5 SOC and SIEM Tools that go hand-in-hand

In 2019, 93% of all malicious Windows executables were found polymorphic, following the previous year’s trend; Polymorphism is a tactic designed to avoid traditional antimalware detection. To this end, businesses are under constant threat of being exploited by ransomware, phishing, denial-of-service, and other forms of attacks. Since the COVID-19 outbreak, professionals have started working remotely. Thus, it created a need for Security Operations Center analysts more than ever before. In order to fight these possible cyberattacks, organizations require a robust defensive layer. Owing to this, they are looking for the right solutions and expertise to detect and respond to potential cyber threats actively, which is why enterprises need cutting-edge security strategies as offered by the Security Operations Center (SOC) as well as SIEM tools.  

Firstly, let’s begin by understanding how SOC and SIEM can be put together to gain the maximum benefits.

Explaining SOC and SIEM  

SIEM tools offer a centralized approach for identifying, monitoring, analyzing, and recording security incidents in a real-time environment. At the same time, SOC is a dedicated team of security professionals who continuously monitors an IT infrastructure and raises an alert whenever spots any suspicious activity or threat.  

Furthermore, SOC also uses various foundational technologies, with one of them being the Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) system. The tools under the SIEM system aggregates system logs and events across the entire organization. Most importantly, this system relies on correlational and statistical models, which then look for a security incident, alerting the SOC team.

5 Tools that every SOC Analyst should know about  

No SOC is complete without a set of tools. This is why, we have created a list of the best SIEM tools available in the market. Take a look –  

1. IBMQRadar  

QRadar is suitable for medium and large-scale businesses as it offers comprehensive insights by gathering log data from network devices, applications, operating systems, and vulnerabilities and quickly detects threats. Thus, it reduces the alert volume rapidly.  

It supports the Linux OS platform. 

2. Splunk 

Splunk SIEM serves all sizes of businesses – small, medium, and large and can be deployed on-premises and Software-as-a-Service (SaaS). Therefore, this premium, analytics-driven tool provides insight into machine data generated from the network, endpoint, malware, vulnerabilities, and other security technologies. 

It supports the Windows, Linux, Mac, and Solaris OS platforms. 

3. Elastic

Elastic SIEM is a free tool, which enables security teams to triage security incidents and conduct an initial investigation. Besides these two primary tasks, Elastic helps monitor cyber threats, gather evidence, forward possible incidents to ticketing and SOAR (Security Orchestration, Automation, and Response) platforms.  

It supports the Linux OS platform. 

4. McAfee 

In short, the tool is best for small, medium, as well as large enterprises and can be deployed as on-premises, cloud, and hybrid solutions. It also provides security insights by combining events, threats, and risk data. Therefore, with the help of the information, professionals can efficiently perform rapid incident response, log management, and compliance reporting.  

It supports the Windows and Mac OS platforms. 

5. LogRhythm

LogRhythm SIEM offers overall threat detection and response. This powerful suite of security tools is apt for medium-sized organizations. It also helps conduct endpoint monitoring, forensics, as well as security analytics. Moreover, the tool is designed to process unstructured data. This is done while supporting a wide range of devices and log types. 

It supports the Windows and Linux OS platforms. 

To put it differently, check this brilliant coverage on “Exploiting and Augmenting Threat Intel in SOC Operations” by Vijay Verma, a dynamic security professional. Simultaneously, with more than 24 years of cross-functional experience in the Indian Army and Corporate Sector in Information Security and Telecom domains : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pgeTNCh8S4g. 

Source: eccouncil.org