Big Data and IT Security – SIEM as an Analysis Tool

Over the last few years, gleaning useful information from massive amounts of data has also become more difficult for IT security and approaches to Big Data and information analysis are a critical topic in this sector. The number of users, end devices, applications and log files are constantly on the rise. At the same time, attackers are becoming more sophisticated and professional while constantly adapting their strategies. Companies are now facing a completely new level of risks and challenges to their IT security operations.

Frequently companies have more than enough data on security events, including successful penetrations and potential vulnerabilities. Enormous volumes of data are generated by network components, storage systems or applications. Security threats buried among this data must be taken seriously, however attacks often remain unnoticed or they are not discovered in time due to a lack of structured data. Analyzing and interpreting this data and deploying a rapid response is almost impossible without specialist software.

Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) systems are designed to improve the analysis and management of attack indicators by establishing connections between events from the collected data and issuing warnings or reports to IT administrators based on a defined policy. This helps companies to meet compliance requirements and simplifies the documentation and archiving of security relevant events. Automated responses can even be generated and set to ensure a rapid defense response.