SIEM-as-a-Service — also known as a managed SIEM (Security Information and Event Management) — is a cloud-based security service that provides organizations with real-time monitoring and analysis of security-related data from various sources, such as network devices, servers, and applications.

The service includes a centralized platform that collects, stores, and correlates security-related data with a toolset for analyzing and reporting against security events. 

SIEM-as-a-service often includes threat intelligence and incident response capabilities. It will usually be hosted by a third-party provider and can be more cost-effective than building and maintaining an in-house SIEM solution.

Summary of key SIEM-as-a-Service benefits

The table below summarizes the key benefits of SIEM-as-a-Service for modern enterprises.

Benefit	Description
Scalability	Quickly scale up or down based on an organization’s changing needs
Expertise	Managed SIEM providers employ experts in current security threats, who can help you improve security posture.
Continuous monitoring	Managed SIEM service providers offer 24/7 monitoring and alerting in real time.
Incident Response	The service should offer incident response and remediation support, including triage and threat hunting.
Managed Services	The managed SIEM will maintain the service for you and set up, configure, and update the SIEM system.
Cost-effective	Cheaper than building and maintaining an in-house SIEM solution, as it eliminates the need to invest in hardware, software, and staff to manage the system.
Compliance	Many managed SIEM providers comply with various industry regulations (e.g., PCI-DSS, HIPAA, SOC2), which can help organizations meet compliance requirements.
Reporting and analysis	Advanced reporting and analysis capabilities to help identify and respond to threats.
Customizable rules and policies	Customizable to the client’s specific requirements and allow the client to configure rules and policies to suit their unique environment.
Advanced security features	Threat hunting, incident response, and forensic analysis, which strengthens your overall security posture.

Why is SIEM an integral part of information security architecture?

 

Integrating SIEM-as-a-Service into an organization’s existing or future security architecture is essential because it helps provide a comprehensive view of an organization’s data and allows security teams to rapidly identify and respond to security alerts and incidents.

In general, a security architecture that uses a managed SIEM includes the following components:

• Log Collection and normalization: This component ingests, parses, and normalizes the collected data into a format that the SIEM can easily analyze.
• Analysis engine: This component analyzes the normalized data to identify, categorize, and correlate security events and generate alerts.
• Alert management: This component manages, monitors, and triages the alerts generated by the SIEM, and can be integrated with a SIEM service such as monitoring or a security orchestration, automation, and response (SOAR) platform.
• Reporting and visualization: Provides reports and visualizations of security events and trends, enabling security analysts to quickly identify and respond to potential security incidents.
• User management: This component manages user authentication, authorization, and access control to the managed SIEM.
• Integration with other security tools: This component enables the managed SIEM to integrate with other security tools, such as firewalls, intrusion detection systems, and vulnerability management systems, to provide a comprehensive view of the organization’s security posture.
• Compliance: The SIEM will be designed to comply with various industry regulations (e.g., PCI-DSS, HIPAA, SOC2) to help organizations meet compliance requirements.

The following diagram shows the core functions of SIEM-as-a-service architecture:

An overview of the components and capabilities of a SIEM-as-a-service platform.

10 essential SIEM-as-a-Service best practices

Proper SIEM provisioning and deployment are essential to ensuring that it meets an enterprise’s security needs.

Here are 10 essential best practices for an effective, productive, and secure SIEM-as-a-service deployment:

• Define your use cases: Identify your organization’s specific security needs and objectives.
• Plan and design your deployment: This can include determining which devices and systems are to be monitored, how data is collected, and how alerts and reports are generated.
• Secure your SIEM: Ensure that your SIEM is adequately secured by protecting access to the system, securing data transmission and storage, and protecting against tampering or unauthorized access.
• Collect and normalize data: Implement data collection and normalization processes to ensure that the data collected by your SIEM is accurate and complete.
• Configure alerts and reporting: Configure your SIEM to generate alerts and reports based on your use cases and establish processes for responding to alerts and investigating incidents.
• Test and validate your SIEM: Test the accuracy and completeness of the data being collected, the effectiveness of alerting and reporting, and the system’s performance.
• Continuously monitor and improve: Monitoring for new threats, update your use cases, and incorporate new data sources.
• Perform regular audits: Perform regular audits to check the integrity of the data, the health of the system, and compliance with internal and external policies.
• Have an incident response plan: Putting an incident response plan at the ready establishes that all employees know how to respond to security incidents.
• Update and maintain your system: Keep your SIEM current with the latest security management, patches, and updates, and ensure that all system components are properly maintained.

How to deploy and use a managed SIEM (SIEM-as-a-service)

Below are the general steps required to deploy and use SIEM-as-a-service effectively.

1. Define the security requirements: Determine the security needs of the organization and the types of data that need to be collected and analyzed by the SIEM.
2. Choose a managed SIEM provider: Select a managed SIEM provider that meets the organization’s security requirements and has a good reputation in the market.
3. Configure data sources: Configure the various data sources, such as firewalls, intrusion detection systems, web servers, and cloud environments, to send security-related data to the SIEM.
4. Configure normalization and analysis: Configure the SIEM to normalize and analyze the collected data, and define the rules that the SIEM will use to identify and categorize security events.
5. Configure alert management: Configure the SIEM to manage and triage alerts, and integrate the SIEM service and or a Security Orchestration, Automation, and Response (SOAR) platform.
6. Configure reporting and visualization: Configure the SIEM to provide reports and visualizations of security events and trends, enabling security analysts to identify and respond to potential security incidents quickly.
7. Configure user management: Configure user authentication, authorization, and access control to the managed SIEM.
8. Test and validate the deployment: Test the deployment to ensure that the SIEM is configured correctly and can detect and respond to security events as expected.
9. Monitor and maintain the SIEM: Monitor the SIEM to ensure that it is functioning correctly, and maintain and update the SIEM as needed to meet the evolving security needs of the organization.

Summary

A managed SIEM provides numerous benefits to organizations regarding security and risk management. A managed SIEM (or SIEM as-a-Service) provides organizations with a comprehensive and centralized view of their security posture, enabling a SOC (Security Operations Center) or security-related teams to identify and respond to security incidents. Organizations using a managed SIEM can benefit from improved threat detection, efficiency, visibility, risk management, compliance, and incident response.

A managed SIEM can help organizations improve their incident response capabilities. By integrating with a security orchestration, automation, and response (SOAR) platform, organizations can automate and streamline their incident response process, reducing the time and effort required to resolve security incidents. By outsourcing the management and maintenance of the SIEM to a trusted provider, organizations can free up their in-house security teams to focus on other critical security tasks, such as threat analysis and incident response.

In summary, using a managed SIEM provides organizations with a comprehensive view of their security posture, improved threat detection, increased efficiency, better risk management, improved compliance, and improved incident response. With the help of a managed SIEM, organizations can reduce the risk of security incidents and ensure that their security posture is aligned with their business objectives and regulatory requirements.