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Cybersecurity Monitoring

Ensure that cyber threats are swiftly identified and contained with 24/7/365 cybersecurity monitoring services.

What Is Cybersecurity Monitoring?

At the leading edge of modern cybersecurity monitoring is a sophisticated tool referred to as Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) software. SIEM combines two cybersecurity monitoring tools, security information management (SIM) and security event management (SEM), into one comprehensive solution that both monitors and analyzes network activity. SIEM provides businesses with superior network protection because it uses artificial intelligence (AI) to analyze event log activity across an entire network in real time. When aberrant or suspicious behavior is detected, SIEM tools immediately generate alerts, allowing the business to swiftly implement incident response steps.

Benefits of Cybersecurity Monitoring

Cyber threat actors rarely strike when you’re looking. As expert opportunists, cybercriminals deliberately look for windows of time when your guard is down, and then they strike. This means that you must be constantly vigilant to protect your business from security breaches. NexusTek shoulders this responsibility for you with cybersecurity monitoring services, providing your company with:

  • Experienced SOC engineers that constantly oversee and analyze your security defenses
  • Cyber experts that take on the complex process of tailoring the SIEM solution to your company’s unique infrastructure and business needs
  • Reduced business downtime from cyberattacks
  • Minimize risk and damage from cyber breaches
  • Meet compliance and regulatory requirements

NexusTek Cybersecurity Monitoring Services Include:

Security Alerts & Incident Response

Network Event

Windows Server Log

Application Event

Server Performance

Endpoint Event/Performance

Data Loss

Server Patch Compliance

Identity Access Management: Monitoring/Alerting

Executive Dashboard Security Reporting

IDS/IPS/Web Filter Maintenance

Why NexusTek for Cybersecurity Monitoring?

With cybersecurity monitoring from NexusTek, our expertly staffed Security Operations Center (SOC) manages your security, forming a focused team dedicated to network protection for your business. With a managed SOC always watching over your business, you can feel comfortable knowing that vulnerabilities that cybercriminals might take advantage of will be quickly identified and corrected. The managed SOC also performs:

  • Regular security alert response checks
  • Monitors network events and server logs
  • Maintains security software patches and updates
  • Monitors the overall performance of your system
  • In the event of suspicious behavior up to and including an actual attack, the SOC will find the problem, isolate it, and initiate the appropriate response plan.

FAQs

Even small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) benefit from round-the-clock cybersecurity monitoring with network protection tools including SIEM. Because cybercriminals recognize that smaller businesses are more likely to have less sophisticated cybersecurity regimens, they actually target SMBs increasingly. Hackers are good at identifying opportune times to strike, such as holiday weekends or after hours, knowing that they have plenty of time to get into your network, steal or corrupt your data, and disappear. By the time SMB leaders or owners realize what has happened, often the damage is already done. With 24/7/365 cybersecurity monitoring by a managed SOC, you’ll find out right away—not Monday morning—if there is a threat. This allows for immediate action to stop the threat actors before they can do serious harm.

SIEM and EDR tools share a common purpose of identifying potential cyber threats and generating alerts when a suspicious event occurs. However, the scope of SIEM tools is much broader than that of EDR, which is focused exclusively on endpoints in a network, such as laptops, mobile phones, or tablets. With SIEM, a business’ entire network can be monitored, encompassing all endpoints and everything—hardware and software—in between. Another difference is that EDR has a specific focus of detecting malware, while SIEM has the capacity to identify not just malicious code but also suspicious user behavior. Through event log correlation and AI-supported analysis, SIEM will “notice” user behavior that is suspicious. The solution uses this analysis as a means of flagging user activity that may signal a hacking attempt. Although EDR is an essential cybersecurity monitoring tool, SIEM is a premium feature of a business’ cybersecurity program because of its scope and sophistication.

Yes, most definitely. In fact, the complexity and diffuse structure of today’s cloud-based infrastructure make SIEM an ideal choice for network protection. This is because SIEM solutions do not rely upon the clearly delineated network perimeter that characterized traditional security tools. Instead, SIEM’s cybersecurity monitoring capabilities go wherever your company’s network goes; whether you’re operating with a more traditional, on-premises IT infrastructure or a more modern, cloud-based or hybrid cloud-based infrastructure, SIEM tools provide thorough, end-to-end network protection.

Yes, NexusTek’s managed SOC performs a variety of proactive and responsive activities to keep customers’ networks safe and secure. Our network protection experts leverage SIEM to support constant monitoring of customers’ networks for signs of malicious activity, but they also engage in proactive security tasks such as installing patches and updates, making sure any known vulnerabilities are resolved as soon as possible. Our SOC also performs responsive activities in the event of security threats or incidents, such as issuing alerts to customers, performing threat diagnostic activity, and initiating incident response and remediation plans when warranted.

For anyone other than a trained cybersecurity engineer, yes, SIEM tools are quite challenging to use. This is because SIEM is not a “plug-and-play” type of solution but instead requires extensive setup in order to function properly. Because every company’s IT infrastructure is different, and every company has a unique setup for its most sensitive or critical data, engineers must spend considerable time “teaching” the SIEM solution about any given network’s configuration before beginning to use it. In addition, the engineers must supply the solution with company-specific rules that are used for purposes of event log correlation. Event log correlation is the process through which a SIEM tool identifies suspicious behavior, and so it is essential that user rules are set up accurately in the solution before implementation. Finally, although SIEM tools generate alerts to potentially malicious behavior, it takes expertise to interpret and investigate such alerts, and to decide on an appropriate response thereafter.

While a company may recognize the critical need for cybersecurity, a common challenge for business leaders and/or IT staff is knowing where to begin. Antivirus software and firewalls may be the apparent place to start, but the implementation of a mature and multi-layered plan, involving managed DNS, vulnerability scans, log monitoring, and more, may seem daunting. NexusTek’s cybersecurity consulting experts work with your team to discover the needs and goals of your business, resulting in a security plan optimized for your company and making your cybersecurity journey as smooth as possible.

Another key challenge that NexusTek’s IT security consulting experts often assist with is compliance planning. Indeed, one of the first steps to implementing the ideal cybersecurity plan is ensuring that your business addresses all the necessary requirements of state and federal compliance standards and privacy laws. Failure to meet such standards can lead to noncompliance fees at best and expensive data breaches at worst. NexusTek cybersecurity consultants, knowledgeable in industry standards from HIPAA for healthcare to FINRA for the finance sector, will assess your security practices against the requirements of applicable compliance standards for your business. Based on their findings, our cybersecurity consulting experts will provide recommendations for changes and/or additions to your cybersecurity practices to enhance them for compliance.

Finally, a common cybersecurity challenge may come from an external source: your customers. Security impacts not only your business but your clients as well. New customers or vendors may ask your company to answer a security questionnaire to certify that your business’ cybersecurity solutions and practices match their own security requirements. With NexusTek’s Standard and Advanced plans, our IT security consulting experts are available to assist your team with accurately and thoroughly answering such security questionnaires.

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