What is the Use of Splunk in Cyber Security? [2024]

20 May, 2024
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What is the Use of Splunk in Cyber Security?

Have you ever thought about what happens to the enormous amount of data that is produced by your various programs and mobile devices? Even though this data, which is frequently referred to as machine-generated data, contains significant insights, it can be challenging to evaluate and interpret. In this situation, Splunk is a useful tool.

Here, we are presenting you with a comprehensive article that will certainly help you elaborately understand more about Splunk.

Introduction to Splunk

When it comes to searching, monitoring, analyzing, and displaying machine data from a broad variety of sources, Use of Splunk is a sophisticated software platform that specializes in accomplishing all of these tasks. When it comes to the field of cybersecurity, Splunk is an indispensable tool that assists enterprises in acquiring a full awareness of their security posture.

What is Splunk?

Splunk can be compared to a Swiss Army knife for your data-related security needs. It gives you the ability to collect logs from many security tools, including firewalls, intrusion detection systems (IDS), endpoints, and various others. After that, Splunk will index and interpret this data, which will make it searchable and provide you the ability to recognize trends, anomalies, and potential security issues.

Why Do We Need Splunk?

Traditional security technologies frequently function in isolation from one another, which makes it difficult to provide a comprehensive perspective of your security environment. Through the process of centralizing and unifying your security data, Splunk helps to overcome this gap. When this occurs, security analysts can:

Detect threats faster	In comparison to manual analysis, Splunk can discover suspicious activity considerably more quickly because it correlates data from a variety of sources.
Investigate incidents efficiently	To make the investigative process more straightforward, Splunk offers a centralized repository for all of the pertinent data. Analysts can locate the underlying reason for an occurrence by rapidly delving into individual events and identifying the core cause.
Improve compliance	Through the provision of a centralized audit trail of security incidents, Splunk assists enterprises in meeting the requirements in place for regulatory compliance.

Key Benefits of Splunk include:

Some of the mainstream key benefits of Splunk are detailed in the following table:

Real-time monitoring	You may obtain real-time insights about the state of your safety and identify potential risks as they occur.
Enhanced threat detection	Data from a variety of sources should be correlated to discover sophisticated threats that may be able to circumvent conventional security technologies.
Improved incident response	Streamline the process of responding to incidents by implementing features that allow for speedier investigation and remediation.
Compliance management	By providing a full audit record of security occurrences, you may simplify the process of reporting compliance.

Common Disadvantages of the Technology Include:

Apart from the regular benefits of Splunk usage in the distinguished domain of cyber security, there are certain disadvantages as well that can be associated with this name, such as the following:

Complexity: The process of learning and managing Splunk can be difficult, particularly for businesses that have not previously worked with big data systems.
Cost: The fees associated with licensing Splunk can be rather substantial, particularly for larger enterprises that deal with a substantial amount of data.
Scalability: When it comes to handling massive amounts of data, scaling Splunk can be a tough and resource-intensive endeavor.

Features of Splunk

A wide range of cybersecurity requirements can be satisfied by Splunk’s extensive feature set, which includes the following mentioned in the table:

Search and analytics	You should do in-depth searches over all of your security data to identify particular occurrences and patterns.
Real-time dashboards	To view important security indicators and identify potential threats, you may create fully configurable dashboards.
Alerting and reporting	Splunk should be configured to produce automated warnings for suspicious activity and to generate reports for compliance to meet the requirements.
Security apps	Use pre-built security applications for particular scenarios, like threat detection or user behavior analytics, and use these applications.

What Are the Different Versions of Splunk?

The following versions of Splunk are available to meet a variety of requirements and budgets:

Splunk Free: For those who are just beginning their journey with Splunk, this free tier offers a restricted set of features.
Splunk Cloud: A version of Splunk that is hosted in the cloud and does away with the requirement for maintaining infrastructure on-premises.
Splunk Enterprise: The version of Splunk that is installed on-premises and has the most comprehensive feature set.

How do learn Splunk?

Thinking about a career in the field of cybersecurity? A mastery of Splunk can be an extremely significant resource. The following is a list of ways to learn use of Splunk:

Splunk Education	To assist you in getting started with the platform, Splunk provides a selection of training courses that may be taken either online or in person.
Free resources	You can learn the principles of Splunk using a variety of online tools, such as manuals, tutorials, and video courses, all of which are available online.
Craw Security	An industry-leading cybersecurity training institute with its headquarters in Singapore, Craw Security provides comprehensive training programs for the Splunk application.

FAQs

About the Use of Splunk in Cyber Security

1: What is Splunk mainly used for?
The primary functions of Splunk are data visualization, monitoring, analysis, and search of machine-generated data from a variety of sources. Devices, applications, network apparatus, and security tools may all contribute to this information.

2: What is the main use case of Splunk?
Splunk finds significant applications in the domain of cybersecurity. By centralizing and unifying data from a variety of security tools, it aids security analysts in acquiring a comprehensive comprehension of their security infrastructure. This facilitates accelerated threat detection, streamlined incident investigation, and enhanced adherence to regulations.

3: How does Splunk help?
Splunk helps in several ways, including the following:

Real-time threat detection,
Improved incident response,
Compliance management,
Enhanced troubleshooting, etc.

4: What does Splunk detect?
Splunk does not detect hazards directly. Nevertheless, it expedites the detection of threats for analysts through the facilitation of data search, analysis, and correlation across multiple security tools. This empowers individuals to detect patterns, irregularities, and possible security risks.

5: Is Splunk good for cybersecurity?
Splunk is indeed a valuable cybersecurity instrument. By offering a centralized platform for the management and analysis of security data, it facilitates enhanced incident response, accelerated threat detection, and an improved security posture as a whole.

6: Is Splunk a testing tool?
Splunk is not, in the conventional sense, a testing instrument. Its purpose is data analysis; it does not involve active system testing. However, Splunk can be utilized to identify vulnerabilities by analyzing data generated during security testing.

7: Is Splunk a tool or technology?
Splunk can be considered both a tool and a technology. It’s a software platform (tool) built on top of big data technology.

8: Is Splunk easy to learn?
Prior knowledge influences the degree of simplicity with which one can learn the use of Splunk. Splunk may present a learning curve, particularly for individuals who are not well-versed in the concepts of big data. Nonetheless, numerous educational resources are at your disposal, such as training programs, online courses, and seminars provided by organizations such as Craw Security, the Best Cybersecurity Training Institute in Singapore.

9: Is Splunk free to use?
Splunk provides a complimentary tier known as Splunk complimentary, which has restricted functionality. This is an excellent option for learning the fundamentals and getting started. For the majority of enterprise use cases, however, a paid subscription with additional capabilities is required.

Wrapping Up

In the bottom line, we would like to say that we have tried our best to elaborate on this magnificent tool with the Best Use of Splunk in Cyber Security. Moreover, to prepare yourself with the abilities that are essential to managing the always-shifting world of cybersecurity, you may equip yourself by first gaining an awareness of the potential of Splunk and then investing in appropriate training.

For this, you can train yourself in a course like the Ethical Hacking Course by Craw Security, the Best Cybersecurity and Ethical Hacking Training Institute in Singapore and adjacent countries. To gather more info on the same topic or any other content related to cybersecurity, just call or WhatsApp our round-the-clock number +65-93515400 and have a word with our highly educated study consultants.