As cloud adoption increases across the globe, IT teams are struggling to keep up with cybersecurity demands. As the threat surface expands, continual cybersecurity practices and compliance needs to be managed across multiple security subdomains, including cloud, networks, IoT, endpoint security and Identity and Access Management (IAM).
Additionally, as the pace of digital transformation accelerates and more business is done online, increased market competition coupled with budgetary restraints means teams are struggling to keep up with escalating security requirements. Teams are stretched, there is an abundance of cybersecurity tools to manage, alert fatigue and skills shortages.
On the cloud computing front, recent reports show at least 71% of global businesses are using Microsoft Azure to run at least some of their workloads. As the ever-present leader in all forms of computing, Microsoft has developed a series of cybersecurity tools that protect their systems, applications and infrastructure as well as extend cybersecurity solutions into the cloud. One of these is Microsoft Sentinel.
Microsoft Sentinel, (previously Azure Sentinel) is a cloud-native security platform designed for the Azure cloud.
Developed to manage the entire spectrum of Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) and Security Orchestration, Automation, and Response (SOAR) Sentinel has the potential to mitigate and manage security threats across the enterprise through monitoring, log management and alerts.
Yet, despite Sentinel's promises to ease the pressure on security teams, Australian businesses are struggling to leverage this tool for security management.
There are several challenges associated with implementing Microsoft Sentinel to improve cloud security for enterprise-wide workloads.
In this article, we'll look at the main challenges posed by Microsoft Sentinel and how teams can overcome these challenges to fortify their security infrastructure setup.
We'll focus specifically on how managed Sentinel solutions can help in each case to reduce potential threats and maximise return on your security operations investment.
7 Challenges posed by Microsoft Sentinel
Reliance on Microsoft ecosystem and cloud services
Being a Microsoft product means Sentinel integrates seamlessly with the entirety of Azure services in order to capture data. The flip side of this vendor lock-in is that third party integration becomes challenging, complicating the task of security orchestration.
Solution: A managed service provider specialising in Sentinel can integrate with other cloud solutions and security tools as and when needed, seamlessly handling the complexities of security orchestration across platforms.
Financial considerations
Sentinel's Azure security centre has a pricing structure that's based on the ingested data volume and data processed for log analytics. Without adequate moderation from security analysts, Microsoft Sentinel pricing can quickly escalate.
Solution: While partnering with a managed Sentinel provider will come at an additional cost, the expertise housed by these security services will quickly pay itself back through cost optimisation techniques designed to ensure efficient data ingestion and minimised redundancy, saving significant logging costs over time. Further to this, advanced security analytics provided by a managed services partner drastically reduces the incidence of security threats, saving your company long term.
Challenges in data ingestion and log parsing
Microsoft Sentinel provides a variety of connections to data sources, including those supported by Microsoft and its partners, as well as community-authored connectors.
When it comes to ingesting data from non-supported sources, however, things start to become more complicated, requiring third-party tools such as Codeless Connector Platform (CCP) and Logtash.
Further to this, Sentinel log analytics works on Kusto Query Language (KQL), as opposed to the more widely utilised Structured Query Language (SQL). This can mean a steep and unnecessary learning curve for in-house security teams.
Solution: Using a managed solution can ease the strain associated with data ingestion and log parsing from multiple sources. Specialised SOC teams have the tools and know-how to handle various data sources and the added advantage of offering training on query language (KQL).
Generation of false positives
No security platform is perfect. Sentinel will need to be fine-tuned over time to reduce the instances of false positive reports. This is a time consuming process that requires ongoing manpower, particularly as teams scale and the threat landscape evolves.
Solution: Managed Sentinel solutions are able to fine-tune alert parameters based on real-world examples, significantly reducing instances of false positives. Outsourcing to a team of security experts with specialised threat knowledge ensures fine-tuning is quick and up to date, compared to in-house teams who may not have the expertise to identify such scenarios.
Complexity in refining analytics
While machine learning-powered threat intelligence products such as Sentinel can be trained to significantly reduce the risk of false positives, a constantly evolving cybersecurity landscape means unknown vulnerabilities are regularly manifesting. For Microsoft Sentinel to stay updated on these threats the following is required:
Importing external threat intelligence feeds
Additional integrations
Continual fine-tuning
Solution: A Managed Sentinel security provider will be up to date with the latest threat intelligence, guaranteeing your Sentinel setup is always ahead of the curve.
They can seamlessly integrate threat intelligence feeds and handle the intricacies of fine-tuning analytics based on evolving threats.
Challenges in report creation
While Sentinel offers several in-built dashboards, they're fairly basic and offer limited capabilities.
Customers have noted that built-in reports are lacking detail, meaning they're often forced to turn to the complex KQL scripting language to create custom queries. This is time consuming and frustrating.
Solution: With their vast experience across multiple deployments, managed service providers have a repository of custom KQL scripts, threat intelligence logs and dashboard templates. This makes report generation quicker and more streamlined. They can also support the development of custom Microsoft Sentinel playbooks tailored to specific business needs, while providing Executive Level reports that can go to investors, Board Members and business leaders.
IPSec Guard on Microsoft Sentinel: Protect tomorrow, today
Microsoft Sentinel is a solid SIEM option for teams running workloads on Azure. However, it is not without its challenges.
By partnering with a managed Sentinel solution provider such as IPSec, businesses can leverage the strengths of Microsoft Sentinel while minimising its challenges, leading to a robust and cost-effective security posture.