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Glossary Term

Security information and event management (SIEM)

Security information and event management (SIEM) platforms consolidate and analyze data from across an organization so that cybersecurity professionals can detect and respond as quickly as possible to cyberattacks and other incidents.

By IT Brew Staff

less than 3 min read

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Definition:

Security information and event management (SIEM) platforms utilize a variety of analytics tools, like machine learning to monitor end-user and device activity, to detect anomalous patterns in data from across an organization. This analysis appears on a single dashboard, which a cybersecurity team can use to identify growing threats and figure out an appropriate response. SIEM can also gather data to ensure that an organization remains in compliance with its industry regulations.

Although SIEM systems can prove complicated to implement, the benefits are clear, including speedy threat identification, effectively monitoring users and devices, AI-powered security automation, and the ability to forensically analyze past attacks. Consolidating the organization’s cybersecurity-related data into a single dashboard will also free up a cybersecurity team’s time and energy.

As with so many cybersecurity initiatives, a successful SIEM implementation hinges on prep work: IT professionals should plot what they hope to accomplish with the SIEM, identify the correct data streams to feed into it, standardize data formats for more streamlined analysis, and make sure everyone on a cybersecurity team understands the proper workflows for cyberattack detection and mitigation.

It’s also crucial to remember that no SIEM is “set and forget”: Cybersecurity teams must regularly meet to review the platform’s performance, and tweak dashboards and procedures as necessary to handle new threats and changes within the broader organization. For example, if a company acquires another one, the acquired company’s digital assets will need to be incorporated into the SIEM dashboard’s reporting.