Of course, your SIEM implementation strategy needs to be based on your industry, niche, and the unique way you do business. But by following these six steps, you should be in a solid position to implement an effective system. 

1. Pain points, use cases, project scoping, and stakeholder buy-in

We probably don’t need to explain project scope or the importance of stakeholder buy-in, but use cases for SIEM may be less transparent. Make sure you know the pain points, those specific problems you want the system to address, as well as how you want the system to operate on a day-to-day basis. The Huntress team can help you with this. 

2. Data-source prioritization and onboarding

Gone are the days when SIEMs ingested every log and byte of data moving across your systems. It’s more effective and more cost-efficient to make your high-value logs and data streams your first priority. You can always expand later. 

3. Baseline rule set and use case mapping

The out-of-the-box default rulesets in most SIEMs aren't bad, but you'll get much more value for money if you define them with your situation in mind. How do you know what rules you need? Look at the use case you developed in step one. 

4. SIEM integration with existing security tools

SIEM integration is key to peak performance. 

• Connect to endpoints like laptops, terminals, and mobile devices (both on-site and remote). 

• Integrate with network devices like firewalls, switches, routers, and anything else that outputs network logs. 

• Feed in application logs, whether on-prem or cloud-based. 

• Monitor cloud services, looking for data breaches and misconfigured ports or services.

• Link with third-party tools like intrusion detection systems (IDS) and antivirus software

5. SIEM deployment: Pilot, tuning, and full rollout

SIEM deployment should be staged, like this:

• Run a limited scope pilot program, both as proof of concept and to discover the “unknown unknowns” that lurk out there. 

• Fine-tune your rulesets and other aspects of your system. This should be an ongoing practice (see step 6).

• Armed with your pilot and tuning phase experience, roll out the full SIEM system and get it working to protect your company, your data, your clients, and your reputation. 

6. SIEM implementation, ongoing maintenance, and continuous improvement

What’s SIEM and how does it work?

A SIEM is a Security Information and Event Management tool, system, or solution. Depending on its scale, it can scan your systems continually for full system visibility. It can correlate all the logs and security data your systems and devices put out, and it can analyze all that in real-time, looking for weaknesses or penetrations of your security. The more advanced systems can automatically respond to many security threats instantly. 

What’s a SIEM vs a SOC?

A Security Operations Center (SOC) isn't a system, or even a place. It’s a team of analysts and cybersecurity experts who use tools (including SIEMs) to protect your systems, data, clients, and partners. However, you don’t need a SOC to run a SIEM.

What’s an example of an SIEM tool?

Now, we are biased. But the best example we can think of for an SIEM tool is Huntress Managed SIEM. It excels at security analytics, compliance-oriented log curation, network visibility, and automated threat remediation. Better still, it can be run by your own people, managed remotely from our offices, or become part of a full off-site SOC which we can provide.

With Huntress Managed SIEM, deployment feels like enabling a SaaS integration. It has all the benefits of minimal infrastructure, but with superior results, you can only get through expert human attention.

Plus, the minute logs hit the cloud, Huntress analysts start correlation and monitoring. You get protection on day one instead of waiting for an in-house team to learn the tool. Now that’s immediate SOC coverage.

Huntress also gives you guided onboarding with our analysts. We’ll walk you through source prioritization, compliance-retention settings, and alert-routing preferences.