A robust yet lightweight SIEM in a single package
Rating: 9 out of 10
IncentivizedUse Cases and Deployment Scope
AlienVault OSSIM is our lightweight, open-souce option for SIEM and vulnerability assessment in our company and recommended for deployment in our clients. OSSIM, besides being open-sourced (hence, free of charge, although also free of support), is very flexible being mounted over a special Linux distro (Debian-based) and easily installable either on physical or virtual servers. Despite being a lighter version of the full-fledged AlienVault All-In-One solution, it's very much capable of handling daily maintenance and inspection IT tasks such as IDS (Intrusion Detection System), both network-based and hardware-based, SIEM correlation, Asset Discovery, and also includes the very useful AlienVault OTX (Open Threat Exchange) platform, allowing you and your organization to keep up to date in terms of threats and malicious devices worldwide that can affect your operations via open collaborative information.
Pros
- Asset discovery. Once installed in a centric, network-accessible server, OSSIM can poll all your endpoints with common protocols (SSH, SNMP, WMI) to detect and discover site-wide assets to monitor. You only need to group them by your own criteria once added to the product.
- SIEM Event Correlation. You can define quite complex correlation rules to detect possible suspicious or malicious actions or attempts in your network, in order to categorize them as real threats or as false positives, thus streamlining your risk assessment and management.
- Ease of installation. The entire AlienVault OSSIM is self-contained in an ISO file, which can be burned into a DVD or just mounted in your server of choice (physical or virtual) for deployment. The installation process is automated and quote verbosed, with options for static IP, email messaging and others.
- Ease of access. Being AlienVault OSSIM a self-contained appliance, it can be accessed via web by any device that supports a web browser, being that desktops, workstation, mobile devices, etc. The OSSIM dashboard and other features are automatically rearranged to adapt to the particular device being in use.
Cons
- OSSIM, being an open source solution, lacks log management (a treat that the full USM has). Perhaps a feature to include a lightweight version inside the SIEM Correlation engine can be appreciated.
- The appliance also lacks support for Cloud-based servers and apps. This feature is also present in USM, so it's unlikely this will appear in OSSIM, but I'd suggest also a reduced version of it included in this appliance.
- More integration with third-party solutions such as BMC Remedy and ServiceNow, although this can be emulated through email alerts, as most ITSM solutions have the ability of converting incoming email messages into tickets.
Likelihood to Recommend
The most obvious scenario in which OSSIM is well suited is in a single office/home office (SOHO) or small business, in which budget is reduced but asset discovery and vulnerability management are greatly needed and appreciated. OSSIM is lightweight and free, so the real challenge to face is to hire or assign an administrator to manage and operate it, instead of any investment on an expensive appliance. Also, as resellers, promoting usage of OSSIM to customers charging for professional services for installation, administration, and maintenance (remember that OSSIM doesn't have official support from AlienVault) is a great asset for the organization.