2024 was a thrilling year for Graylog Capture The Flag (CTF) events! Across major cybersecurity conferences, Graylog invited participants to test their skills in a range of challenging scenarios designed to simulate real-world cyber threats. From North America to Europe and beyond, we saw cybersecurity professionals and enthusiasts go head-to-head in Graylog CTFs, flexing their skills, deepening their knowledge, and having fun along the way.

Security Operations Centers (SOCs) are critical to protecting organizations against cyber threats. Tasked with monitoring networks, analyzing data, and responding to incidents, these teams rely heavily on threat intelligence to detect and mitigate risks. However, one of the most significant challenges they face is the issue of false positives — when benign activities are flagged as potential threats.

Logs tell the hidden story of your IT infrastructure – what’s working, what’s breaking, and what could be under attack. You’re left sifting through a chaotic stream of events, risking missed insights crucial for maintaining security and operational stability. And the stakes couldn’t be higher. The average global data breach cost hit $4.45 million, with U.S. companies facing an even steeper $9.48 million per incident.

Being a security analyst today is hard. You’re constantly trying to protect your organization while feeling like attackers are always a step ahead of you. Every year, you seem to add more security technologies to your stack, yet you still find yourself facing tooling gaps. If only you had the ability to clearly compare different products and their capabilities, you think.

As I celebrate my first year as head of product management at Graylog, I’ve had the unique privilege of re-immersing myself in the world of Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) from a new perspective. The past year has underscored one critical lesson: staying competitive in SIEM isn’t about adding features; it’s about finding fresh approaches to meet the real needs of security teams.

Data is everywhere, sprawling across cloud, on-premises, and hybrid environments. As security practitioners, we need fast access to this data to analyze it, draw insights, and uncover potential threats. However, the sheer volume of data and complexity of threats makes it difficult to maintain visibility, detect stealthy attacks, and respond quickly to security incidents.

Everyone remembers that one required writing class they needed to take. If you’re like a lot of other security analysts, you assumed that your job would focus on using technology, not writing research papers. However, in today’s business environment, cyber incidents are critical business events, especially as governments and agencies create more reporting requirements.

Security teams are juggling 25+ different security tools that perform different actions across detection, investigation and response. Look up an IP here, send malware to a sandbox there, block an executable over there. What’s worse is that the vast majority of those actions are being performed manually. This approach is simply too slow against fast-moving attackers and malware, and it certainly isn’t sustainable.

As the official implementation date approaches for the Digital Operational Resilience Act (DORA) – financial institutions and their information and communication technology (ICT) service providers, across the European Union are gearing up for a significant shift in their operational landscape.