Ever since the internet was created, security has become one of the major concerns for individuals and organizations using it. In fact, cybersecurity threats on the internet have continued to evolve and become more complex and sophisticated due to more security tools entering the market. Thus, it is equally important that new cybersecurity technologies are created and the existing ones are refined if individuals and businesses stand any chance of overcoming cybersecurity challenges.
So, over the years, the creation of security information and event management (SIEM) was necessary to fight threats. SIEM changed the dynamics of cybersecurity by allowing people and organizations to monitor and respond to any cybersecurity threat in real-time. However, it didn’t only stop at the creation. It was also necessary to continually refine and improve this cybersecurity technology over the years. In this article, we will explore how SIEM technology works, the history and development of this security tool, and its evolution over the years. Let’s dive in!
Understanding SIEM and How it Works
It is quite essential to understand what is SIEM in cybersecurity before jumping into its history, evolution, and how it could change in the future. A security information and event management (SIEM) is simply a cybersecurity framework, technology, or system that aims to secure the digital infrastructure of individuals and organizations by monitoring, detecting, and providing responses to cyber threats. SIEM does not contain only one or two, as it mainly involves the fusion of many technologies.
Thus, the SIEM system includes security tools, performance monitoring tools, critical servers, network monitoring tools, endpoints, and many other technologies. These tools and technologies allow the SIEM system to collect log and event data, analyze it to detect threats, and then provide an already programmed response or alert the security operations center (SOC) for a response.
To operate, SIEM solutions like Stellar Cyber usually follow fundamental methods, including data collection, correlation, analysis, and response. The system begins by collecting data from systems, applications/software, drivers, devices, and even existing security tools like firewalls. The SIEM system now correlates the collected data to provide more context about the event, and if the said event is found to be suspicious, it is then sent to the security team for a response.
SIEM History, Development, and Current Landscape of SIEM
First Generation/History of SIEM
Security information and event management (SIEM) is a term that was coined in a 2005 IT security report by Gartner. It came from the urge by cybersecurity vendors to combine security information management (SIM) and security event management (SEM) to form a more sophisticated security solution. The primary drive here during the creation of SIEM systems was to point out security issues in real time by gathering and analyzing security alerts from other security tools. The first generation of SIEMs succeeded in doing this, but there were still some deficiencies in the setup.
Some of the technical challenges it faced at that time were that the dashboard was very basic, and the reports it generated and security alerts weren’t sophisticated. Moreover, other important factors, such as ineffective policies, poor scalability, and manual intervention, created shortfalls. Thus, this security solution needed to evolve and upgrade if it was to continue being relevant.
Second Generation/Analytical SIEM
Since one of the major issues with SIEM in the first generation was handling large data, the major change in the second generation of SIEM was becoming more analytical. Apparently, the introduction of low-cost, scalable storage solutions such as Apache Hadoop and Amazon S3 helped SIEM become more analytical. The implication of this was that there was an improvement in event correlation and the interpretation of data collected in the past.
Things even improved in 2015 when machine learning and artificial intelligence were introduced into SIEM solutions. One major effect was that the accuracy of security alerts massively improved. SIEM systems also began to collect and process data from SaaS applications and other cloud infrastructure.
Third Generation of SIEM
2017 can be attributed as the year when the evolution of SIEM solutions to a third generation happened, and this came with massive improvements. One of the major things that happened was the integration of sophisticated detection capabilities into the system, including technologies like User and entity behavior analytics UEBA). By combining event information, machine learning, and statistical analysis, UEBA is able to create a baseline, highlighting the differences between regular and suspicious behavior.
Furthermore, the inclusion of new technologies like security orchestration automation and response (SOAR) improved the capabilities of SIEMs. The integration of this technology helped SIEM to align with other security tools, helping detect more complex threats and suspicious movements. SOAR stands out as one of the concepts that took SIEMs to the next level. It was with this integration that SIEMs could now execute pre-programmed actions in response to specific security incidents.
Next-gen SIEMs
Next-generation SIEM solutions such as Stellar Cyber are the current landscape of these security solutions, and many things make it stand out from other generations of SIEMs. The fundamental difference between the next generation of SIEMs and other previous versions is mainly in efficiency and ingesting terabytes of data across multiple networks and devices.
Not only do next-gen SIEMs have technologies like UEBA and SOAR, but they also have automated tracking of lateral movements. Furthermore, they now assist organizations in abiding by several compliance standards and reporting requirements, such as GDPR, HIPAA, and PCI DSS. Other features that make next-gen SIEMs stand out are automated/advanced alert routing, detection as code, API access, and CI/CD integrations.
Wrapping Up
We discussed how SIEM works, its creation, and the series of developments that made it effective and efficient in handling cybersecurity issues. Security information and event management (SIEM) is a term coined in 2005 and subsequently developed into a cybersecurity solution. Ever since its creation, this technology has undergone a mind-blowing evolution to become better over the years.
For instance, the second generation of SIEM became more analytical due to the introduction of storage systems such as Apache Hadoop and Amazon S3. Moreover, the introduction of UEBA and SOAR in the third generation took SIEM solutions to a whole new level. Things even got better as the next-gen SIEMs have introduced new features, such as helping organizations handle compliance reports.
