Cybersecurity Glossary
SIEM
A system that collects logs from everywhere and raises alerts on suspicious patterns.
What SIEM means
Security information and event management gathers logs from servers, cloud services, firewalls and endpoints into one place, correlates them, and alerts when a combination looks dangerous. It answers questions no single system can, such as whether the same account signed in from two countries within an hour.
Why SIEM matters for small businesses and nonprofits
A full deployment is heavy for a small organisation, but a light version covering identity, email and endpoints is realistic and is often what a cyber insurer or a larger client asks about.
What to do about SIEM
- Start by centralising identity and email logs, where the highest value signals are
- Define a small number of alerts that a real person will act on
- Set a log retention period long enough to investigate a slow intrusion
Not sure where you stand on this?
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