Azure Siem for Cloud Security and Compliance

Azure Siem is a game-changer for cloud security and compliance. It's a cloud-native Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) solution that helps you monitor and protect your cloud resources.

With Azure Siem, you can collect and analyze log data from various sources, including Azure services, on-premises systems, and third-party applications. This helps you identify security threats and compliance issues in real-time.

Azure Siem provides a centralized platform for security and compliance teams to monitor and respond to security incidents. It's also integrated with other Azure services, such as Azure Active Directory and Azure Monitor.

Azure SIEM works by collecting data from various sources, including Office 365, Microsoft 365 Defender, and Azure Kubernetes Service, through real-time connectors.

This data is then analyzed using artificial intelligence to detect new threats and reduce the number of false positives.

Sentinel's automation feature helps reduce the average response time to potential threats by automating certain tasks to respond to incidents.

Azure SIEM also integrates with in-house applications or other security products, allowing for the addition of other security information and machine learning models as needed.

Here are some of the key features of Azure SIEM:

So, how does Azure SIEM work? Sentinel's functions include detecting new threats, reducing false positives, and using artificial intelligence to analyze potentially dangerous activities.

Sentinel draws on company data in real-time through connectors to data sources such as Office 365 and Azure Kubernetes Service. It can also collect data from more places using open standard formats like CEF and Syslog.

Automating certain tasks helps reduce the average response time to potential threats. This automation is key to keeping your system secure.

Sentinel integrates with in-house applications or other security products. Additional security information and machine learning models can be added to it if needed.

Here's a summary of how Sentinel collects data:

Cloud Native is a key aspect of Azure SIEM. It's a cloud-based platform that allows for a single solution for alert detection, threat visibility, proactive hunting, and threat response.

Azure SIEM is built on top of Microsoft's public cloud platform, which provides a scalable and secure infrastructure for security information and event management. This means you can access your security data from anywhere, at any time.

With Cloud Native, Azure SIEM collects data from different data sources, performs data correlation, and provides a single dashboard for data visualization. This makes it easier to identify security threats and incidents across the enterprise ecosystem.

Cloud Native also incorporates Azure Logic Apps and Log Analytics, which enhance its capabilities and provide additional features for security analytics and threat intelligence. This integration helps security analysts to analyze their environment more effectively.

Azure Sentinel has built-in machine learning to improve threat detection and analysis by analyzing billions of signals every day.

Azure Sentinel supports many data sources, including native connections to Microsoft solutions like Azure AD, Microsoft 365 Defender, and Azure ATP. These connections inject data into Sentinel for the collect, detect, investigate, and respond process cycles.

Azure Sentinel also supports third-party integrations with common event format, Syslog, or REST-API to connect to data sources. This includes services like Amazon Web Services - CloudTrail, Azure Active Directory - audit logs and sign-in logs, and Azure Firewall.

Some examples of supported connections include:

Artificial Intelligence plays a crucial role in improving threat detection and analysis in Azure SIEM. Microsoft Sentinel's built-in machine learning is trained by analyzing billions of signals every day.

This advanced technology enables the system to identify patterns and anomalies in real-time, making it an essential component of a robust security posture.

Data Visualization is a powerful tool in Azure Sentinel, allowing you to gain insights into your data. With Azure Monitor's Dashboards and Workbooks, you can view investigable information and create custom workbooks across your data.

Azure Sentinel comes with built-in workbook templates to quickly gain insights as soon as you connect a data source. This saves time and effort in getting started with data analysis.

You can use Kusto KQL to perform analysis on data and create Analytics, Workbooks, and perform Hunting in Azure Sentinel. Kusto is the query language used in the Log Analytics workspace and Azure monitor.

By leveraging Azure Monitor's capabilities, you can create visual representations of your data, making it easier to identify trends and patterns. This helps in making informed decisions and taking proactive measures to secure your environment.

To deploy Microsoft Sentinel, you'll need to assign users to different roles based on their needs and permissions. The three main roles are Reader, Responder, and Contributor, each with varying levels of access to incidents and data.

A Reader can view incidents and data but cannot make changes, making them a great option for users who need to stay informed but shouldn't be able to edit anything. A Responder, on the other hand, has more power and can view incidents, perform some actions, and even assign tasks to other users.

Here's a quick rundown of the three roles and their permissions:

Azure Sentinel offers two main pricing options, including a free tier, which is perfect for testing the waters before committing to a paid plan.

The Commitment / Capacity Reservations Pricing model is a fixed fee based on the commitment tier you select, with discounts starting from 50% and going up to 65% monthly.

This model is much cheaper than the Pay as you go option, which will bill you $2 per GB for data ingested into Azure Sentinel for analysis in East US.

You can opt out of the contract after 31 days from the start of the contract, giving you a chance to re-evaluate your needs.

Data ingestion charges for Log Analytics are separate and will be billed through Azure Monitor Log Analytics charges.

A free trial is available for Azure Sentinel, giving you 31 days of free usage before you need to select a pricing option.

Data ingested into Azure Log Analytics workspace will have 90 days of free retention after enabling Azure Sentinel, after which normal Azure Monitor Log Analytics retention charges will apply.

Integrating with Event Hubs is a crucial step in setting up your Azure SIEM deployment. This process allows you to stream Azure cloud security event logs and alerts to Blumira's SIEM and XDR platform.

To integrate with Microsoft Azure Event Hubs, you'll need to configure Azure to obtain credentials, provide your Event Hubs credentials to Blumira, and connect log sources to your event hub.

Here are the steps to follow:

Once you've set up your Azure integration, you can view automatically-enabled detection rules in Settings > Detection Rules. From there, you can toggle rules on or off as needed, and see the analyses summaries, categories, priority, and more.

You can also customize detection filters to reduce unnecessary notifications. For example, you can exclude specific users or IPs from findings based on known safe activity at your organization.

To deploy Azure SIEM, you'll need to consider the roles and permissions of your users. Reader users can view incidents and data but cannot make changes.

There are three main roles to assign: Reader, Responder, and Contributor. Each role has specific permissions that determine what actions users can take.

Reader users can view incidents and data but cannot make changes. Responder users can view incidents and data, and perform some actions on incidents, such as assigning to another user or changing the incident's severity. Contributor users can view incidents and data, perform some actions on incidents, and create or delete analytic rules.

Here's a summary of the roles and their permissions: