Security information and event management
Security information and event management (SIEM) combines security data from multiple systems with analysis, detection, and investigation capabilities to help teams identify and examine suspicious activity.
More than collecting logs
A SIEM gives analysts a place to examine activity across systems, such as identity services, endpoints, and cloud applications. Collecting those records is only the starting point. Detection logic can look for suspicious activity, connect related signals, and create alerts that analysts investigate.
Microsoft Sentinel, for example, uses analytics rules to analyze collected data and produce alerts, which can be grouped into incidents. Analysts can also search and hunt through data without waiting for an alert. The exact features and terminology vary between products.
Did the event reach someone who could act?
“The logs are in the SIEM” answers one question. It does not establish that a relevant detection was enabled, that its conditions matched, or that someone investigated the result.
When reviewing a simulation, trace those steps separately. Start with the source event, confirm it reached the platform in a usable form, then examine the detection and the resulting analyst work. SOC scenario visibility walks through this distinction, including the separate route an employee report can take.
SIEM visibility also does not prove containment. An account can appear in an incident while its sessions or permissions still require attention. Identity containment review explains why responders need to confirm the result of their actions in the affected systems.