SIEM is a Security Information and Event Management system used to monitor, analyze, and respond to corporate IT infrastructure security events. SIEM systems provide security monitoring, advanced threat detection, incident investigation, and incident remediation.
Today's SIEM platforms go beyond simply log management tools. They incorporate user and entity behavior analytics (UEBA), AI and machine learning capabilities, and other advanced security analytics to identify anomalous behaviors and advanced threat indicators.
Core functionality of SIEM systems
Log management
SIEM systems collect and aggregate log data that IT infrastructure and applications generate. These logs contain valuable information about events, user activities, and system behavior that SecOps teams use to identify and analyze real and potential security threats.
Event correlation
SIEM tools correlate events from disparate sources to identify patterns and potential security incidents, such as correlating events related to unauthorized access, suspicious user activities, or application-level attacks.
Incident detection and response
SIEM solutions provide real-time monitoring and detection of security incidents. When the system detects predefined events or patterns — such as a potential SQL injection attack — it generates an alert for further investigation or initiates a response to block the attack.
Compliance monitoring
SIEM tools monitor and ensure regulatory compliance by providing reports related to security incidents within applications.
Forensic analysis
When a security incident occurs, SIEM tools can access stored historical data crucial for forensic analysis, such as details about events leading up to and following a security incident.
