The Need for Cloud Based SIEM in Your Business Cybersecurity Plan

Over 39 cyber attacks happen every second, according to a recent University of Maryland study. And according to Verizon’s latest Data Breach Investigations report, almost half of those attacks victimize small businesses. Industries most affected by breaches include (by number of incidents):

1. Public administration (23,399)
2. Information (1,094)
3. Financial and insurance services (927)

About 60% of companies also go out of business after suffering an attack. Whether you’re running a startup or a well-established local business, it’s vital to keep your sensitive business data safe and secure. The best way to deal with a hack or data breach is to prevent it. This can be done by consistently monitoring your organization’s digital activities through cloud-based Security Information and Event Management (SIEM).

What is Cloud-based SIEM?

  SIEM is enterprise software used to gather, analyze, and report events and activities that happen in your business.  It’s a reliable tool that’s been used and updated by cybersecurity professionals for over a decade. Traditional SIEM software operates on-premises, which means it runs on your company’s servers. Cloud-based SIEM offers the same functionality as its on-premises counterpart,but is easily accessible through a web application, which is accessed from an off-site server.  

How Does SIEM Function?

On the surface, SIEM may seem simple: it collects system events and reports malicious ones to you. However, its process has intricate ways of collecting, analyzing, and filtering data before it shows up as a simple notification on your screen.

1. Collection – Every device in your network, from your servers to employee computers, create logs of events (particularly unusual ones) that occur within their system. All of these logs are collected by the SIEM and converts them into a consistent format.

2. Storage and Organization – Logs can be stored in different locations, like your company’s on-premise servers, your cloud storage service, or both for easy recovery. The SIEM’s job doesn’t stop at gathering data, too. It scans each event to determine its severity, and ranks them accordingly.

3. Filtering – The cybersecurity expert you hire should work closely with you to determine which security events impact your business the most. This way, they can program the SIEM’s filter to notify you of activities and incidents that need to be addressed immediately.

4. Preparing for Compliance – Industry regulations, like Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS), Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX), Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), and others require you to retain cybersecurity-related documents for about one to seven years. An SIEM can also manage and compress logs for long-term storage automatically. This way, you don’t have to worry about compliance.

 

What are the Benefits of Cloud-based SIEM?

Cloud-based SIEM is an essential part of any cybersecurity plan. Here are its benefits to your business.

• Proactive Protection – Cloud-based SIEMs operate 24/7, and your service provider will sift through and report important events to you. This way, you can solve them before they do severe damage to your system.
• Hassle-Free Deployment – On-site SIEM can take a long time to implement and deploy. You have to worry about hardware and software compatibility and hiring a crew to manage the deployment process.

You won’t experience these problems with cloud-based SIEM. This is because it’s all installed on your provider’s servers. You only need to install a few programs to get your SIEM system up and running. Plus, you can access your dashboard on almost any secure device with a browser.

• Easy Scalability – With an on-site SIEM, you have to manually acquire and update the software across multiple platforms and machines. Cloud-based SIEMs are updated automatically by service providers without the need to install anything on your end.

How Do I Find the Right Cloud-based SIEM Solution?

Every business has different needs and industry requirements for cybersecurity. Know how to find the right SIEM solution for your business.

• Compatibility – Work closely with your cybersecurity team to make sure that the SIEM solution you’re getting can accommodate or at least convert your network’s log files. This way, you can scan every event in your system for suspcisious activity.
• Expertise – Don’t just get cloud-based SIEM software, subscribe to a service provider that can manage the system for you. This is especially vital if you don’t have an IT or cybersecurity team just yet.
• Flexibility – You should get a service that allows you to pay only for the resources you use, so you can adjust your plan according to your business needs and budget.
• Intelligence Sources – The solution you use should also get its threat intelligence from a wide variety of reliable internal and external sources. This gives you peace of mind knowing you’re protected from the latest and worst threats.

Cyber attacks, no matter the scale, can severely impact your operations and reputation. Use a cloud-based SIEM solution to track every event that goes on in your network. With a reliable service provider and intelligent software, you’ll be able to find and destroy threats before they do serious damage to your network.

Expert Cloud-based SIEM Services

For an effective cloud-based SIEM solution at an affordable price, partner with Prowl Security. We provide flexible SIEM that uses artificial intelligence to accurately track down threats to your network. Our solution provides customized alerting and 24/7 monitoring as well. Email us today to get a free assessment of your cybersecurity needs.