Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) Solutions: An Overview

The increasing volume and variability of data generated by businesses has made security incidents difficult to manage, leaving security teams with countless notifications and low visibility into legitimate security threats. To manage their current security data load, companies rely on Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) solutions which are primarily built for on-premises security systems and are expensive to maintain. As companies migrate to the cloud, the demand increases for an alternative solution that helps organizations leverage various types of telemetry to enhance internal security procedures. Eventually, companies will transition away from the SIEM to next-gen security data management solutions that effectively support their security posture.

Next-gen SIEM solutions ingest high volumes of data from an organization’s applications, endpoints, and network to accurately connect security events and heighten visibility into their digital environment. This data can be leveraged to feed detection & response systems and automatically classify various types of threats, enabling security teams to successfully prevent breaches. Additionally, security teams experience less false positives and spend more time investigating legitimate threats. By utilizing the next-gen SIEM, an organization’s security function becomes more successful in outlining threat types, responsible personnel, and the sources used for attack. Businesses can leverage valuable features offered by a next-gen SIEM to mitigate threats at a lower cost compared to the traditional SIEM.

Although next-gen SIEM technology provides many benefits, large scale adoption will not happen overnight since traditional SIEMs store high volumes of critical security data and are entrenched within the tech stack. Replacing the SIEM can cause configuration errors and mix up existing security guidelines which increases vulnerability to breach. To assist with the transition, some next-gen solutions like Anvilogic have developed their technology to complement the traditional SIEM while other startups, like Panther, provide the option to completely replace existing SIEMs. The various approaches are unique to each business depending on their reliability on the traditional SIEM.

Overall, the value provided by next-gen solutions will result in wide market adoption by businesses representative of diverse verticals and industries. Already, there are many startups who are building exciting next-gen SIEM technologies to enhance their customers’ security posture. Additionally, large players like CrowdStrike and SentinelOne have been vocal about the market opportunity and offer their own next-gen security data management solutions to their customers. Broad market adoption will take time, but businesses will experience more effective security operations by actively utilizing a next-gen SIEM.