At least 93% of the 160,000 reported cyber incidents in 2017 would have been avoided as long as the affected businesses had been strict on committing to the basic cybersecurity practices, according to Scmagazineuk.com. This means that ignoring practices such as updating your software, training employees and complying with your access control policies could be the detriment of your business. It only takes a single loophole in your security practices for cybercriminals to wreak havoc on your business.
One practice that can help your organization thrive in the ever-evolving security landscape is exploiting stellar SIEM (Security Information and Event Management) policies. If employees follow the set policies to the letter, you can anticipate security threats instead of being surprised by them. However, the success of your SIEM policies will trickle down to how you train your employees.
Here are four critical steps to making your SIEM training effective:
Leverage Training By the Tool Vendors
At their core, SIEM tools are meant to exploit log data such as data recorded through Python syslog documentation in order to come up with relevant security insights. However, how the tools function varies from vendor to vendor, and getting your vendor to train your technical team will be wise. This will ensure that your team is up to date with the latest SIEM practices.
Similarly, ensure that you are on the loop for any update in your tool to install recent patches in the systems. When an update arrives, it is wise to have the vendors train your employees on the new update in case it is a major one.
Uphold Environmental Awareness
Your SIEM technical team should comprehensively understand the threat that their environment faces. This includes knowing the basic attack vectors, what logs to look into, what the metrics mean and how to respond to a threat. During training, have a checklist of such details about each environment that you will need your technical team to safeguard and ensure that each part is dealt with.
In case of an anomaly, you, as the device owner, or your IT and security team needs to be contacted to decide on the most appropriate approach. As a result, include aspects such as incident response in your training to train on the best procedures for the diverse possible security incidents.
Encourage Cross-Domain Skillsets
No member of your technical team should be limited to a single domain skillset. A stellar SIEM technician should be adept with cross-domain practices to ensure that they understand threats from end to end. Although having members who have specialized in specific domains can be valuable for your business, a team with diverse skills will help you avoid over-saturating a single domain.
For instance, if a technician focuses on FTP-based attacks, they should also be aware of non-network-related attacks that can affect the OS, device, and application, according to CSO Online. This will increase your safety standards since once a SIEM technician notices a zero-day threat in other parts that are not in their domain, they will point it out to the relevant technicians.
Encourage the Use of a Black Hat Mindset
Leveraging a passive-defensive approach when dealing with common threats will be counterproductive to your company as it Is possible for you to react to a threat late. The safer path is to be proactive in anticipating threats. In your training, encourage the IT and security teams to use a black hat mindset when dealing with security issues, as stated in an article on Inc.com. By placing themselves in the cyber criminal’s shoes, they can easily identify loopholes and zero-day threats in good time before they turn into a menace.
Conclusion
Optimal security can only be achieved as long as all hands are on deck. Using the right SIEM training technique will help keep your team on their toes when dealing with security and functionality threats. Encourage your team to follow your cyber security policies to the letter to keep your business operations running smoothly.
