Log management, SIEM, intrusion detection, and a lot of other approaches are integral to your cyber security strategy. All those techniques plus more ensure that you stay afloat and maintain an efficient, steady, and robust cyber presence. One that's willing to take slings and arrows of hackers and digital crooks, of which today there are many. The problem arises in a corporation’s need to have all these techniques in place, each one outsourced to a different vendor or software company. It gets complicated and means in many cases businesses have to juggle a smorgasbord of third-party services. Thankfully, Alienvault is here to save the day by simplifying all of those processes, giving you an umbrella platform that has them all. In this article, we’re going to talk about what is Alienvault, how to manage Alienvault, and what other alternatives there are to it.
Alienvault is a great platform, powered by AT&T, that provides Unified Security Management (USM). Why exactly does that mean? Well, it means that it combines services and protocols. For example, asset discovery, SIEM, log management, intrusion detection, and incident reports under one roof. Under one platform. Right now, Alienvault is one of the only platforms of its kind. The only one with smart, automatic data collection and analysis, that has regular updates. Thereby, staying on top of emerging threats - with a great suite of incident responses.
It has won numerous trophies, amongst them the Advanced Persistent Threat (APT) Solution of The Year award. As of July, the platform had over 65,000 participants who contribute with more than 14 million data points daily. What exactly does that mean? Well, that means that participants are constantly updating the threats the platform might meet. Then these updates communicate - instantly - to other participants and their software.
In February 2019, Alienvault was renamed AT&T Cybersecurity, nevertheless, the brand persists and most people call it by its original plum de Guerre.
Let’s look at some of the biggest questions concerning this million-dollar platform.
Alienvault is used to protect your system, under one platform, from various cyberattacks and cyber threats. The platform includes most, if not all, of the services you might need in order to have a healthy cybersecurity presence.
Alienvault is an award-winning open-source program. What does that mean? It means that it is in fact free. Alienvault offers free IT security tools and dashboards which help you investigate threats in your digital environment. Part of what makes it such a strong system is the fact that due to its open-source nature it has a huge number of participants. With each and every one feeding the system with up-to-date intel and new threat identifications.
Yes, in the network security industry Alienvault competes against some heavy hitters. They are all great and oddly enough, despite being rivals, they reach across the aisle and pass on critical data concerning emerging threats. As of 2020, some of Alienvault’s biggest rivals are ArcSight by Microfocus and QRadar by IBM.
Yes and no. The reality is that downloading the open-source software is rather easy. The hard part comes in configuring it, tweaking its sensors, and managing it. At its core, Alienvault only gives you data. Everything else, how you react to said data, how you automate tools, how you update protocols, is down to you. That’s why many companies hire out security teams for managing Alienvault services.
What are the advantages of hiring out a team to manage Alienvault or, as it is currently known, AT&T Cybersecurity?
A managed Alienvault solution is great if you don’t have the inclination or the manpower needed for such an uphill task. The platform and service might be open-source and free. But, you still need a team that understands how to operate it. They must know what exactly they are looking at when staring at reports and dashboards.
It depends. If you already have an in-house cybersecurity team, then it's likely that they are already using Alienvault or one of its competitors. It’s the go-to platform in the network security field. As it's constantly being updated, it’s continually detecting new threats. Thus, it’s simply the cat’s meow when it comes to cybersecurity. You could compare it to having a police scanner constantly feeding you information. However, at the same time your system is adapting and incorporating all those threats. If, on the other hand, you don’t have a team, then chances are platforms like Alienvault are too complex, too jargon-heavy, too full of data for you. This is where a team comes in. They know how to manage the system and make it work for you.
