What’s the difference between SOAR and SIEM?

SIEM (Security Information and Event Management) and SOAR (Security Orchestration, Automation, and Response) are two critical components in modern cybersecurity operations. While they serve different primary functions, they work together to enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of security operations.

How SIEM and SOAR Work Together ?

They complement each other by combining SIEM’s powerful data aggregation and analysis capabilities with SOAR’s automation and response features. Here’s a detailed explanation of how they work together:

SIEM (Security Information and Event Management):

• Data Aggregation: Collects logs and event data from a wide range of sources such as firewalls, intrusion detection systems, servers, and applications.
• Event Correlation: Analyzes the collected data to identify correlations and patterns that could indicate security incidents.
• Alert Generation: Generates alerts for any detected anomalies or potential threats.
• Forensic Analysis: Provides tools for deeper investigation of security incidents.
• Compliance Reporting: Helps in generating reports for regulatory compliance by keeping track of security events and responses.

SOAR (SecurityOrchestration, Automation, and Response):

• Orchestration: Integrates various security tools and systems, enabling them to work together
• efficiently.Automation: Automates repetitive and manual tasks such as log analysis, threat intelligence gathering, and initial incident triage.
• Response: Provides capabilities to automate and manage responses to security incidents, including containment, eradication, and recovery.
• Case Management: Tracks and documents incidents, investigations, and resolutions for better incident management and historical reference.
• Integration of SIEM and SOAR

Even though other tools have come along that provide alternatives to the SIEM-centric SOC, a SIEM is still an ideal alert source, with its ability to aggregate and flag anomalous activity. Those alerts can be then escalated to an integrated SOAR platform, either manually or automatically based on SIEM rules. The SOAR platform can then be used to analyze the alert, determine if it is a genuine incident, and orchestrate the necessary response across other integrated systems. High-quality integrations between SOAR and SIEM are also bidirectional, allowing the SOAR platform to query the SIEM for more information, and update it when the incident is resolved.

Why do I need SOAR if I have a SIEM?

While SIEMs are essential for detecting and analyzing potential security threats, they do not provide the automation, orchestration, and comprehensive response capabilities that a SOAR platform offers. Integrating SOAR with SIEM allows organizations to enhance their security operations by reducing manual workloads, improving response times, ensuring consistent and effective incident handling, and ultimately strengthening their overall security posture.

Why does an organization with a SIEM still need SOAR?

• Alert enrichment with threat intelligence, IOC correlations, and other data
• Incident-specific, automation-powered playbooks
• Orchestrated actions across the security environment, leveraging hundreds of integrations
• Comprehensive dashboards and reporting

Can SOAR work without a SIEM?