Buyer's Handbook: A guide to SIEM platforms, benefits and features Article 1 of 6

Secure your enterprise with SIEM platforms

A security information and event management system primarily centralizes logging capabilities for security events for enterprises and analyzes and reports on the log entries received.

The analysis capabilities of security information and event management system (SIEM) platforms can detect attacks and security threats not discovered through other methods. Upon detecting a security breach, the platform can direct the reconfiguration of other enterprise security controls to plug holes in enterprise security. Some of the top SIEM products -- assuming an attack is still in progress -- can even stop discovered security breaches and generate an incident response

In addition to identifying previously undetected incidents and improving the efficiency of incident handling, the primary reason to implement a SIEM platform is to streamline compliance reporting. The latter is made possible by SIEM systems' robust centralized logging and customizable reporting capabilities. Most SIEM products also have built-in support for the most common compliance efforts, such as those related to HIPAA, the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard and the Sarbanes-Oxley Act.

In this buyer's guide, readers will learn which of the top SIEM platforms are best for their organization, as well as the use cases and ways SIEM systems can boost security management and compliance efforts. It also lays out what enterprises need to know before making an investment in a SIEM platform and presents direct SIEM system comparisons and product overviews of some of the top SIEM tools on the market today.