If you run a small business, you’re probably wondering what SIEM is all about. Is it something that applies to your organization; is your business “too small” to take advantage of SIEM? Plus, how does it work, and what exactly is it?
What Is SIEM?
SIEM or Security, Information, and Event Management is an essential aspect of computer security. It boasts an array of features and benefits, and it’s something that works well for businesses and organizations of any size, including small businesses.
While it might seem like a new concept, the history of SIEM
dates back to the 1970s. Today, SIEM is a $2 billion industry.
SIEM is all about collecting data from various sources and systems, analyzing it, and using that information to flag up any abnormal behavior that could pose a security risk to businesses and organizations.
Why Is SIEM Important?
SIEM is a security solution that helps businesses and organizations identify possible security threats and vulnerabilities before anything happens. It uses AI (Artificial Intelligence) technology and machine learning to automate threat detection and protection.
It offers powerful and advanced technology to manage ever-evolving security threats that disrupt business operations. SIEM is crucial for businesses of all sizes, including small firms.
How Does SIEM Work?
If you run a business, you’re probably wondering how SIEM works – especially if you’re a small company that can’t justify using enterprise-grade tools to protect your business.
The good news is SIEM offers several powerful ways to help ensure business continuity, irrespective of a business’s size.
As you can imagine, many different SIEM solutions exist for businesses. Broadly speaking, they all offer the following common elements:
Log Management
One of the core functions of a SIEM solution is log management. It collects logs and flow data from various sources, such as users, applications, and cloud systems, stores them, and analyzes them in real-time.
It’s an excellent way to manage a network from a central location, and it’s a function that can integrate with real-time threat feeds to detect and block new types of attacks.
Event Correlation And Analytics
Another core function is event correlation and analytics. It’s a way to understand complex data patterns and provide useful insights that help stop potential threats to any firm’s security and business continuity.
Security Incident Monitoring And Alerts
SIEM gives businesses a proactive way of handling security incidents for all system users, applications, and devices, thanks to its integrated nature.
The fact that it offers a centralized way of managing both on-site and cloud-based systems means system administrators will get notified of all security incidents in real-time, enabling them to take immediate action where necessary.
Compliance Management And Reporting
One final common function of SIEM solutions is how they help businesses and organizations gather and verify compliance data.
Many firms and organizations must adhere to specific compliance standards like PCI-DSS and HIPAA. SIEM helps them achieve that goal with next-generation compliance management and reporting tools.
What Are Its Benefits To Small Business?
On the face of it, anyone reading about SIEM for the first time might think they are only solutions applicable to enterprise-level businesses, such as large corporations and international firms.
The truth is, SIEM is very much applicable to small businesses. Here are some of the benefits they can enjoy:
Advanced Real-Time Threat Detection
SIEM provides small businesses with the functionality they need to monitor various security solutions across their entire IT infrastructure. This helps them reduce the time it takes to spot and take action on any potential security threats.
Compliance Auditing And Reporting
As mentioned a moment ago, compliance management and reporting is a core function of SIEM. From a small business perspective, SIEM helps firms achieve their compliance objectives by streamlining the collection and analysis of security logs and events.
AI (Artificial Intelligence)-Driven Automation
One of the neat things about SIEM is how it uses powerful AI technology to save time and resources. SIEM solutions use deep machine learning to adapt to a network’s behavior, enabling it to tackle complex security threats quicker than human IT security teams.
Managed SIEM For Improved Business Efficiency
While it’s possible to implement on-premise or cloud-based SIEM solutions internally, it makes more sense to small businesses to use managed SIEM solutions. Doing so improves their business efficiency and lowers their IT security costs.
Ideal For Digital Forensic Investigations
When a security incident occurs in any small business, IT security teams will want to learn more about such threats and recreate any past events to help tighten up existing security processes.
User And Application Monitoring
There’s no denying that today’s modern small businesses operate a mixture of cloud-based systems and allow users to connect to their networks with their own devices.
SIEM solutions enable those small firms to track all network activity, irrespective of the users, devices, and applications used, in a central and unified manner.
Real-World Examples Of SIEM
SIEM offers several excellent processes for identifying and helping to stop business threats. But, how do they work in real-world environments? The following are a few examples:
Financial And Healthcare Industry Compliance
Businesses and organizations in the financial and healthcare sectors must adhere to strict compliance standards. Otherwise, they could face harsh penalties. SIEM helps such entities remain compliant from a data security perspective.
Internet Of Things (IoT) Security
The IoT market is worth around $381 billion globally
and will increase each year. Security is of high importance with all IoT devices, and SIEM is a way for device manufacturers to keep track of each device’s security and quickly close any vulnerabilities.
Internal Threat Prevention
Lastly, SIEM can help with internal threats, such as those posed by employees – whether their acts are accidental or meant with malice.
Final Thoughts
SIEM is undeniably a robust and flexible way to improve a firm or organization’s network security. What’s more, it’s applicable to firms of all sizes, from small businesses to large enterprise-sized environments.