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A recent survey has revealed that 74% of cybersecurity experts believe the current threat landscape is at its most severe level in the past five years. This alarming trend is largely attributed to the rise in cyber threats, a growing attack surface, and a scarcity of skilled personnel, all of which put immense strain on security operations centers (SOCs).
In such a challenging environment, the importance of effective tools is paramount, particularly in the domain of security information and event management (SIEM). These tools aggregate insights from diverse logs and security sources, facilitating comprehensive threat detection and response. However, many traditional on-premises SIEM solutions struggle to scale and adapt, resulting in significant coverage gaps, inflated expenses, and operational inefficiencies.
With SOC teams facing an average of 3,832 alerts every day, outdated SIEM technology elevates the risk of critical threats being overlooked. A concerning 71% of SOC professionals express anxiety over potentially missing genuine attacks hidden among the barrage of alerts. The financial implications are profound, as the average data breach is expected to cost organizations approximately $4.88 million in 2024, an increase of 10% compared to the previous year.
In response to these escalating challenges, security leaders are increasingly adopting Microsoft Sentinel, a leading modern SIEM solution designed to tackle the complex threats of today’s digital landscape.
Microsoft Sentinel is revolutionizing the SOC landscape by offering a unified solution that incorporates built-in security orchestration automation and response (SOAR), user entity and behavior analytics (UEBA), threat intelligence, and Generative AI (GenAI). This integrated approach enhances the efficiency of threat detection, investigation, and response processes. Moreover, it enables security analysts to begin their tasks swiftly, utilizing native integrations with extended detection and response (XDR), cloud security, and exposure management through Microsoft’s comprehensive SecOps platform.
The Microsoft Sentinel advantage
Below are key reasons why cybersecurity professionals are turning to Microsoft Sentinel.
Cloud flexibility and cost management. As a pioneering cloud-native SIEM solution, Microsoft Sentinel offers exceptional scalability, flexibility, and efficiency. Organizations experience an average cost reduction of 44% and a 35% decrease in data breach risks compared to traditional SIEM systems, yielding a potential return on investment (ROI) of up to 234%, as reported by The Total Economic Impact Of Microsoft Sentinel. It effectively safeguards the entire digital ecosystem by collecting and analyzing a wide range of security data, from application logs to vulnerability alerts, utilizing more than 350 pre-built connectors. Additionally, its codeless connector platform significantly reduces configuration time by 93%, allowing for easy deployment of custom connectors.
“[Microsoft] provided us with a significant discount in terms of what we were facing as opposed to Splunk.” – Microsoft Sentinel customer, healthcare
Comprehensive coverage. Microsoft Sentinel stands out as the only fully operational SIEM solution integrated within a security operations platform, merging SIEM capabilities with extended detection and response (XDR), exposure management, GenAI, and global threat intelligence. This unification simplifies the analyst workflow by consolidating incidents into a single prioritized list, automating the enrichment of alerts with relevant data, and offering direct response options. This streamlined approach enhances productivity, bolsters protection, and provides deeper insights during investigations, ultimately reducing the time needed for analyst training on various tools and decreasing context-switching. According to Microsoft research, 70% of security practitioners found Microsoft Sentinel to be more user-friendly than competing SIEM solutions.
“It integrates with everything super easily—it’s pretty seamless. Since we have all these different Microsoft tools already, we could probably integrate with any of them in under a week, depending on the tool.” – Microsoft Sentinel customer, manufacturing
AI-powered security. Microsoft is leading the charge in integrating Generative AI within its security framework. The Security Copilot, Microsoft’s AI assistant tailored for security professionals, is embedded directly into analysts’ workflows, expediting response times by 22% and cutting labor needs during complex investigations by 85%, as per Microsoft reports. Moreover, the implementation of GenAI is linked to a 30% decrease in the average time to resolve security incidents. Microsoft Sentinel’s built-in SOAR features assist in automating routine tasks, including incident prioritization, which is further enhanced by machine learning algorithms.
“Microsoft Sentinel has exceeded my expectations with AI. Utilizing AI to stay on top of competitors and improve detection with SIEM shows they care about staying on top of new trends and features, and making sure customers get the best bang for their buck.” – Microsoft Sentinel customer, manufacturing
The bottom line
As security teams grapple with increasing workloads, the need for an adaptable SIEM that can effectively safeguard organizations has never been more critical. With Microsoft Sentinel, users are equipped to protect their enterprises against both present and future threats through unmatched visibility, cloud-based flexibility, and extensive coverage.
Click here for additional details or explore Microsoft’s security blog, “Why security leaders trust Microsoft Sentinel to modernize their SOC.”
[1] https://www.isc2.org/Insights/2024/09/Employers-Must-Act-Cybersecurity-Workforce-Growth-Stalls-as-Skills-Gaps-Widen
[2] https://www.vectra.ai/resources/2024-state-of-threat-detection
[3] https://www.vectra.ai/resources/2024-state-of-threat-detection
[4] https://www.ibm.com/reports/data-breach
Source
www.csoonline.com