What does real-time monitoring in Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) involve?

Real-time monitoring in Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) is primarily about continuously tracking events and activities as they happen within an organization's infrastructure. This constant vigilance enables cybersecurity teams to detect, respond, and mitigate potential threats quickly, thereby improving the organization's overall security posture.

Real-time monitoring involves collecting and analyzing events and logs from various sources, including servers, network devices, and applications. By doing so, security professionals can identify unusual patterns or behaviors that might indicate a security breach or other malicious activities. The ability to respond to incidents as they occur is critical in mitigating damage and ensuring swift recovery from potential threats.

In contrast, reviewing historical data periodically relates to analyzing past events for trends and insights, which, while important, is not part of the continuous surveillance that defines real-time monitoring. Backing up data on a schedule focuses on data preservation rather than security monitoring. Similarly, creating comprehensive security policies is an essential part of a cybersecurity framework, but it does not encompass the active surveillance aspect that characterizes real-time event tracking in SIEM systems.