SOAR vs SIEM: What are the Key Differences?
BY MARYAM AHTASHAM
Understanding the key differences between can be challenging due to their overlapping components. However, as businesses aim to streamline incident response processes and achieve faster security incident resolutions, the unique contrasts between SOAR and SIEM become more evident.
In this post, we will examine two technologies, SIEM and SOAR, to help you grasp the significance of improving your organization's SecOps. Importantly, for many organizations, the choice is not whether to use SIEM or SOAR, but rather how to use both together, as we'll see later.
What is SIEM?
Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) tools act as a central hub for gathering important log and event data from various sources like security systems, networks, servers, applications, and databases. Think of it as a vigilant detective that keeps an eye on your digital landscape.
Your system may notice an unusual surge in login attempts on a specific system. Here's where the SIEM springs into action. It promptly sends an alert to the Security Operations (SecOps) team, signaling them to investigate potential threats like a compromised system or user credentials. SIEMs are like digital watchdogs, sniffing out information from firewalls, intrusion prevention systems, antivirus and antimalware software, DNS servers, data loss prevention tools, and secure web gateways. They're your go-to guardians in the ever-evolving realm of cybersecurity, ensuring you stay a step ahead of potential threats.
SIEM Functions
By amalgamating data from diverse systems, networks, and applications, SIEM presents a holistic perspective of your prevailing security stance. Augmented with inherent monitoring and analytical capabilities, it offers not just a view, but a detailed insight into your security landscape. This includes the provision of comprehensive reports and visualizations that assist in recognizing patterns within security incidents, expediting the identification and mitigation of potential threats. Modern SIEMs have seamlessly transitioned into cloud-based, highly scalable solutions. They have become instrumental for organizations of all sizes, streamlining security management across expansive and distributed networks.
A pivotal facet of SIEM technology lies in its ability to meticulously log user activities. Through the execution of audit reports on user and server access, SIEM furnishes valuable insights into the who, what, and when of resource access. This proves instrumental in detecting and preventing unauthorized activities.
What is SOAR?
While SIEM tools have been around for quite some time, there's a newer player in town called Security Orchestration, Automation, and Response (SOAR). This cutting-edge security technology is designed to help businesses efficiently handle both internal and external threats, streamlining the process of incident response.
SOAR leverages the power of AI to prioritize incident alerts, guiding Security Operations (SecOps) teams to focus on the most critical threats first. One of its key features is the use of "playbooks" – prebuilt and automated sets of actions that kick in when specific conditions are met.
Let's take malware containment as an example. While a regular SIEM might just spot and flag a malware issue, SOAR takes it a step further. It can automatically find and isolate infected devices without needing humans to step in. It's like having a security guard who not only spots trouble but also takes care of it before you even know it's there.
SOAR Functions
SOAR enhances the effectiveness of Security Operations Center (SOC) teams by using its predictive capabilities. It helps in distinguishing between false alarms and actual threats by analyzing historical data and recognizing patterns of known good and bad behaviors. This pattern recognition minimizes false alerts, allowing security analysts to focus on real threats.
SOAR also initiates predefined response procedures to mitigate the impact of a security incident. These procedures may involve isolating affected systems, identifying the threat source, and determining the threat severity to trigger automated response actions accordingly. This quick response helps contain the incident swiftly and minimizes potential damage to the organization's network.
One of SOAR's valuable features is its approach to case management. It allows users to research, assess situations, and conduct additional investigations within a single case. Instead of navigating through multiple tools and interfaces, security analysts can access relevant information and perform further analysis within the SOAR platform. This streamlined case management process facilitates easy collaboration among team members, promotes knowledge sharing, and enables faster, more informed decision-making.
SOAR vs SIEM: Key Differences
With the foundational concepts covered, let's delve into the disparities between SOAR and SIEM.
Concepts | SOAR | SIEM |
Raising Alerts vs. Automated Alert Investigations | Automates the investigation process through the execution of playbooks or response workflows triggered by an alert. This automation reduces response time, facilitating swift incident triage and remediation. By automating alert investigations, SOAR allows security analysts to focus on critical tasks, handle more complex threats, and engage in activities requiring a human touch, such as threat hunting. | Concentrates on generating alerts based on predefined rules or correlation techniques, necessitating manual investigation by security analysts. |
No Need to Tune the Analysis Engine | Capitalizes on existing analysis capabilities within integrated technologies, eliminating the necessity for separate tuning. This efficiency saves time and resources, positioning SOAR as a more streamlined option for organizations seeking a robust incident response solution. | Requires effort and expertise to fine-tune the analysis engine, involving tasks like setting up rules, filters, and correlation algorithms. |
Data Sources | Integrates with a broader spectrum of tools, encompassing SIEM itself. This expansive integration enables SOAR to collect information from various security devices, threat intelligence feeds, and incident management systems, enhancing the efficacy of incident response. | Primarily relies on log data from diverse sources. |
How SOAR & SIEM Work Together?
The combination of SOAR and SIEM forms a robust alliance that enhances the capabilities of SecOps. When both are integrated, organizations can harness the real-time event monitoring and correlation features of SIEM while automating and orchestrating incident response through the capabilities of SOAR.
It’s not SOAR vs SIEM, it’s SOAR and SIEM.
By integrating a SOAR platform with SIEM, organizations enable quick and efficient investigation of security incidents in response to SIEM alerts. This collaborative approach allows for a prompt and automated response to evolving threats, ultimately enhancing the overall effectiveness of SecOps.
Ending Notes
The evaluation of SOAR vs SIEM reveals the indispensable roles each plays in fortifying cybersecurity defenses. SIEM, with its prowess in real-time monitoring and log analysis, lays the foundation for threat detection. On the other hand, SOAR, with its focus on orchestration and automation, elevates incident response to new heights. Rather than framing it as a choice between SOAR vs SIEM, organizations should recognize their symbiotic relationship. Integrating SOAR and SIEM fosters a holistic security approach, enhancing not only the ability to identify and understand threats but also to respond swiftly and effectively. This collaborative deployment stands as a strategic imperative, fortifying organizations against the ever-evolving landscape of cyber threats.
