Today’s enterprise networks are diverse and complex. Rather than the simple network perimeter of old, bad actors can attack through multiple entry points, including cloud-based applications. Not to mention, these networks generate massive amounts of transactional data.
Because enterprise networks have become larger, they’re more difficult to secure and manage. As a result, IT operations teams and security analysts seek better ways to deal with the massive influx of information to improve security and observability.
Network security tools like firewalls, antivirus, and endpoint protection continue to play an important role. However, each of these solutions on its own provides just a glimpse into the network’s overall security posture. While integrating multiple security tools can deliver a complete view, doing so successfully is often a difficult challenge.
Security teams need solutions like Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) tools to safeguard complex IT environments. These solutions are otherwise known as security information management (SIM) or security event management (SEM). Combined with log analytics tools, teams can use SIEM platforms to achieve comprehensive network observability at scale. They can integrate huge volumes of data from multiple sources, and correlate network events in real-time to identify potential cyber threats and vulnerabilities. This approach is often referred to as a security data lake (including Amazon Security Lake and others).
This blog post explores how cybersecurity teams can secure complex enterprise IT environments by combining SIEM software solutions and Log Analytics for security operations and threat hunting.
You’ll discover how SIEM and log management solutions work together to satisfy use cases including:
Download the Solutions Brief: Scalable Log Analytics for Security Operations and Threat Hunting
Although SIEM and Log Analytics tools take different approaches to analysis, using them together improves the security posture of complex networks.
SIEM and log analysis overlap in several areas when it comes to achieving visibility. Understanding where these technologies differ and how they complement each other is key to maintaining the cyber hygiene of any enterprise.
Let’s get started!
SIEM tools collect and aggregate log data from network and security devices in real-time. They then analyze SIEM logs to detect correlations that could indicate a potential cybersecurity threat or system vulnerability.
The defining capabilities of a SIEM software solution are:
SIEM tools have many strengths that make them effective security solutions for enterprise SecOps teams. They are effective at delivering real-time network observability and threat detection. Most solutions can work with numerous data sources and include advanced automation tools. Some SIEM tools even use machine learning to strengthen their anomaly and outlier detection capabilities over time.
But despite their strong performance in threat detection, SIEM solutions fall short when it comes to complex or advanced persistent threats.
SIEM tools are optimized for real-time network observability and alerting on security threats, but those optimizations come at a cost.
SIEM tools require considerable integration, customizations, and the right expertise to be effective - and they still won’t satisfy every single cybersecurity use case.
Thankfully, alternatives have emerged to address these shortfalls. For example, many teams choose to use a cybersecurity data lake combined with an extended detection and response (XDR) system, or a SIEM with an intrusion detection system (IDS). SecOps teams can also supplement their SIEM tool with a security lake and log analytics solution that covers those key performance gaps.
Log Analytics software solutions are used for collecting and aggregating logs. Enterprise SecOps teams are increasingly adopting log analytics for security operations and threat-hunting applications. A log analytics solution brings together security and event data from throughout the network, giving SecOps teams increased visibility of potential threats and vulnerabilities. Many emerging solutions like OpenSearch security analytics combine the best of low-cost storage and log analytics.
The defining capabilities of log analytics solutions are:
Log analytics platforms are especially useful for forensic analysis and understanding how data moves across the network. Cybersecurity professionals can use these platforms to delve into events that may have happened days, weeks, or even months ago.
SIEM tools and Log Analytics solutions have some different use cases. They are complementary to each other when it comes to the critical function of enterprise cybersecurity.
For each of the following use cases, we’ll review the benefits of each option and how teams can deploy both SIEM and Log Analytics for SecOps use cases.
In a cybersecurity context, network observability allows SecOps teams to assess the security posture of the enterprise network based on metrics, traces, and log data.
Detecting cyber threats and identifying anomalous events on the network are among the most important capabilities for enterprise security teams.
Organizations that operate in highly regulated industries may be required to comply with data security and privacy regulations. These regulations create specific requirements for retaining and securely storing certain types of records and sensitive data.
Threat hunting is the process of proactively searching for cyber threats within the network that may have avoided detection by traditional security tools.
Forensic analysis refers to the investigative process conducted by SecOps teams. It uncovers and documents the course, culprits, causes, and consequences of a cyber security incident.
Enterprise SecOps teams can benefit from deploying both a SIEM tool and log analytics for security operations and threat hunting. These technologies play complementary roles when it comes to securing enterprise networks against cyber threats.
SIEM tools like Splunk are optimized for monitoring the here and now. They deliver real-time observability and alerting on network events, giving SecOps teams the ability to rapidly detect and respond to IoCs and active threats.
Log analytics solutions are optimized for monitoring data from the past. They deliver a more cost-effective choice for exploring historical trends, hunting down persistent threat attacks, or conducting a forensic analysis.
Organizations who use SIEM tools to detect and respond to threats in the present, and log analytics to uncover trends from the past, will successfully safeguard their IT infrastructure into the future.