SIEM tool is among some of the most complex security tools to manage and operate. Here in this learn about the key parameters which you can track to make your SIEM tool more effective:

1. Percentage reduction in False Positives/Negatives over a specified period of time:

These metrics track the maturity and effectiveness of SIEM tool rule sets. A SIEM rule-sets which is not properly defined can throw a lot of alerts in a day which overloads the available resources to analyse the alerts. Fine-tuning rule sets can reduce this number drastically and help you focus your resources on more genuine alerts.

2. Number of Redundant/Out-dated SIEM rule sets:

SIEM Rule sets are continuously updated with new rule sets. Over a period of time, some rules become redundant and obsolete. Redundant SIEM rule-sets pose management overhead and also poses difficulty in auditing. This can also be a security risk for the organisation. This metrics is tracked to optimise SIEM rule-set.

3. Ratio of Alerts triggered to Alerts remediated:

A mature SIEM program will generate only high fidelity alerts. If a SIEM tool is generating thousands of alerts every day with lots of false positives then it probably needs to fine-tune. This Metric gives you the idea about your organisation risk-score. Ideally, all the alerts generated by SIEM should be looked into by Analysts in a timely manner. Alerts triggered by SIEM solution if not followed and remediated on time can render SIEM program useless

4. Number of undocumented SIEM rules:

It is of utmost importance that all SIEM rules must be documented properly for audits. Ideally, the number of undocumented SIEM rules should be zero

5. Mean time to respond to security incidents:

The time interval between when an alert is generated and first response to it is initiated. This time should not be too long

6. Number of open incidents related to your critical assets (Devices, systems, applications and users):

SIEM tools can classify Alerts and incidents in respect to their criticality. If an incident is alert is raised and the device, user, endpoint and application in question handles critical business function or data then that should be remediated on a priority basis. This metric talks about the incidents that are critical in nature. Ideally, this metric should be zero as it leaves your organisation vulnerable to severe disruptions or data breach incidents.

Check out the Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) market within Product Comparison Platform to get more information on these markets.