What is SIEM (Security Information and Event Management)

Security information and event management (SIEM) is a security system that combines the capabilities of Security Information Management (SIM) and Security Event Management to provide a holistic security information management system. The underlying principle of this system is that by looking at security threats arising from multiple points of an organization’s information system at a single point, one is able to take note of trends and patterns that arise.

Information security is critical and important to maintain the credibility of an organization. Many organizations collect information from customer and clients, which is stored in online or offline storage systems. It is paramount for the information collected to be handled with a lot of sensitivity care. Therefore security systems have to be deployed to provide security.

Security Information Management (SIM)

This is an information security technology that involves the collection of data usually logs and other security documents which is then saved in a central repository for analysis to be done. Analysis of this data is meant to find trends and pattern lying within the data. The repository is usually a central server that acts as the security console within the system. After analysis, reports are derived, which are displayed in the form of charts and graphs which display the patterns and trends existing within the analyzed data.

Most of this work is done in real time, with a human technician monitoring the system at the security console point. Steps are taken according to the security alerts generated with an aim of attaining regulatory compliance set internally and externally.

Security Event Management (SEM)

This a security technology that works by analyzing event logs in real time, correlate them to provide real-time monitoring ability as well as the opportunity to respond to the threats. Activities which are done over a network produce event logs. This can be transported to a security console using protocols where they are analyzed for activities that are of interest such as abnormal logons. The generated logs are further more stored for future forensics analysis.

How Security Information and Event Functions works

As mentioned earlier SIEM works by combining the capabilities of both security systems. The system works by collecting security data from a myriad of avenues available such as servers, end-user devices, antivirus, firewalls and intrusion prevention systems. Data collected is sent to a security console which analyzes the data just as a SEM system does. The analysis is done to check if anomalies exist in the event logs comparing it to the normal conditions. The findings are then stored for regulatory compliance purposes.

This set up helps to attain the benefits of both SIM and SEM. This is a crucial benefit as regulatory compliances are easily attained and the security of information is enforced.

CAPABILITY OF SIEM SYSTEM

By combing the capabilities of SIEM and SIM, the capability of SIEM increase and so does it advantages. Some of its capabilities include;

  • Correlation of events
  • Aggregation of data
  • Regulatory compliance
  • Alerting of security threats
  • Ability to conduct forensic analysis
  • Event log storage for long term compliance investigations
  • Ability to react appropriately to security situations when they arise

So SIEM enables better management with better security and event managements.