In our fast-paced digital world, cybersecurity threats are a common risk. Hackers have many nefarious methods for accessing digital assets and corrupting databases, posing a considerable danger to organizations that conduct their business through their internal networks. Fortunately, SIEM solutions — such as the two we’ll look at here — can help organizations gain valuable insights and information to protect them from security risks. These SIEM tools involve security information and event management to detect, process, and respond to threats.
What are IBM QRadar and LogRhythm?
IBM Security QRadar and LogRhythm provide security to organizational networks through their SIEM solutions. Read on, as this resource will compare each of these companies’ SIEM security products, and analyze their features and capabilities, to determine the best option on the market.
IBM QRadar vs. LogRhythm: Which has better visualization and detection?
The IBM Security QRadar SIEM works to detect cyberthreats and suspicious activity across the network enterprise within on-premises, hybrid and cloud environments. Users of the solution benefit from having visibility into siloed environments, as the system collects, parses and normalizes log and flow data, all displayed on a single plane. Hybrid multicloud environments and containerized workloads are analyzed for risks and potential threats through the cloud. The system also scans data from user activity to identify potential insider threats. In addition, the system protects data by using correlated exfiltration events to reveal data exfiltration. And for operational technology (OT) and IoT solutions, its centralized monitoring helps locate signs of danger.
The LogRhythm NextGen SIEM Platform works to identify threats and suspicious activity by providing holistic visibility across an organizational network’s entire data footprint. The product’s advanced models and machine learning reduce false positives and create a more accurate threat detection process. The platform uses search and machine analytics to detect threats by analyzing data across an organization’s entire environment, including its network, endpoints, and users, eliminating blind spots. Cardholder data environments are also monitored to detect behavioral changes and threats to provide security from retail cybercrime data loss.
IBM QRadar vs. LogRhythm: Which has better security analytics?
IBM’s SIEM tool has built-in advanced analytics, including user behavior analytics, artificial intelligence and network flow insights. Data from across the user’s network is centralized and automatically analyzed. All of the activity information from these data sources is correlated to detect potential threats. The product can identify insiders with its user behavior analysis and determine whether credentials are compromised. Data is analyzed faster through these intelligent analytics for accelerated identification of cyberthreats and suspicious activity. This way, security teams can act on threats quickly to minimize the attacker’s impact.
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LogRhythm combines machine and search analytics, providing enhanced security for users. Its risk-based monitoring is performed through machine analytics to automatically discover threats and enable security teams to react quickly. In addition to machine learning, its AI Engine technology uses behavior profiling, statistical analysis and black/whitelisting, and it corroborates detected threats with relevant data. As for search analytics, the tool’s Elasticsearch-based backend enables users to perform both contextual and unstructured searches to find the data they’re looking for fast. LogRhythm‘s intuitive UI displays data to users, who can also utilize its customizable analysis widgets.
IBM QRadar vs. LogRhythm: Which has better notification and alert features?
Once the IBM Security QRadar SIEM solution automatically processes log and flow data, it provides alerts to quickly notify users of threats to facilitate incident analysis and response. When the solution identifies threats within the data, all related security events are combined to generate prioritized alerts. These alerts are called “offenses,” and the solution prioritizes them automatically based on factors like the importance of the affected assets and the severity of the threat. Users will be alerted to only the most significant threats, reducing the number of cybersecurity alerts and preventing alert fatigue.
LogRhythm uses risk-based prioritization powered by its intelligent security analytics. Its LogRhythm DetectX solution analyzes threats based on prebuilt or customizable security analytics, or users can develop their own. Through this, the tool can determine the severity of threats and prioritize them to determine whether to send alerts to users. Security analytics can also help improve detection accuracy and better identify false positives. Users can even integrate threat intelligence feeds with STIX/TAXII-compliant providers or other open source providers, allowing for more precisely prioritized alerting.
IBM QRadar vs. LogRhythm: Which has better responses to cybersecurity threats?
IBM’s SIEM solution has features that assist user analysts with their responses to threats. Once they are alerted, users can view the solution’s alert research and correlated data to help them determine the best routes of action for addressing the security situation. Their industry-standard MITRE ATT&CK mapping allows for improved root-cause analysis, so users can remediate the threat and neutralize the source of the issue. This will help them avoid compromised cybersecurity going forward. Integration with IBM Security QRadar and IBM Security SOAR can automate manual tasks for users and provide them with step-by-step playbooks, which can help them escalate their incident response times. They can also trigger automated enrichments and perform each step of the security investigation through the systems.
LogRhythm collects security and log data and analyzes it across organizational environments, so users can be made aware of threats sooner and respond to them faster. As a result, security concerns can be addressed and remediated before causing severe damage.
The solution provides content to help users better understand the security process through its preconfigured modules, reports, dashboards, saved searches and automation actions. Users of the LogRhythm SIEM can also utilize RespondX, an embedded solution that streamlines security workflows by coordinating and automating response actions. Through this, the software can establish repeatable processes with efficient practices to constantly and quickly automate the mitigation of threats. RespondX provides extra investigative capabilities as well, including search pivoting, drill down and instant context enrichment.
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IBM QRadar vs. LogRhythm: Which SIEM tool is better overall?
So which SIEM tool is right for you? When deciding on a solution, it is helpful to look at some of the unique features of these products and determine whether they can address your security needs.
There are many reasons why one tool may be better for your needs than the other. For example, let’s say your security concerns involve the safety of your users’ accounts from insider threats. If so, you might benefit more from IBM’s tool, as IBM’s user activity monitoring, user behavior analysis and correlated events could provide the security you need from insider threats like compromised credentials or data exfiltration.
However, suppose you require security for a business susceptible to threats involving payment systems. In that case, you might feel more comfortable with a SIEM tool like LogRhythm, with its retail cybercrime security features.
These are just a couple of examples. By considering the features and capabilities of each of these products and the needs of your organization, you can make an informed decision about which solution would be best for you.
For more comparisons of SIEM tools, check out these TechRepublic articles: QRadar vs. Splunk: SIEM tool comparison, LogRhythm vs. Splunk: SIEM tool comparison and Exabeam vs. Splunk: SIEM tool comparison.
Leading SIEM Solutions
1 ManageEngine Log360
Log360 is a SIEM solution that helps combat threats on premises, in the cloud, or in a hybrid environment. It also helps organizations adhere to several compliance mandates. You can customize the solution to cater to your unique use cases.
It offers real-time log collection, analysis, correlation, alerting and archiving abilities. You can monitor activities that occur in your Active Directory, network devices, employee workstations, file servers, Microsoft 365 and more. Try free for 30 days!
2 Graylog
Graylog is a log management and SIEM that is easier, faster, more affordable than most solutions. It is a scalable, flexible cybersecurity platform that combines SIEM, security analytics, industry-leading anomaly detection capabilities with machine learning that adapts to your environment and grows with your business. Built by practitioners for practitioners, Graylog Security flips the traditional SIEM application on its head by stripping out the complexity, alert noise, and high costs.