Security Information and Event Management (SIEM)

A centralized system that aggregates logs and security events from across your IT environment, then correlates and analyzes that data to spot signs of threats. Think of a SIEM as a command center where data from firewalls, servers, PCs, applications, etc., all comes together.

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By having everything in one place, a SIEM can detect patterns that siloed systems might miss - for example, noticing that the same user account had failed login attempts on 10 different devices (indicating a possible attack) or that a normally quiet server suddenly started generating a lot of errors after a new software install (perhaps a compromise).

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The SIEM can generate alerts for your security team (or IT admin) to investigate and also provides dashboards and reports, which are handy for compliance. In an SMB scenario, you might not have a dedicated SOC (Security Operations Center) watching a SIEM 24/7, but some SIEM solutions, like BrightShield's built-in lightweight SIEM functionality, are tailored for resource-limited teams.

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A more advanced SIEM can be used both for the early detection of attacks and to provide a forensic trail when investigating an incident. For instance, if malware slips through, a SIEM could help you quickly see all the places that malware touched in your network by correlating logs.

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Overall, SIEM is about turning the tsunami of log data into meaningful security insight and ensuring no critical warning goes unseen in the noise.