What is SIEM and how it differs from other security tools
Now that we understand what log data is, let’s discuss the technology that will allow your organization to collect and use it.
Security Information and Event Management is a technology that will process log data from your various systems, analyze it, make it available for searching, and store it. SIEM itself is a combination of two more abbreviations: Security Information Management (SIM) and Security Event Management (SEM). SIM is focused on the collection of log data for investigative and compliance purposes. SEM is focused on alerting and analytics: threat detection, pattern anomalies, and correlating different data sources.
SIEM tools can vary in architecture, but generally have two layers: A Processing Layer and an Analytics Layer. The Processing Layer is where data is structured, aggregated, and forwarded to the Analytics Layer. The Analytics Layer is where data is stored, made available for searching, and where security analytics is performed.
Using the above diagram as an example, the data sources are your various systems that will produce log data and send (push) to your Processing Layer, or your Processing Layer will reach out to (pull) via a database or API call. Depending on the SIEM product, the Processing Layer will structure the log data, normalizing it into a standard format, aggregate it by combining similar events into one, or may simply add an index to it and forward to the Analytics Layer. The Processing Layer is strictly used for processing; the only data that is typically retained are caches when the Analytics Layer is unavailable.
The Analytics Layer is where end users will search for data, create reports and use cases. Depending on the SIEM product, it may structure log data, and may act as a long-term retention repository.
While SIEM is defined as a security application, it differs significantly from your other security tools. Your SIEM will process log data, while your proxy, IDS/IPS, and some malware detection tools will typically process network traffic. Packets going over your network use the same protocols, so you don’t need to customize your firewall or IPS to detect TCP traffic. Your SIEM will need to process log data in various formats, many which may not be supported by your SIEM vendor.
Your IDS/IPS and malware tools provide you with a list of signatures that will be automatically updated on a regular basis. Some IDS/IPS tools allow you to implement custom signatures, but for the most part your analysts won’t have to write custom signatures for known vulnerabilities, exploits, and attacks. Your SIEM staff will need to create custom use cases and update them regularly, as you’ll unlikely be using much of your SIEM vendor’s default content.
SIEM vendors support many log sources, but your engineers will need to ensure the right parsers are being used, update them regularly, and write any that are not supported by your SIEM vendor. This is in stark contrast to your network devices and other security tools that only have to work with limited protocols such as TCP/IP, HTTP, and HTTPS.
Staff will be logging into your proxy, firewall, IDS/IPS, and malware tools often, but it will mostly be for administrative purposes. Your SIEM will have many end users, ranging from admins to users searching for data. In large environments, it’s common to have several users searching for data simultaneously. For MSPs, your customers may be logging in to search for data as well.
While most of your other security tools can block a malicious host from egressing your network or block users going to an uncategorized site, SIEMs don’t have the capability to block.
The following table summarizes the differences between SIEM and your other security products.
As you can see from the above table, a SIEM differs significantly from your black-boxed IPS or malware tools. While it may seem that it’s simply a log aggregator, a SIEM is a complex tool that will need significant customization. The environment can have many stakeholders from security analysts, to compliance and access management teams. Ultimately, it will need to be implemented, operated, and maintained differently.