SIEM Solutions for Small Businesses
If you run a small business, it is important to ensure that you boost your network's security. This is mainly because of an increase in not only the frequency of cybersecurity attacks but also the sophistication of these attacks. Since these attacks usually cause loss of data, erosion of customer confidence, and can even lead to costly litigation, going the extra mile as far as your security is concerned is imperative.
One of the easiest ways to enhance your security is to use SIEM. This is because SIEM provides an easy and highly advanced system of detecting, preventing, and neutralizing security threats. With the enhanced security system that SIEM offers, you will be able to shield your business from the devastating effects of data breaches.
However, not every SIEM solution is created equal. Furthermore, even in cases where a SIEM solution comes armed with powerful security tools, deploying it indiscriminately will limit the benefits that you can get from the system. The following are SIEM tips that will come in handy in ensuring that your business gets the most out of your SIEM.
Tips for Optimizing SIEM Solutions in your Business
- Clarify the goal of deployment
- Consider deployment options
- Training and educating your employees
- Invest in a security operations center
Clarify the goal of deployment
A SIEM as a Service can do multiple things at the same time. They can process data, detect threats, deploy preventative measures, track and store data, offer authentication solutions, and much more. However, while most SIEM solutions can handle most of these tasks, they are usually designed to emphasize certain aspects. For example, you will find that certain SIEM solutions are good at threat detection, but they may not be as great at cloud activity monitoring, especially when compared to solutions that are primarily designed to handle this security feature.
Getting clarity on why you want to deploy SIEM will ensure that you get the best solution. It will save on cost, reduce the degree of redundancies and ensure that your security system works as efficiently as it should.
Consider deployment options
Generally, the more options a solution provides, the better. This is because having more options increases the versatility of your security system. It also makes making changes easier since you don't have to overhaul your entire security system in case your business or IT environment changes.
However, since security systems work well when they are deployed in the best possible environment, you should choose a SIEM solution based on both your projected and current IT environments. This is so especially in cases where you have limited resources to work with.
While it may be easy to opt for a Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) that has deployment options that range from the cloud-based, all-in-one appliance, and SIEM-as-a-Service, such a solution may prove to be too resource-intensive for a small business. Choosing a SIEM solution with deployment options that best address your business's needs and resource limitation is the best way to guarantee a breach-proof security system.
Training and educating your employees
Even the best SIEM solution cannot offer foolproof security if employees and other stakeholders do not take active participation in ensuring that your system is safe. If privileged users, employees, and third parties fail to adhere to basic security protocols, they will create loopholes that can be easily taken advantage of by attackers.
Therefore, if you want your system to be safe from hackers, you need to take the time to educate your employees on the best security practices. You should ensure that they learn the different ways they can leave the system vulnerable, the dangers that this comes with, and the immense costs that failure to adhere to these best practices comes with. As for the personnel in charge of your system's security, they should undergo continuous training to ensure that they are up-to-date as far as new security threats and solutions are concerned.
Invest in a security operations center
As time goes by, security threats are becoming more sophisticated. Attacks tend to be multi-pronged. They also undergo a process of continuous improvement that is bound to eventually make even the most advanced SIEM tools vulnerable.
In order to combat all the challenges that exist in the current IT environment, you will need to constantly assess, evaluate and improve on existing practices and tools. This is something that can only be achieved by having a team of dedicated professionals who are skilled, and whose sole role is to ensure that your SIEM solutions are working as efficiently and as effectively as they should.
Therefore, if you want to get the most out of your security system, you will need to invest in creating a proactive security operations center. You need to ensure that the center has qualified experts and that these experts have the tools necessary to ensure that they not only optimize SIEM tools but also gather and process threat intelligence from varied sources. Doing so is the best way to ensure that your company is shielded from the risks that come from even the most sophisticated attacks.
