SIEM vs SOAR: What’s The Difference?

The contemporary danger environment may be described as being both complicated and ever-evolving. To ensure the safety of their computer networks and systems, businesses need comprehensive cybersecurity solutions. Both SIEM and SOAR are examples of technologies that play an important role in improving the effectiveness of security operations.

• By collecting and analyzing data on security from a wide variety of sources, SIEMs provide users vital insights into the nature of cyber threats.
• Through the use of automation and orchestration capabilities powered by machine learning, SOARs are able to efficiently prioritize and react to security issues.

What is SIEM?

Let's begin with the proper definition, "security information and event management" is the shorter form.

A technology that supports threat detection, compliance, and security incident management via the collection and analysis (both near real-time and historical) of security events, in addition to a broad range of other event and contextual data sources. "A technology that supports threat detection, compliance, and security incident management through the collection and analysis of security events.

A formal SIEM system will gather data for the purpose of identifying fraudulent behavior from a wide variety of sources, including servers and apps. These details are used by experts in the security industry to:

• Detect intrusions
• Monitor data loss
• Generate alerts
• Validate applicable compliance

Additionally, SIEM may give threat information by correlating data obtained from a variety of sources and developing dashboards for convenient reference. This form of incident response helps discover new dangers and any infrastructure that could have gone missed till now.

SIEM function and use cases

SIEM gives a complete picture of your current security posture by collecting data from a wide variety of systems, networks, and applications and integrating that information with built-in monitoring and analytic capabilities. You may also receive access to comprehensive reports and visualizations that assist uncover trends in security events to allow quick threat detection and mitigation. These features are available to you.

SIEMs of today are hosted in the cloud and have excellent scalability. SIEM (Security Information and Event administration) is used by businesses of all kinds to ease the administration of network security across expansive and distributed networks.

A detailed record of user actions may be easily maintained with the assistance of SIEM technology. SIEM is able to offer insight into who accessed what resources and when by performing audit reports on user and server access. This helps identify and prevent actions that are not permitted to take place.

By recording, storing, and analyzing log data relating to user actions, this helps companies satisfy compliance obligations. After that, you will be able to utilize this data to investigate incidents and do forensic analysis.

What is SOAR?

Moving on to SOAR is the next step. The system known as Security Orchestration, Automation and Response (SOAR) enhances cybersecurity by protecting networks and devices against cyber threats, assaults, and illegal access. The following is how defines SOAR:

A collection of technologies that, when combined, provide businesses the ability to receive inputs that are then monitored by the security operations team.

In order to prioritize issue alerts and reaction activities, SOAR leverages AI that learns from machine data. AI assists SOAR in its analysis and correlation of enormous volumes of data, which enables SecOps teams to identify the most serious risks first and concentrate their attention on addressing them. This ensures that limited resources are distributed effectively, hence optimizing the amount of time it takes to respond to an event.

Using automation capabilities like as workflows and playbooks, which may perform a sequence of automated activities to address possible risks without the need for human interaction, a SOAR platform can help to automatically discover infected devices, which can be a huge aid in the fight against cybercrime. This not only shortens the amount of time it takes to respond to an incident, but it also lowers the likelihood that a mistake will be made by a human and frees up security specialists to concentrate on more difficult jobs.

SOAR use cases

SOAR is able to assist Security Operations Center (SOC) teams in distinguishing between false positives and true threats via the use of its predictive skills. It does this by doing an analysis of historical data and identifying recurrent patterns of known positive and known negative behaviors. This pattern recognition helps to reduce the number of false alerts that are generated and allows security analysts to concentrate their efforts where they are most needed—on real dangers.

SOAR initiates previously specified reaction steps in order to lessen the severity of the effects of a security breach. The following are some examples of these procedures:

1. Isolating and quarantining affected systems.
2. Identifying the source of the threat.
3. Determining the severity of the threat and initiating a series of automated response actions based on that severity.

This procedure makes rapid containment possible and lessens the amount of potential harm that might be caused by threats inside an organization's network.

The method that SOAR uses to handle cases is another useful aspect of the program. Within the confines of a single inquiry, users are able to do research, evaluate the issue, and carry out future investigations.

Within the confines of the SOAR platform, security analysts are able to get access to pertinent information and conduct further research without having to navigate between a plethora of tools and user interfaces. The features of case management allow members of the team to readily cooperate with one another, to enable the exchange of information, and to make choices more quickly while being better informed.

SOAR vs. SIEM: Key differences

Now that we've covered the fundamentals, we can hone in on the key distinctions between these different technologies. The distinctions between SIEM and SOAR may mostly be broken down into three categories.

Data sources

Data sources utilized by each system varies:

• SIEM primarily relies on log data from various sources.
• SOAR integrates with a wider range of tools and technologies, including SIEM itself. 

Because this connectivity covers a wider scope, it enables SOAR to collect data from a wider variety of security devices, threat intelligence feeds, and incident management systems, which results in a more efficient response to incidents.

Raising alerts vs. automated alert investigations

The primary function of a SIEM is to generate alerts based on previously set rules or correlation methods. After receiving these signals, security experts conduct manual investigations into them. To our relief, SOAR is capable of automating the investigative process by means of the execution of playbooks or response processes whenever an alarm is generated.

The shorter reaction times that result from this automation contribute to improvements in problem triage and remediation. SOAR frees up important time for security analysts by automating the analysis of warnings. This enables the security analysts to concentrate on the following:

• Mission critical tasks
• More complex threats
• Practices that require a human touch, like threat hunting

No need to tune the analysis engine

In order to fine-tune the analytical engine of a SIEM platform, which may include setting up rules, filters, and correlation algorithms, time and skill are required.

SOAR is able to make use of the already present analytical capabilities of integrated technologies, hence eliminating the need for independent tuning. since of this, SOAR is a more effective choice for businesses that want to adopt a comprehensive incident response system since it saves both time and resources.

Unified security: How SOAR & SIEM work together 

If both SOAR and SIEM are implemented, your security operations will be optimized to their full potential. This is because SOAR and SIEM constitute a strong combination that enhances SecOps. When a SIEM platform is integrated with a SOAR platform, businesses are able to take use of the real-time event monitoring and correlation capabilities of the SIEM platform while also automating and organizing their incident response using the SOAR platform.

SOAR notifies reaction actions on SIEM alerts in order to conduct investigations of security issues more quickly. Because of the synergy between SOAR and SIEM, security teams now have the ability to promptly react to developing threats, which improves the overall efficacy of SecOps.

How to choose the right SOAR & SIEM platform

Here’s what you need to consider when choosing a SOAR platform to pair with SIEM:

Cloud to on-premises security orchestration

If your company uses a combination of systems that are hosted in the cloud and those that are located on-premises, you need to determine whether or not the SOAR platform is compatible with the security architecture of your company.

To build a coherent and consistent security orchestration strategy, choose a platform that is able to coordinate security processes across both cloud and on-premises systems.

Real-time data synchronization

Synchronization of data in real time makes it possible to respond to incidents in a timely and effective manner. A reliable SOAR platform will integrate without any problems with the SIEM system you use and will synchronize data in real time. This guarantees that any security events, alerts, or incidents that are discovered by the SIEM are instantly accessible inside the SOAR platform for the purposes of further investigation, analysis, and action.

Centralized detection, analysis and response

For efficient security operations, a detection, analysis, and reaction strategy that is centralized is required. Choose a platform that has a centralized portal or dashboard so that it can monitor and handle security events, alerts, and incidents that are generated by the SIEM as well as other integrated security technologies.

This consolidated perspective improves both visibility and cooperation, which enables the security ecosystem to more effectively coordinate and react to threats.

Low-code security automation

A detection, analysis, and response plan that is centralized is essential in order to ensure that security activities are carried out effectively. Choose a system that comes with a centralized interface or dashboard that can monitor and respond to security alerts, incidents, and events created not just by the SIEM but also by other integrated security technologies. This will allow you to get the most out of your system.

This integrated viewpoint increases both visibility and collaboration, which helps the security ecosystem to better coordinate its response to attacks and respond more effectively overall.

Pre-built integrations

When looking for a SOAR platform, it is helpful to choose one that has pre-built interfaces with a diverse collection of security tools and technologies. Connectors and interfaces with well-known security solutions, such as those listed below, need to be pre-built within the platform:

• Endpoint protection systems
• Threat intelligence feeds
• Ticketing systems

The process of installation and deployment is simplified as a result of these pre-built connectors. It allows for a quicker time to value and decreases the amount of work needed to build links with preexisting security technologies.

Vendor-agnostic SOAR

Choosing a SOAR platform that is vendor-agnostic is the best way to assure compatibility and flexibility since it enables smooth integration with a wide variety of SIEM suppliers as well as other security solutions. A SOAR platform that is vendor-agnostic allows companies to choose the solutions that are the best in their class for the particular security requirements that they have. This helps organizations avoid being locked in to a single vendor and promotes interoperability and portability across the security ecosystem.

Bidirectional integrations

Integrations that go in both directions between the SOAR platform and SIEM are helpful for fostering cooperation and the exchange of information. Consequently, you should go with a platform that has the capability of two-way communication.

A platform like this enables actions to be triggered inside the SOAR platform in response to security events observed in the SIEM platform, and vice versa. The whole incident response process will be improved as a result of this integration's ability to work in both directions, creating a flow of information and actions.

Threat intelligence correlation and aggregation

The capability to aggregate and correlate threat information is also an essential component of a SOAR platform. When it comes to providing enriched and meaningful context for security events and incidents, a SOAR platform that combines and correlates threat information feeds from a variety of sources may be quite helpful.