What is Managed SIEM-As-A-Service?

SIEM (Security Information and Event Management) is a primary tool in the cybersecurity industry that helps organizations stay secure when used properly. When it comes to SIEM, most organizations debate on either creating their own SIEM, outsourcing SIEM as a service, or even wondering if they need a SIEM at all. So, let’s break it down.

What is SIEM and How Does it Work?

SIEM provides visibility into critical security events and other indicators of compromise (IOC). A SIEM combines security event management (SEM) – which analyzes log and event data in real time to provide threat monitoring, event correlation and incident response – with security information management (SIM) which collects, analyzes and reports on log data.

When it comes to vetting SIEM solutions, make sure it has these key features, which you can check out here.

SIEM typically works by ingesting data from multiple sources and devices within an organization’s technology infrastructure, including firewalls and antivirus, then analyzes that data to pull out suspicious events. When suspicious events are identified, the SIEM alerts your organization’s security team of the event. When you have your own SIEM, it is ultimately your responsibility to manage, monitor, and responds to events that were identified by your SIEM, to ensure your SIEM is working properly and is updated correctly.

What is Managed SIEM-as-a-service?

When you have a managed SIEM-as-a-service, a third party, or managed security services provider (MSSP), has full responsibility for the SIEM solution. In this scenario, the SIEM lives on the cloud, and the MSSP handles all the monitoring of events that come through on the SIEM and are responsible for patching and updating the SIEM. In addition, the MSSP provides your organization with reports and log events to ensure you still receive visibility into the SIEM.

Interested to see some of the most prominent threats that were identified with our SIEM in Q2? 

Benefits of SIEM-As-A-Service

Without dedicated resources managing real-time event monitoring and correlation, threats can fall through the cracks – and into your network. When a SIEM solution is provided as a managed service, trained security experts are the ones who handle the integration, operation, and maintenance on your behalf. In addition, your organization receives a number of other benefits including;

• 24/7/365 support, at a fraction of the cost of managing an around-the-clock monitoring solution for an in-house SIEM. A huge team of nearly 200 analysts with decades of experience supporting clients.
• Security experts and threat researchers interact to keep the SIEM working optimally and ensure rule sets are correctly written. A redundant review of rules reduces the chance of over-tuning the SIEM, which might accidentally silence essential alerts.
• Enhanced threat hunting capabilities actively seek anomalies, compare event data to dozens of OSINT, ISAC, and proprietary threat data sources.
• Robust support systems provide analysts with enriched data beyond raw alert contents to hasten analysis of threats and rapidly develop a remediation plan. Analysts stay on the phone with the client until the issue is resolved rather than passing along an alert.
• In-house proprietary SIEM can be customized to keep pace with changing client requirements. Nuspire product management and development teams are continually making upgrades to improve service delivery and add new capabilities.

A SIEM solution is an incredible, and necessary, tool that’s used to keep your organization secure and protected from cyber threats. A SIEM can’t operate in a silo though. It needs constant tuning, maintenance and monitoring in order for it to work effectively. Need help managing or implementing a SIEM? Our proprietary SIEM and team of 24x7x365 security experts are here to help.