Security information and event management or SIEM has become a crucial part of modern cybersecurity. A 2022 SIEM report shows that 80 percent of cybersecurity professionals regard SIEM as extremely important to security posture. This number marks a six-point increase from the previous year’s findings.
After nearly two decades of existence, the security solution introduced in 2005 has advanced to a new level with the rise of next gen SIEM. This new iteration adds significant enhancements, particularly the integration of threat detection, identification, and prediction capabilities. Depending on the provider, next gen security information and event management offers a range of powerful features that palpably bolster security postures.
However, next gen SIEM is not the apex of cybersecurity. There are other solutions that address the areas where it is deemed insufficient. These do not necessarily replace SIEM, but they certainly plug the holes that are not covered by conventional and next-generation SIEM.
Next gen SIEM: a quick look
What exactly is next gen SIEM? There is no established definition for this term, but the consensus in the security industry is that it is the advanced version of SIEM designed to address new cybersecurity challenges. This means that next gen SIEM is expected to be cloud-based or compatible with the cloud infrastructure. The growing reliance of organizations on cloud solutions makes it crucial for security operations to work with cloud services and be overseen and managed from anywhere and anytime. It also has to scale with the cloud and big data infrastructure.
Another attribute of next gen SIEM is its ability to effectively wade through data noise brought about by the overwhelming amount of security alerts, notifications, and other information generated by various security controls. This is possible because of contextualization processes, security event correlation, and artificial intelligence. Instead of having security analysts go through all security data, the system employs machine learning to automatically sort and prioritize alerts. Most of the alerts are automatically dealt with by AI, while those that are deemed to require human evaluation are sorted according to their urgency.
Additionally, new gen SIEM introduces more useful features to make SOCs more efficient. These include an integrated threat intelligence model, threat detection, cyber threat hunting, anomaly detection, as well as incident response under a unified customizable dashboard. Next gen SIEM may also be designed to be a modular data analytics platform capable of handling multiple logic streams and built for CI//CD integration.
As mentioned, different security providers have different ways of updating SIEM into a next-generation iteration. Some provide a better range of features and integration support than others. There are also those that do not offer significant changes. As such, finding the best next gen SIEM platform can be quite tricky.
What could be better than next gen SIEM? Open XDR
There is a way to get most if not all the benefits of next-generation SIEM and take advantage of other functions that greatly enhance cybersecurity. Next gen SIEM is essential, but it does not have to be everything an organization uses for its cybersecurity posture. It can be part of a bigger cybersecurity platform that provides a more thorough way of addressing threats.
There are cybersecurity solutions that feature next-generation SIEM, network detection and response, universal endpoint detection and response, and next-gen security operations centers under a single, unified dashboard. They also support integrations for a wide range of security tools.
However, if next gen SIEM were to be compared to a similar cybersecurity solution, it would be Open XDR. Just like next gen SIEM, Open XDR is an improved version of a previously established and dependable cybersecurity technology. Extended Detection and Response, as defined by Gartner, is a “unified security incident detection and response platform that automatically collects and correlates data from multiple proprietary security components.” Open XDR, on the other hand, expands the Gartner definition to “all security components” instead of only covering “proprietary security components.”
Open XDR can be likened to next-gen SIEM that integrates a bit of security orchestration, automation, and response (SOAR). This is because it carries some qualities of next-generation SIEM such as machine learning, rapid deployability and scalability, built-in threat detection, security data correlation, and intelligent response.
However, Open XDR is better than next-gen SIEM when it comes to architecture. The differences can be summed up as follows:
- Compulsory normalization and enrichment – Unlike next gen SIEM, the data used in Open XDR is made compatible with data from other sources (normalized) and “enriched” to complete missing details before all the data is stored in a data lake.
- Automatic threat detection and correlation – Open XDR’s AI system automates threat detection and correlation. It does not rely on human-formulated rules just like what happens with conventional and even next-gen SIEM.
- Same platform for detecting and dealing with security incidents – With Open XDR, all security operations are handled under a single platform, which makes it considerably easier to detect and respond to attacks. It does not require a different dashboard to conduct a SOAR process, correlate, and respond.
- Bringing together multiple tools for security operations – Open XDR can bring together various security operations tools including network detection and response, endpoint detection and response, and security orchestration, automation, and response (SOAR).
- Better response fidelity – Open XDR tends to enable responses similar to what a SIEM+SOAR system does but with better precision or accuracy. The use of artificial intelligence for data correlation and security alert prioritization helps enable more efficient responses.
- Expert-driven unification of security tools versus user-driven customization and configuration – Open XDR’s range of security tools is largely predefined by security experts. In contrast, if an organization were to use next gen SIEM, it would have to customize and configure everything on its own. This is disadvantageous for organizations that do not have experienced security teams at their disposal.
A viable next gen SIEM alternative
Next-generation SIEM is an important upgrade for conventional security information and event management. It provides notable improvements, particularly the use of Big Data technologies, user experience improvements that enable effective threat hunting, data modeling plugins, and essential security tools such as UEBA.
However, the outcomes achieved with these upgrades can be matched by Open XDR and the architecture differences give the latter some crucial advantages. Open XDR can be a good replacement for next gen SIEM. However, with the crop of cybersecurity solutions available at present, there is no need to choose between the two. Many security providers already integrate these solutions. It is just a matter of selecting the most reliable provider.
