Security Information Event Monitoring (SIEM) solutions have been around for decades, but today SEIM is more important than ever as IT departments grow more distributed, complex and difficult to manage. The role of a SEIM solution is to provide real time alerts to security analysts regarding potential security risks and compliance issues. The information a SIEM presents is the result of very sophisticated event logging, data collection and analysis.
The benefits of a SIEM include:
1) Real-time threat detection and mitigation.
2) Investigation and audit documentation.
3) Streamline compliance reporting.
Advanced persistent threats (APTs), and the methods needed to detect and thwart them on wireless networks generate thousands of event logs per second in mid-size organizations. For many organizations, the wireless network carries more traffic load than the wired network. All that traffic must be audited. If that wasn’t enough of a challenge, the majority of logged events are simply routine alerts that do not need to be addressed. Only computers are capable of deciphering all of those logs fast enough to see what’s happening, when it’s happening and provide pertinent real time, ground zero attack information.
SEIM’s can analyze large volumes of data to identify hidden attacks and compromises, and therefore increase the efficiency of incident handling, saving time and resources. A good SIEM will immediately inform you of potential and real threats, and provide the forensic capability to assess and later mitigate future episodes of that threat.
Finally, SEIM’s can be used for streamlining reporting for regulatory compliance by meeting the requirements of various regulations including HIPAA, PCI and SOX.
Streamline Your Wireless Network Security
It is important to understand that SEIM’s do not take the place of network security controls for attack detection and prevention, such as firewalls, anti-malware technologies, and intrusion prevention systems. A SEIM solution has no ability to monitor raw security events as they happen. SEIM’s depend on their ability to gather log data from network and security devices.
The more an organization relies on wireless devices, the greater the need to deploy a secure and efficient wireless network. Mission critical devices that depend on a wireless network aren’t limited to the many connected smart phones and tablets. While they are many business benefits to new Internet of Things (IoT) devices, they can also pose heightened security risks via their connection to important network assets. Some of these devices are built on platforms that are inherently less secure. An effective SEIM solution needs to work hand in hand with network monitoring and auditing tools.
Feeding Mobility Intelligence to Your SIEM
The complexities of ever-expanding mobility network access demand trained, laser-focused subject matter experts. Audit log truncation, data continuity issues, proper log filtering and other techniques can have a tremendous impact on the security intelligence operation. Too much data can choke or limit bandwidth to other mission-critical systems. Too little data can lead to greater risk of undetected data breaches. Improper configuration can corrupt the detection results and again, expose the organization to data breaches and compliance failures.
Inacomp’s focus on network and mobility security brings our clients the expertise they need to properly configure event data feeds – no matter the type of device – and ensure a high-standard of data continuity and integrity to the threat detection and assessment tool set.
