What is a Next-Gen SIEM?

Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) systems have long been fundamental to cyber security strategies. However, preventing today's sophisticated attacks requires security teams to act more quickly than ever. As adversaries become faster and stealthier, legacy SIEM tools have struggled to keep up. Fortunately, Next-Gen SIEMs offer advanced capabilities to meet these evolving threats.

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What is a SIEM?

SIEMs help organisations detect, analyse, and respond to security threats. The security management systems achieve this by collecting data from various sources and then analysing that data to look for anomalies. This enables IT teams to respond quickly to potential threats and meet security compliance requirements.

Traditional SIEMs, designed for on-premises environments, face scalability issues, high cloud costs, limited integration with other security platforms, and inefficiency when handling large volumes of data. Next-Gen SIEMs, however, offer unlimited computing power, storage, and memory resources, enabling them to collect and store large volumes of data. What's more, they integrate seamlessly with other systems, ensuring the comprehensive view necessary for detecting and prioritising modern threats.

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How Does a Next-Generation SIEM Work?

Next-generation SIEM solutions leverage modern technologies, including cloud-scale infrastructure, big data architectures, and advanced indexing techniques. The solutions provide real-time insights across the entire security ecosystem and empower businesses to proactively defend against threats thanks to several core features:

• Real-time Threat Monitoring: Providing continuous visibility into network activity and potential risks.
• Automated Response Actions: Quickly remediating security issues and reducing the burden on IT teams.
• Advanced Threat Intelligence: Leveraging machine learning and AI to identify complex and evolving threats.
• Unlimited Scalability: Harnessing unlimited computing power, storage, and memory resources.
• Seamless Integration: Seamlessly integrating with security solutions, such as firewalls and endpoint protection platforms.
• Extended Visibility: Extending visibility beyond the traditional perimeter to include cloud environments and IoT devices.
• User-friendly Interface: Simplifying data collection and analysis so security teams can easily manage and prioritise alerts.
• Automated Attack Timelines: Next-gen SIEMs provide automated tracking of lateral movement and attack timelines, helping security teams understand the scope and progression of incidents.

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Best Practices for Adopting the Right Next-Gen SIEM

There are many benefits to using a next-gen SIEM, not least quickly uncovering sophisticated threats that traditional security measures might miss. Next-gen SIEMs are also cost-effective compared to traditional solutions. The Software as a Service (SaaS) model enables organisations to reduce infrastructure costs while gaining access to scalable and flexible resources. What's more, next-gen SIEMs help organisations meet compliance standards by providing robust data retention and customised dashboards and reports.

Of course, to fully realise the benefits of a next-gen SIEM, it's important to follow certain best practices:

1. Assess Your Business Needs: Consider your budget, compliance requirements, and existing IT solutions.
2. Choose the Right Solution: Find a solution that aligns with your business needs and capabilities.
3. Train Your Team: Document the implementation process and establish clear guidelines for ongoing operations.
4. Employ Continuous Improvement: Monitor performance and ensure the system is updated to the latest version.

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Next-Gen SIEM as Part of Your Cyber Security Strategy

Next-gen SIEMs provide real-time monitoring, automated threat responses and comprehensive analytics to ensure you stay ahead of cyber adversaries and should form a core component of any modern security strategy.

If you're considering adopting a next-gen SIEM, make sure you follow best practices: choose a solution that aligns with your business needs, train your team to use it effectively, and continuously monitor and optimise performance. However, you don't have to go it alone. If you'd like to know more about next-gen SIEM and how it can help your business improve its security posture, contact the experts at Infotrust today.

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