In today's world where cyber crime has become a multimillion-dollar industry, security solutions are no longer simply nice to have, but essential business tools. However, businesses often fail to see the full value that these security tools offer. Security tools generate reams of data in their logs around system configuration, access rights and user activity logs, which are full of information and insights into the business.

Information contained in security logs can help organisations to better secure and manage corporate resources, as well as demonstrate regulatory compliance. But unless an organisation can control, manage and analyse the data in the logs, getting the right information out can be problematic. Data first needs to be aggregated from a range of disparate systems before it can be analysed for insight, and insight is necessary before any action can be taken as a result of security events. Due to the fast-paced nature of today’s business world, this often needs to be done in near real-time.

Security information and event management (SIEM) has emerged as a technology aimed at assisting organisations with this complexity, by collecting data for analysis and enabling event alerts within specified parameters.

However, given the current economic climate, a lack of budget for high-end software and full-time resources for analysis means the majority of organisations simply cannot afford these solutions. As a result, increasing numbers of businesses, particularly in the SME space, are turning to managed SIEM solutions, offered as hosted cloud services.

Events are collected on site and transmitted to the service provider for analysis, reporting and archiving. These events are then analysed by experts on behalf of the user, allowing organisations to more easily and affordably identify and manage security risks.

Unlocking the value of security logs, both for compliance and business purposes, need not be a capital and resource-intensive exercise, thanks to the cloud and managed services revolution.