Are You Hampering Your Enterprise’s SIEM Deployment Efficiency?

Failing to properly enact an SIEM solution can have catastrophic results. Not only does it leave your enterprise vulnerable to security threats hiding in plain sight in your data logs, but also to failed compliance audits, subsequent hefty fines, and lost customer trust. This isn’t something that can be ignored; virtually every business in every industry has some sort compliance mandate with a logging/reporting component.

SIEM solutions can help your enterprise stay in compliance, detect malicious activity (including zero day attacks), and prevent it from wrecking irreparable damage. However, SIEM solutions have a reputation for being both incredibly difficult to deploy and manage properly. Instead, many enterprises inadequately deploy their solution, rendering their efforts virtually useless.

Cybersecurity professionals contend that the problem stems not from SIEM solutions themselves but from the corporate cultures that don’t provide the support needed to properly deploy them. So, are you hampering your enterprise’s SIEM deployment? Here’s some top tips to make sure.

Make Sure Your SIEM Solution is The Right Fit

Think like Goldilocks, to use a rather cliche analogy. Anything other than the SIEM solution that is just right will simply not do. A solution too small may not be able to log and analyze the copious data your enterprise produce. A solution too large may be excellent in reporting and protection but could be far more expensive and time-consuming than you are willing to invest.   

To find that perfect bowl of security porridge, to coin a phrase, take the time to work with your IT department to evaluate your use cases. From those you can figure out what data to prioritize logging and determine the worst case scenarios for your enterprise to build an appropriate incident response strategies. The right SIEM solution should fit with your findings and capable of growing and adapting to new needs and mandates as they arise.

Measure Twice When Deploying

Security should not resemble a patchwork quilt or an improv show. Your enterprise should have a concrete yet adaptable security strategy that solutions fit into to ensure full coverage— the alternative contains nothing but integration and cost headaches for you and your IT department.

Therefore, you should take this message to heart: SIEM solutions take planning time to deploy correctly. You need to consider preemptively what you aim to achieve with your SIEM solution, what resources and processes you will need for implementation, and how to schedule that deployment. With your cybersecurity team, you should also take stock of your current auditing procedures or compliance reporting practices to guarantee continuity with your future reporting practices and discover gaps early.

Some experts recommend a sort of discovery phase or trial period with your SIEM solution by implementing it on a representative subset of your enterprise’s data. This will allow you to see the solutions weaknesses, including gaps in its execution and logging procedures, so you can fix them before enacting a complete rollout through your enterprise. This strategy will also help your team develop ideal workflows that can encompass your enterprise fully.

Patience Truly is a Virtue for SIEM

One of the greatest challenges in life may be not to let expectations cloud your judgment when determining success, especially early on. SIEM solutions fall victim to this basic human error all the time. Executives and IT departments alike can be blinded by a need for expediency in an increasingly fast-paced corporate environment. With auditors and regulators breathing down your metaphorical neck, that impulse can be even more difficult to stifle.

But keeping a cool head and giving your SIEM solution time to unfurl is crucial to its success. Not allocating the time it needs to deploy fully, or for your cybersecurity team to manage and tweak the solution as needed, is an expedient way to render it a waste. Be prepared to allow your specialists more time to adjust to and make adjustments to the solution, and consider adding more talent to your pool if your teams are stretched thin.

Above all, never think of SIEM as a quick fix. Do your best to implement a solution far in advance of when you think you will truly need it. SIEM is an evolutionary solution: without the environment in which it can grow, adapt, and work at full capacity, an SIEM solution will be dead on arrival. Take a hard look at your deployment strategies, and make sure they aren’t hostile to what is new.