Security breaches are a growing threat faced by organizations of all sizes. The emergence of AI systems has further exacerbated this problem, as people can now use deep fakes, AI-generated audio, and images for social engineering attacks. Additionally, cyberattacks based on AI are expected to increase as well. A report by the Security Magazine shows that 93% of leaders anticipate daily AI attacks by 2025.
Given the scale and prevalence of these threats, it can be close to impossible to completely eliminate them. A prudent approach must be to anticipate and eliminate major threats while getting prepared to triage and mitigate their impact. One important strategy in this fight is incident management.
Read on as we explore what incident management is, its impact on security compliance, and some tools you can use to protect your organization.
What is Incident Management?
In simple words, incident management is a structured approach that organizations can take to identify and resolve security threats. More importantly, it is a set of steps that employees must take in the event of an attack to safeguard their resources and mitigate the impact on their organization.
The core idea of incident management is to ensure operational stability and business continuity. This means, regardless of an attack, the operations of a company must go on. To achieve this goal, incident management tools, strategies, and practices are essential. Also, regular training and collaboration are key to helping every employee respond effectively when an attack happens.
Why is it Important for Security Compliance?
Besides operational continuity, incident management is also essential from a compliance standpoint. Most regulatory frameworks, like HIPAA, GDPR, ISO, and PCI DSS, mandate incident response as a key control that every organization must implement to ensure compliance. Failure to meet these requirements can result in financial penalties, legal consequences, and even reputational damage.
Now that you have an idea of what incident management is, let’s look at the core features that define it.
Core Features of Incident Management Tools
Every incident management tool must have certain core features that allow organizations to contain the damage and recover from the attack quickly. Some core features are:
- Threat Detection and Alerts – The tool must detect unusual behavior, suspicious activity, and known attack signatures in real time. It also helps if the risks are prioritized and timely, with few false positives.
- Centralized Logging – Look for a tool that centralizes data from internal and external sources and correlates them to provide accurate insights.
- Automated Workflows and Playbooks – It’s important to select a tool that supports playbooks for steps and automation to implement them.
- Collaboration – Prioritize tools that support collaboration between your teams for a more effective incident response strategy.
- Scalability and Integration – Make sure that your selected tool can grow with your organization’s needs and can integrate well with your existing tech stack.
Next, let’s look at the top incident management tools that have the above features and can safeguard your organization from penalties and operational breaks.
1. Splunk Enterprise Security
Splunk Enterprise Security (ES) is a popular tool that works well across a wide range of security analytics and operations use cases. Built on the scalable Splunk operational intelligence platform, it comes with advanced analytics, a scalable architecture, detailed investigation capabilities, and more to help you respond better to a cyberattack.
Source: Splunk
Key Features
- Advanced Threat Detection – Leverages statistical models and machine learning algorithms to detect threats before they can create a huge impact on your organization.
- Real-time Monitoring – Continuously monitors networks to check if metrics exceed the established thresholds, and sends real-time notifications for quick actions.
- Automated Correlation – Combines logs and events from multiple sources to identify patterns and provide insights on the attack for quick remediation.
- Pre-built Dashboards – Offers templates and reporting tools that meet the compliance requirements of standards like HIPAA and SOX.
- Integration – Integrates well with other tools and third-party intelligence feeds.
In all, Splunk offers detailed analytics at scale to help organizations quickly detect, investigate, and respond to attacks.
Pros:
- Elaborate log management.
- Ideal for large enterprises.
- Customizable dashboards
- AI-powered capabilities.
Cons:
- Steep learning curve.
Price
You can choose to pay by workload or by ingestion. Similarly, you can opt between a cloud or on-premise deployment, and standard or premium support. Based on these choices, the pricing will vary.
2. IBM QRadar
IBM QRadar is a security intelligence platform that combines threat detection with enterprise-grade SIEM to help organizations detect anomalies and respond to them quickly. It collects data from different sources, and analyzes and correlates them to provide real-time visibility into your infrastructure and its potential vulnerabilities.
Source: IBM
Key Features
- User Behavior Analytics (UBA) – Uses baseline behaviors to identify unusual activities.
- Sigma Rules – Taps into open-source Sigma rules to get crowdsourced information about security attacks.
- Network Threat Analytics – Analyzes network activity in real-time to provide actionable insights and responses.
- Automatic Correlation – Groups events and vulnerabilities for easier investigation and remediation.
- Compliance Templates – Provides templates to help comply with frameworks and standards.
In all, IBM QRadar is a good choice for organizations looking to automate incident response based on threat intelligence from multiple sources, including vetted crowdsourced information.
Pros:
- Built-in threat intelligence.
- Excellent scalability, and it works well for multiple use cases.
- Strong compliance reporting.
- Integration with IBM’s other tools and ecosystem.
Cons:
- Too complex for smaller organizations.
Price
You can choose from the enterprise or usage model, as well as the deployment option. Accordingly, the price will change.
3. ServiceNow Security Incident Response (SIR)
ServiceNow SIR is a Security Orchestration and Automation Response (SOAR) solution that helps organizations to quickly respond to evolving threats. As a part of the broader ServiceNow ecosystem, it uses a workflow-based approach to identify and handle security incidents. More importantly, it brings together IT, security, and compliance for better visibility and coordination.
Source: Servicenow
Key Features
- Playbook Library – Allows you to access hundreds of integrations and apps from the ServiceNow store.
- Automated Workflows – Empowers your employees to respond faster and more effectively to security incidents.
- MITRE ATT&CK Framework – This framework integrates seamlessly into playbooks and analytics for detailed insights on evolving security threats.
- Supports Collaboration – Enables the security and IT teams to collaborate for faster response.
- Real-time Dashboards and Reporting – Displays incident breaches, trends, response times, and other related information in intuitive dashboards.
In all, ServiceNow SIR is a workflow-based incident management solution that works best for organizations that already use the ServiceNow ecosystem.
Pros:
- Integrates well with other ServiceNow modules.
- Its workflow-based approach reduces response time.
- Centralized incident tracking.
- Scalable for large enterprises.
Cons:
- Requires the ServiceNow ecosystem for best results.
4. Palo Alto Networks Cortex XSOAR
Cortex XSOAR is a next-gen SOAR platform that orchestrates and centralizes incident response across your teams, tools, networks, and more. Built for the future of autonomous AI agents, this platform automates incident response workflows for better outcomes.
Source: PaloAlto Networks
Key Features
- Automation Content Packs – Accelerates deployment and works well across multiple use cases.
- Quick Remediation – Brings together data, indicators, and threat intel into a central location for quick understanding and remediation efforts.
- Improved Investigations – Enables teams to collaborate in real-time by analyzing tickets and conducting post-incident analysis.
- Report Generation – Creates detailed reports that shed light on the incidents and help with compliance as well.
- Prebuilt Workflows – Comes with 900+ prebuilt integration and automation packs.
Overall, Cortex XSOAR integrates speed, consistency, and compliance into threat response through the use of AI and prebuilt workflows.
Pros:
- Reduces manual work through automation.
- Comes with customizable playbooks.
- Works well across multiple use cases.
- Supports fast response and coordination.
- Well-suited for regulated industries.
Cons:
- Advanced customizations require scripting.
Pricing is not available publicly.
5. Rapid7 InsightIDR
InsightIDR is an advanced incident response platform built for hybrid environments, where scale and speed matter. It combines SIEM, UEBA, and incident response to provide teams with wider visibility and actionable insights for quick remediation to security incidents.
Source: Rapid7
Key Features
- Extended Detection and Response (XDR) – Captures critical data and adds context to alerts for quick threat mitigation.
- Network traffic Analysis (NTA) – Sensors provide critical information and insights to understand attacks.
- UEBA – Correlates user data and behavior to help identify risky behavior early.
- Embedded Threat Intelligence – Combines internal and external threat intelligence for comprehensive insights.
- Automated Response – Supports the use of workflows and suggestions for relevant suggestions.
In all, InsightIDR uses AI-driven behavioral detections based on external and internal threat intelligence and detailed analysis to provide actionable insights for threat mitigation.
Pros:
- Easy to deploy.
- Focuses on alerts.
- Works well for organizations of all sizes.
- Comes with log management.
- Strong compliance reporting.
Cons:
- Fewer customization options.
Price
InsightIDR has three editions – Essential, Advanced, and Ultimate. Contact the sales team for a custom quote.
6. Microsoft Sentinel
Sentinel is a cloud-native tool that combines SIEM and SOAR to help organizations detect, investigate, and respond to threats. It uses AI to provide a comprehensive view of an organization’s security threats for proactive mitigation. It can work well across multiple platforms and environments.
Source: Microsoft
Key Features
- Out-of-the-box Security Content – Offers the required information to investigate and respond to incidents quickly.
- Cloud-native – Built on Azure Cloud, it integrates seamlessly with other Azure services for comprehensive visibility and scalability.
- AI-powered Detection – Uses machine learning and threat intelligence to identify anomalous behavior.
- Data Collection – Gathers data from multiple internal and external sources for comprehensive intelligence.
- Advanced Hunting Threats – Enables teams to proactively search for threats with its advanced hunting capabilities.
Overall, Sentinel is a cloud-based platform that offers real-time detection, automation, and reporting for large enterprises and those operating in regulated industries like finance and healthcare.
Pros:
- Easy to set up for Microsoft users.
- Built-in threat intelligence.
- Uses AI for comprehensive analysis.
- Compliance templates for popular standards.
Cons:
- Best-suited for Azure environments.
Price
Based on a pay-as-you-go model, Sentinel bills you per GB of data ingested for security analysis.
Click here for detailed pricing.
7. ManageEngine Log360
ManageEngine Log360 is a unified SIEM and SOAR solution that helps teams detect and respond to security threats. It comes with extensive capabilities, like data loss prevention, CASB, automated threat detection, and more, to enable you to take quick actions.
Source: ManageEngine
Key Features
- Dark Web Monitoring – Hunts down data leaked on the dark web and provides actionable insights to counter them.
- AI-driven Behavioral Analytics – Pinpoints user-based threats identified using AI-driven behavioral analytics.
- Automated e-discovery – Automatically discovers and classifies sensitive data for added protection.
- Cloud Security Monitoring – Provides insights into security events on multiple cloud environments.
- Risk Posture Management – Provides a comprehensive view of potential security weaknesses in your environment.
In all, ManageEngine Log360 is a reliable tool for teams looking for threat detection, incident response, and compliance support, without worrying about the complexities of large-scale SIEM solutions.
Pros:
- Affordable and scalable.
- Strong compliance and reporting.
- Supports a wide range of log sources.
- Strikes a balance between usability and advanced features.
Cons:
- The UI can feel cluttered.
Final Words
To conclude, incident management tools are an essential part of every organization’s security toolkit because of the growing threats from AI and emerging technologies. These tools also help meet the stringent compliance requirements of many standards and frameworks.
That said, not all tools are built the same. In this article, we looked at seven tools with comprehensive incident management capabilities. We hope this information is a good starting point for you to explore further and invest in a tool that aligns with your security needs and compliance requirements.