End the Cybersecurity Nightmare: Detecting & Remediating Security Events in Real Time With SIEMaaS

For credit union executives, cybercrime is the nightmare that many can’t seem to escape. According to the National Cybersecurity Alliance, global ransomware attacks increased by more than 150% for the first six months of 2021 compared to the same period in 2020. And this increase of cyberattacks has caught the attention of credit unions and other financial institutions. In CSI’s annual Banking Priorities survey, respondents from institutions across the country cited cybersecurity as the issue most likely to affect the financial industry in 2022.

Cybercriminals are constantly evolving their strategies and techniques to counter the protections credit unions deploy. For example, many cybercriminals initiate attacks at the beginning of a weekend or holiday to maximize the opportunity before security staff can discover the breach. As cyberattacks continue to increase in frequency and scale, credit unions should leverage a layered security approach to expand protection efforts and ensure that if one piece of technology fails, another layer will discover the breach.

A layered security approach often involves two components: Prevention and detection. Prevention tools consist of commonly known cybersecurity solutions, such as firewalls, spam filters and anti-virus software. These tools are configured to block potentially malicious traffic and code. However, if a breach successfully penetrates the first line of defense, detection tools, such as a Security Incident Event Management (SIEM) solution, become critical.

However, many organizations – including credit unions – face a significant challenge in handling cybersecurity internally. Hiring staff with the right expertise, purchasing software solutions or configuring those solutions to send alerts effectively competes with core business needs for resources. Many credit unions are exploring the growth of cloud-based and outsourced cybersecurity to make better use of limited budget and staff.

Strengthening Threat Detection With SIEM

Most technology devices and software produce event logs, which include a history of all events occurring on that system. These logs record events like successful or failed logins and connections to internet sites to help find potential breaches. Historically, regulators expected credit union staff to review these logs and search for issues. However, technology devices produce hundreds of event logs per second, making it nearly impossible for a human to find the potential breach.

A SIEM solution is a powerful tool to streamline and strengthen the detection process. When configured correctly, a SIEM leverages artificial intelligence to collect and holistically review event logs across a credit union’s technology environment, detecting anomalies and producing alerts. A SIEM can ingest logs from onsite equipment like firewalls and services, software like anti-virus solutions and even cloud-hosted services like Office 365.

While a SIEM is an effective cybersecurity detection tool, it can require countless hours to configure and maintain. Some credit unions that have purchased a SIEM may never have the time or expertise to investigate many of the alerts their solution produces. When alerts go unchecked, institutions risk the chance of a small incident escalating into a major breach. For this reason, many credit unions partner with managed security service providers (MSSPs) to handle the burden of monitoring the alerts through SIEM as a Service (SIEMaaS).

The Benefits of SIEM as a Service

In a SIEMaaS model, a credit union collects all event logs and sends them to an outsourced SIEM over a secure connection. The SIEM then produces alerts that notify a credit union’s internal IT team or an outsourced Security Operations Center (SOC) for investigation and review. An outsourced SIEM is fine-tuned and managed by a vendor’s SOC, which significantly reduces the time burden on internal IT and turns the cost into an ongoing operational expense instead of a large upfront investment.

It is common for SIEMaaS solutions to ingest billions of logs and produce thousands of alerts per month, requiring an entire security team to work around the clock to review, investigate and remediate them. As a result, MSSPs invest resources to perfect their SIEM solutions to ensure they only send valuable alerts, removing the burden from institutions.

Due to their high cost, SIEM solutions were primarily used by larger financial institutions. Many smaller financial institutions found themselves wondering if the benefits of a SIEM outweighed the expense and effort. SIEMaaS removes the barriers to entry and offers affordable options for organizations of all sizes. The holistic nature of SIEM makes it a critical layer of security, as it is one of the only options to merge monitoring of fragmented systems.

Connecting Disparate Systems With SIEMaaS

Organizations that already use one or more advanced threat protection solutions may wonder if SIEMaaS is necessary. As more AI-based protection solutions become the norm, a SIEM aggregates information from disparate sources, such as endpoint detection and response solutions, to provide a holistic look at an IT environment.

Other advanced threat protection solutions including intrusion prevention systems, intrusion detection systems, web filtering and advanced spam filtering also generate logs for the SIEM to analyze, demonstrating how these solutions work together to help a credit union achieve a more advanced security posture. SIEMaaS gives credit unions the ability to have full visibility of their entire IT environment and respond to any detected network threats or vulnerabilities as they occur.

Enhancing Your Cybersecurity Monitoring Strategy

As cybercriminals continue working to infiltrate networks, systems and data, it is more important than ever for credit unions to leverage tools that strengthen their cybersecurity posture and ensure they have a comprehensive view of their IT environment. With the ability to identify and respond to threats, SIEMaaS delivers advanced protection and unmatched insight, enhancing a credit union’s defenses against current and evolving cybersecurity risks.

Sean Martin is Director of Product Strategy for Computer Services, Inc. (CSI) Business Solutions Group for Managed Services, a division of CSI, a Paducah, Ky.-based fintech, regtech and cybersecurity company.