIEM features for proactive threat detection.
Log collection and aggregation. For security teams, it’s essential to have centralized insights about the environments they’re protecting, as monitoring all endpoints individually is impossible in nearly all scenarios. A SIEM serves as the central hub for logs, allowing security and IT admins to monitor the entire environment holistically.
Correlation and pattern recognition. What makes a SIEM truly valuable is its ability to correlate data from these various sources. For example, it can link a series of failed login attempts on different systems to an unusual spike in outbound network traffic, which suggests a brute force attack followed by potential data exfiltration.
This level of pattern recognition provides a clearer picture of events and helps identify complex attack patterns that may go unnoticed if analyzed in isolation.
Advanced alerting and response. Lastly, when the SIEM detects suspicious activity, it sends real-time alerts integrated with email or even communication platforms like Slack. The security team can tailor alerts based on risk thresholds so that higher-risk events are prioritized.
If integrated with a Security Orchestration, Automation, and Response (SOAR) tool, an SIEM can even automatically respond to incidents by triggering predefined actions. So, for example, if there is a brute force attack, the combined analysis and automation engine may lock affected user accounts and IP addresses or trigger further response workflows.
How to Maximize SIEM Effectiveness Over Time
While SIEM is highly powerful, some fine-tuning is required to maximize its long-term benefits. You can start by periodically revisiting alert thresholds and correlation rules to make sure they’re consistently aligned with your organization’s current risk profile, network activity, and threat landscape.
Another key to maximizing SIEM effectiveness is diversifying and regularly updating log sources. As new devices, applications, or cloud services are added to the network, their logs should also be integrated into the SIEM. The security team must take this seriously, as you don’t want any blind spots in the network that could allow potential threats to go undetected.
Finally, you should perform regular audits and reviews that evaluate the SIEM’s performance. This typically works by simulating real incidents to examine how the system responds and its ability to detect false positives. Just like you would regularly update its rules, you should also regularly incorporate new threat intelligence feeds into the SIEM so it’s updated and capable of handling the latest threats and attack vectors.
In short, you must be proactive about your SIEM use. In return, it will provide you with actionable threat detection and a proactive cybersecurity posture.
Final Thoughts
SIEM is one of the most widely used cybersecurity tools for a reason. It’s ideal for the current threat landscape, which requires real-time monitoring of networks and quick action to prevent incidents from escalating.
With its ability to collect data, correlate it, prioritize risks, and automate responses, SIEM is a baseline solution that every cybersecurity team should have in place for maximum visibility into the networks they’re protecting.
