4 Major Benefits of Next Gen SIEM

Security analysts are up against more cyberattacks than ever, increased attack surfaces, and more protective tools on the cloud and premises than ever before.

All of that is accompanied by cybersecurity experts that are leaving the field. Stress, poor company culture, and long hours have prompted top talent to seek alternative employment.

Bombarded with alerts and understaffed, those who stay need all the help they can get.

This also means that they require tools that aid them in decreasing manual labor and, essentially, working smarter instead of harder.

For example, next-generation security information and event management (AKA next-gen SIEM) is a tool that addresses the key issues security experts have been dealing with for years.

What is this solution all about, and what are the major advantages of next gen SIEM over traditional SIEM technology?

We uncover the details below.

What Is Next Gen SIEM, Exactly?

Next gen SIEM is a cloud-native cybersecurity tool that utilizes artificial intelligence and machine learning to discover malicious activity in real time.

SIEM, the predecessor of the next gen SIEM solution, has been notorious for its high number of alerts, a large quantity of data that is not properly categorized, and poor quality of information concerning threats within systems.

The new and improved version of the tool (next gen SIEM) is more precise, less overwhelming for security teams, and makes data more manageable.

The main advantages of the next gen SIEM include:

• The early discovery of threats
• Unified data management
• Reduced alert fatigue
• Simpler scaling of security

Let’s break down these benefits even further.

#1 Early Discovery of Threats

Since it relies on artificial intelligence, next gen SIEM is an automated tool that can detect critical issues within the infrastructure early.

The data that is gathered from the versatile security solutions is both streamlined and actionable, helping teams to react promptly — close security gaps or mitigate threats as they appear within the system.

This includes zero-day attacks as well. Dubbed zero-day, such threats refer to weaknesses that have been exploited before IT teams had a chance to patch them up — the teams have zero days to fix them.

Considering that next gen SIEM utilizes machine learning and continually learns about the regular behavior within the system, it’s quick to detect anomalies that point to high-risk threats.

Identifying security issues on time is essential because prompt reaction time cuts costs that a company would have to allocate in order to repair the aftermath of a cyberattack.

#2 Unified Data Management

One of the major pain points of traditional SIEM has been managing the large quantity of data as well as discerning the important information.

Within the next gen tool, the information is automatically categorized and contextualized — regardless of its quantity.

The best next gen SIEM tool unifies the information in a single platform — this includes third-party data as well as that unique to one’s architecture.

For the teams that manage security, having all the essential data within a single dashboard means they can find the information they need quickly as well as identify the issue in time.

#3 Reduced Alert Fatigue

Traditional SIEM is an alert-happy tool that generates an overwhelming number of notifications from separate tools. Even more, those alerts come from multiple dashboards that have to change all the time. Shifting from one to another causes alert fatigue (PDF).

Alarms would be raised on any change within the network, and IT teams would have to discern whether the alert is something to worry about, wasting time as they discover to which extent the system has been affected as well as where the threat is exactly.

Many of these alerts are false positives — not high-risk issues that are likely to turn into cyber incidents.

As a result, security experts are likely to disregard even those alerts that flag real concerns.

Next gen SIEM is designed to facilitate understaffed and overworked teams that are tired of playing catch-up.

Nuanced data analytics and automation link alert with exact incidents that are taking place in real-time.

In short — fewer alerts coming from one dashboard make for happier security teams and leave them with more time to focus on more challenging issues.

#4 Simpler Scaling of Security

Security has to keep up with the changes within the company’s systems. As more and more organizations rely on the cloud, they require solutions that can be easily deployed.

This involves relying on security tools that can adapt to both growing and complex infrastructures.

Namely, most architectures nowadays are a combination of several cloud deployments (multi-cloud) and structures on the premises.

All the devices and software that are being added (whether it’s a new remote worker’s device or more cloud storage) have to be protected with versatile security points and continually managed afterward.

More complex structures and a larger number of tools generate even more data about security that has to be categorized on the go.

Next gen SIEM is a cloud-powered tool that can be adjusted based on the needs of growing companies.

The scalability of big data is an important feature of the tool as well because it is designed to add more volume within the cloud-based solution.

Final Word

In a nutshell, next gen SIEM delivers on the empty promises of its forerunner (SIEM).

Traditional SIEM is slowly fading into the past as next gen technology takes its place by fixing the headache-inducing shortcomings such as poor data quality, an overwhelming number of alerts, and failure to detect zero-day attacks.

For businesses, this means better security for a lower price tag and having security teams that are less overworked and overwhelmed with the incoming data that is being generated from multiple siloed tools.

What’s more, next gen SIEM also created the security that can keep up with the rapidly advancing technology, large quantities of information, and complex infrastructures of modern businesses.

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