Find out which of these tools, Datadog Cloud SIEM or Elastic SIEM, is better suited for your company by comparing the two.
An Introduction to the Datadog Cloud SIEM
With the introduction of Datadog Cloud SIEM in the year 2020, Datadog made its debut on the market for SIEM software applications. The Datadog Cloud SIEM (Security Information and Event Management) solution is a software-as-a-service (SaaS) application that offers comprehensive protection for dynamic and distributed computer systems. It is a component of the Datadog Cloud Security Platform and was developed with the intention of offering a single, centralized platform for the gathering, monitoring, and administration of security-related events and log data originating from various locations throughout an organization. This makes it feasible for security teams to see and react to patterns of suspect behaviour more effectively than they would be able to if they were only looking at data from individual systems.
You are able to perform real-time analysis of both operational and security logs regardless of the number of these logs when using Datadog Cloud SIEM. Within a single, unified platform, security investigations can be sped up with the use of extensive observability data that can be accessed by development, security, and operations teams.
The following are important features and capabilities:
• The ability to monitor and ensure safety You will be able to view all of your security data in one location, as well as correlate it with runtime events, application and service logs, and other types of logs. Within a single, unified platform, development, security, and operations teams are able to access the same observability data and drive security investigations.
• Dashboards that are pre-built and ready to use You are able to get a bird’s eye perspective of your current security posture by using the dashboard titled “Security Overview.” The IP Investigation and User Investigation dashboards enable users to correlate specific IP addresses and people with security signals, events, and logs, so they can swiftly home in on dangerous activity patterns.
• Threat detection rules that are pre-configured and ready to use Out-of-the-box threat detection rules for widespread attacker tactics and misconfigurations that are mapped to the MITRE ATT&CK architecture are included with Datadog Cloud SIEM. These rules do not require a query language to be run, and they are included as part of the standard offering.
• Pre-installed security integrations backed by the vendor Built-in security connectors with services such as AWS CloudTrail, Okta, and Google Suite, among others, make it possible for users to ingest more security data in a matter of minutes. This results in richer context and helps investigations go more quickly.
On request, we will provide you with a free individualised demonstration as well as a free 14-day trial during which you will have complete access to all of the capabilities. After that, the software is typically offered for sale via recurring monthly payment plans that are based on the number of hosts, events, or logs.
An Introduction to Elastic SIEM
With the release of Elastic SIEM in 2019, Elastic made its official debut in the Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) industry. Elastic SIEM is a security information and event management solution that can be deployed on-premises or in the cloud that helps businesses to identify, investigate, and react to changing threats. It is not a solution that stands on its own but rather expands on the tools that are already there in Elastic Stack that are utilised for security analytics. These capabilities include things like search, visualisations, dashboards, alerting, machine learning features, and more. It offers a centralised single platform that can harness, monitor, and manage security-related data at the speed and scale of the cloud from all throughout the company. Elastic SIEM can assist security teams to discover and respond to suspicious behaviour patterns more effectively since it correlates data from a wide variety of event and contextual data sources. This makes Elastic SIEM a useful tool for security teams.
Gartner has included Elastic Security in the Magic Quadrant for Security Information and Event Management for the year 2021. (SIEM).
The following are important features and capabilities:
• Perform any environmental analysis you see fit. Track and correlate years’ worth of historical data, as well as access built-in trend charts for the most important data types.
• Integrate high-fidelity rules into an automated detection system Automate the detection of potentially malicious tools and activities by utilising behavior-based rules that are powered by research from Elastic Security Labs. Detections are standardised according to MITRE’s ATT&CK® framework and disclosed publicly for the purposes of evaluation and activation.
• Use machine learning and entity analytics to evaluate risk. Anomaly detection, which is powered by prebuilt machine learning jobs, can help uncover previously undisclosed threats, and security analytics can provide insight into the entities that are most at risk.
• Simplify the inquiry, and implement an automated response system Processes on the team can be standardised with the help of detailed investigative guidelines and built-in case management, which may include linkages with SOAR and ticketing workflows.
You can get access to Elastic SIEM using Elastic Cloud or by downloading its default distribution. Both options are available to you. On demand, you can have access to a free trial of Elastic Cloud that includes all of its capabilities, and you won’t need to provide your credit card information. If you want to continue using the service after the trial period, you will need to acquire a valid licence first.
What Are the Differences Between Datadog Cloud SIEM and Elastic SIEM?
Deployment model
Datadog Cloud SIEM, as its name suggests, is an application that runs in the cloud and is designed for cloud-native environments. This means that there are no on-premise system requirements and no installation hassles other than the typical sign-up process, which can be completed on any internet-connected device with a supported browser. However, in order to monitor most aspects of the device or service you want to monitor, you will need to install local agents that are unique to that device or service. This deployment makes it perfect for companies that don’t want to burden themselves with any resource-intensive on-premise SIEM solution and don’t want to put that responsibility on themselves.
On the other hand, Elastic SIEM is available in both a self-hosted (on-premises) and a SaaS-based (cloud-based) edition. The SaaS-based version, which is identical to Datadog, does not require any installation beyond the standard sign-up procedure, which can be completed on any internet-connected device with a browser that is supported. You will, however, be obliged to install a single unified local agent app. This is not optional. The SaaS solution may be implemented on a variety of public clouds, including AWS, Google Cloud, and Microsoft Azure, among others. Elastic SIEM’s flexible deployment approach makes it perfect for businesses that want to have granular control, but this comes at a cost because you have to manage it yourself. Elastic SIEM is good for organisations that want to have granular control.
Data gathering and statistical analysis
Logs are gathered into Datadog by Datadog Cloud SIEM from a wide variety of different sources. For the sake of consistency, ease of correlation, and analysis, each and every log that is ingested must first be processed and normalised (reformatted). This aids in revealing malicious actions taking place on the network and prevents those responsible from covering their tracks. Log Explorer makes the logs accessible once they have been gathered, ingested, and processed respectively. Log Explorer is the place where you can search across all of your logs, enrich them, and view alerts on them. Searching and filtering log data throughout your whole infrastructure for the purpose of threat detection and investigation is now a simple process thanks to this.
Elastic SIEM gives you the ability to stream logs, metrics, traces, content, and other information from your applications, endpoints, infrastructure, cloud, network, workplace tools, and every other common source in your ecosystem. Cross-source correlation, search, and analysis are all made possible with the help of the Elastic Common Schema (ECS), which is an extensible field mapping standard that makes it simple to normalise data coming from a variety of sources. Through the use of runtime fields and searchable snapshots, the schema on read feature provides businesses with the capability to eliminate blind spots and streamline procedures. Elastic has a user interface that is both attractive and functional, allowing users to access built-in trend charts for major data elements.
Detection of incidents and threats, as well as risk reduction
Datadog generates a security signal and identifies potential threats based on predefined rules. Out-of-the-box guidelines for widespread attack methods, mapped to the MITRE ATT&CK framework, are provided by Datadog. The detection rules make full use of Datadog’s “Logging without Limits” feature, which enables users to choose which logs they wish to index while still ingesting, processing, and archiving all of the logs. Rules are applied to the entire stream of ingested, parsed, and enhanced logs. This allows you to maximise detection coverage without any of the usually associated performance or cost constraints that come with indexing all of your log data.
Elastic SIEM’s incident and threat detection reveals previously hidden dangers through the use of anomaly detection, which is driven by prebuilt machine learning jobs. Elastic SIEM has built-in case management and behavior-based rules that are powered by research from Elastic Security Labs. These features allow Elastic SIEM to automatically detect potentially malicious activities. Detections are standardised according to MITRE’s ATT&CK framework and disclosed publicly for the purposes of evaluation and activation. Because of this, you will have the ability to acquire insight into the entities that pose the greatest risk through the use of threat intelligence and security analytics.
Elastic SIEM also includes possibilities for integrating ticketing workflow and SOAR (Security Orchestration Automation and Response), both of which are standard features. When SOAR capabilities are enabled, businesses have the ability to collect data about security threats from a variety of sources and to respond to low-level security incidents without the intervention of humans. SOAR makes security teams more productive by automating processes that are normally performed manually, which frees up their time to focus on more difficult responsibilities.
Notifications and Security Warnings
The method that Datadog uses for generating warnings and notifications is known as Watchdog and is based on machine learning (ML). Watchdog is able to uncover issues with your infrastructure, the efficiency of your apps, and the services you provide by making use of machine learning algorithms. Monitors are the name given to alerts within Datadog. Users have the option to get alerts by email, Slack, and Pagerduty. These can be based on virtually any metric that can be captured by Datadog. As a consequence of this, each warning is granular, actionable, and contextual—even in expansive and transient situations. Datadog stands out in the industry thanks to its distinctive approach to alerts and notifications, which also helps to reduce downtime and avoid alert fatigue.
In Elastic SIEM, alerts are generated by carrying out checks according to a predetermined schedule in order to identify violations of a rule. When a condition is satisfied, the rule logs it as an alert and then reacts by causing one or more actions to be carried out. The threat intelligence rules that are offered by Elastic cause alerts to be generated, drawing the attention of network support workers to the SIEM console so that they can obtain additional information. The Alarms tab presents an overview of all detection alerts. You may filter alerts, modify the status of an alert, and initiate an investigation and analysis of alerts in Timeline all from the Alerts table. On the Alerts tab, you will find a variety of options that allow you to arrange and prioritise detection alerts while you examine suspicious events. You are able to extend alerts with Elastic SIEM by connecting them to actions that employ built-in integrations for email, webhooks, IBM Resilient, Jira, Microsoft Team, PagerDuty, ServiceNow, and Slack.
The reporting and integrating of data
Datadog’s approach to reporting seeks to make metrics easily searchable, which it accomplishes quite well. This is in contrast to the standard out-of-the-box reports that the vast majority of network administrators anticipate receiving. Users are able to swiftly triage security warnings by seamlessly pivoting from a potential threat to associated monitoring data because Cloud SIEM is completely connected with all of Datadog’s application and infrastructure monitoring products. The more than 500 integrations that Datadog provides enable you to collect metrics, logs, and traces from your whole stack.
as well as from the security tools you have, providing you with visibility into your entire environment. When a rule with a high severity detects a threat, the integration of Datadog with Slack and PagerDuty gives you the ability to automatically notify the appropriate teams. Additionally, security signals can be exported to collaborative applications such as JIRA and ServiceNow.
Reports generated by Elastic SIEM are utilised throughout a company in a variety of departments for the purposes of doing analysis, gaining insights, and making choices. Elastic SIEM is able to give enterprises with reports that help them meet the compliance standards for CSA STAR and HIPAA. However, neither SOX nor PCI-DSS compliance have been completely incorporated into the service as of yet. Elastic provides you with the freedom to use a range of ways for data intake, regardless of whether your data is stored in a single cloud, across many clouds, or on-premises. Over 250 different types of technology can be integrated with Elastic SIEM. Your on-premises and cloud-based infrastructure, applications, and services can all contribute data to your SIEM platform thanks to this capability. Even though this is only half of the amount that Datadog provides, it does not matter as long as it is compatible with your desired integrations.
Pricing Structures and License Options
The Datadog Cloud SIEM price plan is based on a per-gigabyte of analysed logs, per-month basis, and can be paid for annually or on-demand. A log that has been studied is a text-based record of activity that has been generated by an operating system, an application, or other sources and has been evaluated in order to identify potential security threats. The price of analysed logs from Datadog is determined by the total amount of gigabytes that are ingested and processed by the Datadog Cloud SIEM service.
Elastic SIEM has a price mechanism that is determined by the amount of a resource that is consumed. Because of this, you only pay for the resources that you actually use. Whether you are installing self-managed Elastic software or using Elastic Cloud, the primary price metre for Elastic is based on the underlying resources that are consumed while your use case is being executed. The cost of using elastic licencing is consistent and does not increase depending on the amount of data imported, the number of agents, or the type of use case. Deploy only what you need, and be prepared to adjust as your vision develops.
Elastic SIEM vs. Datadog Cloud SIEM: Which One Should You Choose?
Both Datadog and Elastic have established themselves as leaders in the observability and logging area over the years, despite the fact that they are relatively new entrants into the SIEM market. The question that should guide your decision between the two options is not which one is superior, but rather which one is more suited to the requirements of your company. You need to take into consideration a number of different aspects, such as the following:
• Is the SIEM solution capable of satisfying the demands placed on your firm in terms of security and compliance?
• How much native support does the security information and event management (SIEM) product provide for the relevant log sources?
• Does the SIEM system have the capability to perform next-generation SIEM functionalities such as SOAR and UEBA?
• What is the total cost of ownership, and is there any vendor support accessible in your area, and to what extent is it available?
Because it is able to support and integrate with more than 500 different technologies, Datadog is more versatile and can be adapted to many different functions. It also provides deeper context when investigations are being conducted and allows you to cast a wider net to catch potential security issues. However, it is not as successful as it could be in addressing the modern security concerns because it does not have SOAR or UEBA capabilities. In spite of this, Datadog Cloud SIEM is a fantastic tool for companies that already have Datadog as a customer and for businesses that do not have specialised IT staff that can monitor the infrastructure on a more granular level.
A self-hosted or cloud deployment option is available for Elastic SIEM, giving enterprises the flexibility to choose the deployment type that is most appropriate for them. The self-hosted option is perfect for firms that want to be in complete control, but it will require an investment in competent human resources in order to administer it. The features of Elastic SOAR place it in a better position to collect data from numerous log sources, recognise hidden dangers, and give automatic responses without the intervention of a person. This results in a stronger defence against the various contemporary threats to national security.
