As Sir Arthur Conan Doyle wrote, “There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact.” While playing with building blocks with my toddler, I realized it is always tricky to find the right piece from the bunch of small pieces. It was the extra pair of eyes — my daughter’s — that helped me find the next relevant piece from the pile. The small pieces were there in front of me, but a little extra help is always appreciated.

Similarly, security analysts could use a helping hand when it comes to running log analysis in a security information and event management (SIEM) solution and addressing registry and file activity monitoring requirements. IBM Security recognized this need and partnered with Snare to help security operations center (SOC) analysts complete their log analyses. Snare launched an app on the IBM Security App Exchange to help resolve the issue.

The Building Blocks of Security

While keeping an eye on the databases and file systems that contain sensitive data, security analysts can take several steps to protect that data. One is to create rules about data access and the actions to be taken when rules are met, widely known as file activity monitoring (FAM). This is a major task for security analysts, so a helping hand goes a long way.

The Snare application addresses registry and FAM requirements directly in the IBM QRadar SIEM platform. It also simplifies the generation and collection of audit logs sent to QRadar in large enterprises and complex multi-tier environments.

The app assists SOC analysts by generating, collecting, filtering and forwarding the relevant event log data from the hosts to the Snare QRadar application. It is a lightweight application that is quick and easy to install, with a user-friendly interface that simplifies the configuration of audit settings to ensure that logs are generated to meet business security and compliance needs. Other benefits of the app include:

• A smart, lightweight enterprise logging agent with no third-party software or hardware requirements;
• Fast installation across the enterprise;
• Easy to configure, both individually or en masse;
• Easy-to-use filtering to remove unwanted events;
• Scalability for small customers with a few agents to very large clients with over 100,000 agents; and
• Simple management with options for local or centralized control within the agent management console, or group policy for Windows-based systems.

An Extra Set of Eyes

Though there are other solutions in the market to cater to this particular need, Snare has been successful — and does it in an extremely robust and efficient manner without burdening the end user. Snare also provides additional out-of-the-box capabilities such as audit service settings, USB auditing, filtering and truncation technologies to reduce noise. Snare does the heavy lifting, front-ending QRadar to address compliance, provide enhanced security insights, and ensure customer success and referenceability.

The Snare app can be downloaded from the IBM Security App Exchange and integrated to IBM QRadar SIEM to meet your file activity monitoring requirements. To learn more, watch our on-demand webinar, “Detect and Respond to Threats Better With IBM Security App Exchange Partners.”

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