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On paper, SIEM (Security Information and Event Management) seems perfect.
The management tool analyzes all the data coming from security tools, generates a report for cyber analysts, and responds to threats in real time.
In reality, there is a consensus that SIEM is a solution that typically creates more problems than it solves.
Old SIEM overwhelms teams with never-ending alerts, that are difficult to pinpoint with exact issues, let alone indicate which notifications show critical threats or provide possible solutions on how to deal with the malicious activity.
Don’t even get us started on the generated reports that are difficult to understand and need to be specially adapted for stakeholders.
With more cybercriminal activity than ever, complex multi-cloud infrastructures, telecommuting, and hacking growing in sophistication, that kind of threat intelligence data management is not enough.
Is it time to leave the old SIEM behind and find an effective SIEM alternative?
What are your options?
Replacing your SIEM with Open XDR is a smart one.
What Is Open XDR?
Open eXtended Detection and Response (XDR) is a platform that gathers the capabilities of versatile solutions that were once adrift and incompatible in every cybersecurity toolbox.
All the solutions that allow better detection and responses are combined within its open architecture.
The main purpose of the Open XDR is to identify and detect exploits within the system and link threat intelligence information that is being generated from multiple versatile security solutions.
That is achieved with:
- Better data management — a large quantity of information is correlated, fused and all the new data coming from the versatile security solution and the entire attack surface is taken into consideration
- Automatic response — risks are removed as soon as they’re detected or once the security analysts click the problem away
Although it has some striking similarities with the old SIEM tool, the Open XDR platform is different. It detects threats in a more nuanced way and has the ability to continually adapt based on the new revelations in the MITRE ATT&CK framework.
Benefits of the SIEM Alternative
Advantages of adopting Open XDR to replace SIEM include:
- Better overview of the entire attack surface
- Less overwhelmed teams
- Lower costs for data
Let’s explore these key differences in more detail.
Increasing Visibility of the Attack Surface
With larger attack surfaces than ever before (including the endpoints, applications, and software being added), businesses have a hard time covering and managing the security they have.
Cloud-powered and flexible, the platform can cover any new telecommuter device that is being used to connect to the network as well as any new program that is introduced to the network.
The simple truth is, new attacks are emerging every day — leaving businesses unprepared when they’re up against zero-day exploits. Since the Open XDR is linked to the MITRE resource, it is updated to check for the newest threats.
What’s more, it uses machine learning to compare the before and after of the attack surface in the context of the regular activity within the company. This allows it to automatically mitigate known risks, but also discover the signs of suspicious activity.
Leaving Important Tasks to Teams
The AI-powered platform works 24/7, collecting and analyzing the threat intelligence data and matching them with possible incidents to mitigate hacking activity automatically or alert teams of high-risk issues.
Security teams can rely on the data that is provided by XDR because the information is correlated and offers actionable advice on how to mitigate the threat that is looming over an organization.
As a result, teams have more time to dedicate to more complex tasks such as threat-hunting, further automation, and investigating more advanced and sophisticated threats within the network.
In addition to that, they’re not exhausted from alert fatigue caused by a large number of notifications from multiple dashboards or assuming that the alerts coming through are a false alarm — as was the case with SIEM.
This makes a major difference in cybersecurity nowadays because there is a shortage of cybersecurity professionals. Many are leaving the field due to chronic stress, burnout, and low compensation. Or off to find better job opportunities.
Assembling a great team of cyber analysts nowadays is a grueling task. Once businesses do that, they want to keep the best talent and not overwhelm them with unnecessary tasks.
Cutting the Costs of Security
This service is cloud-based.
The cloud increases the flexibility of the deployment and allows companies to cover the ever-growing attack surface. That is, companies can scale easier and at a lesser cost when they want to cover additional applications and remote devices as they grow.
Also, it requires fewer team members.
Normally, SIEM needs several team members that are dedicated to tweaking it to make sense for the company, adjusting the reports for stakeholders, and spending hours manually adjusting the rules based on which the detection solution is automated.
Sophisticated threat detection and responses uncover hackers early.
Malicious activity is discovered faster, but also teams get relevant data that can already match the nature and location of the issue with the information that the security tools provide.
This feature aids businesses to save money they would otherwise have to invest in repairing their infrastructure after they found out about the threat too late.
For instance, the average cost of a data breach is approximately $4.4 million due to a long time it takes for companies to discover threats within their systems.
Can Open XDR Replace SIEM?
As a SIEM alternative, Open XDR has already been adopted by businesses. It simplifies the management of data and makes threat reaction and discovery faster.
Cloud-based and run by artificial intelligence, Open XDR is a more intelligent version of SIEM that can properly detect and react to threats while also pinpointing critical security concerns within the infrastructure.