As a kid, treasure hunts were fun. Someone gave you clues and a map so you could hunt down whatever hidden item they left for you. However, as a security analyst, your incident investigations often have clues but lack a map. An alert fires. You search through your vast collection of log data. You hope to find the next clue while trying to figure out the attacker’s next steps.

I’m thrilled to share some incredibly exciting news – Graylog’s v6.0 is officially here! It’s been quite the journey getting to this point, filled with late nights, endless cups of coffee, and an unwavering commitment from our amazing team. As we unveil this latest version, I can’t help but reflect on how far SIEM technology has come over the past two decades. Gone are the days when Intellitactics and NetForensics reigned supreme.

Gartner identified security technology convergence as one of the key trends both in 2022 and 2023 as a necessity to remove complexity in the industry. Especially for Threat Detection and Incident Response (TDIR), simplification continues to resonate with cyber teams overwhelmed by too many tools and the continuous cutting and pasting from one tool to another.

In cybersecurity as in sports, teamwork makes the dream work. In a world where security analysts can feel constantly bombarded by threat actors, banding together to share information and strategies is increasingly important. Over the last few years, security operations center (SOC) analysts started sharing open source Sigma rules to create and share detections that help them level the playing field.

SIEM and log management provide security to your organization; these tools allow your security analysts to track events such as potential and successful breaches of your system and react accordingly. Usually, it doesn’t matter how you ensure your organizational safety as long as you do. However, is your organization in the health, financial, or educational industry?

So, you’ve done your homework. You’ve clearly defined business requirements, and you think you want to implement a Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) solution into your organization. Cloud migration and remote work have changed the way threat actors attack, and it feels like every day you read about a new methodology. While a lot of companies added a SIEM to their cybersecurity technology stack, you’re not sure whether you can afford one.

Managing configurations in a complex environment can be like playing a game of digital Jenga. Turning off one port to protect an application can undermine the service of a connected device. Writing an overly conservative firewall configuration can prevent remote workforce members from accessing an application that’s critical to getting their work done.

NIST is to the US government what The Watcher is to the Marvel universe. In theory, it should simply observe the world around it, but in reality, it responds to evolving threats through interference. Despite the buzz around the update to the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Cybersecurity Framework (CSF), you might find it hard to say that any compliance falls under the category of “hot.”

Your senior leadership started stressing out about data breaches. It’s not that they haven’t worried before, but they’ve also started looking at the rising tide of data breach awareness. Specifically, they’re starting to see more new security and privacy laws passed at the state and federal levels. Now, you’ve been tasked with the very unenviable job of choosing a compliance framework, and you’re looking at the Center for Internet Security (CIS) Controls.