The Pros and Cons of Implementing SIEM For Small Businesses

Henry Ford once masterfully summarized, “stopping advertising to save money is like stopping your watch to save time.” The man was ahead of his time. The same prefix can be artfully adapted to SIEM solutions and cybersecurity. Not investing in it is simply pointless. Today, the metrics are against you. Ransomware attacks are 57x more destructive than they were in 2021. 66% of all companies have experienced a cyber attack in the past 12 months. Of those, more than half were attacked twice. And the cost of a data breach can extend for months even years — the average punch? $4 million. An attack kneecaps not only your finances but your productivity, your reputation, and your continuity, and then comes back and kicks you while you’re down with a score of legal liabilities. Most businesses, regardless if they are aware of it or not, are pinged by hackers once every 11 seconds — the malcontents sniffing about, trying to find your weak spots. In this article, we’re going to dive into SIEM solutions for small businesses and what security-related tools it brings to the table. 

What is a SIEM solution?

SIEM stands for Security Information and Event Management system. It is the foundation of the current Security Operations Center model. SIEM solutions/tools are used by organizations to identify, monitor, and protect against cyber threats. They gather all the security events from different sources and provide a unified view of the security status of the organization.

A SIEM solution is a critical component of any cybersecurity strategy because it provides an overview of not only your attack surface – over 92% of organizations are in the dark as to what they are collecting and how much digital real-estate their assets actually take – but all the information that needs to be gathered to maintain an organization’s cyber resilience.

SIEM solution for small businesses helps your security team by parsing out data across your whole IT system and gathering intel and then correlating all that info against threat intelligence reports, current cyber risks and trends, as well as rules and platform analytics. 

The pros and cons of implementing a SIEM solution for small businesses and organizations 

The SIEM is a system tool that has been designed to detect and protect against cyber threats and data breaches. It monitors the traffic of an organization’s network, servers, and endpoints.

Let’s dissect the pros and cons of these solutions.

Pro — Basic security monitoring

The SIEM can be used to monitor the traffic of an organization’s network, servers, and endpoints.

Pro — Security incident detection

The SIEM can detect any kind of cyberattack including malware, ransomware, phishing scams, etc.

Pro — Notifications and alerts

The SIEM will provide alerts on incidents that have occurred or are about to occur.

Pro — Forensic and incident cause

SIEM solutions will give your team excellent info and metrics on how they reacted to a breach. It gives them valuable after-action intel which they can leverage to improve their benchmarks. 

Pro — Compliance issues

A well-planned SIEM solution can help with compliance requirements like PCI DSS or GDPR.

Con — Costs

Implementing a solid security infrastructure is expensive for small organizations that are not able to afford it yet.

Managed SIEM VS on-premise SIEM for small businesses 

Small businesses are always looking for ways to cut costs and save time. One of the most common questions they ask is whether to go with a managed SIEM service or to host it themselves.

Many factors need to be considered before deciding on which one is the best option. The following article will explore the pros and cons of each type of service, as well as what small businesses should consider when choosing between them.

An On-Premise SIEM solution gives you the following advantages:

• Your data stays on-site.
• You have complete control over your platform.
• Your team is your team — you maintain control over them.
• It’s expensive, to the point that it comes with an almost prohibitive price tag which you will constantly have to add to. Why? Because you’ll need to update your hardware and software constantly to stay on top of threats.
• One of the biggest issues is your team’s learning curve. On average it may take up to 12 months for a team to become proficient in SIEM tech and tools.
• Integrations are incredibly difficult. Unless you spend “big bucks” on your team and staff you will have delays to integrate and customize your SIEM solution.

Meanwhile, SIEM as a service is a cost-effective solution for small businesses that simply don’t have the budget. You will have limited access to certain features and some of your data will be moved offsite, but the benefits far outweigh the problems.

Why is SIEM for small businesses becoming increasingly important? 

Small businesses have a much better chance of standing out if they invest in SIEM solutions.

Smaller companies prioritize growth and customer acquisition which often means they don’t have the resources to invest in cybersecurity. This makes them more vulnerable to cyber-attacks and data breaches. To stay ahead of the competition, small businesses need to invest in SIEM for small businesses solutions which will help them protect their data and stay afloat in this digital age.