Ransomware represents a particularly interesting scenario to demonstrate the usefulness of a SIEM.
Before massive encryption, several events can sometimes be observed:
- account compromise
- acknowledgement
- access to multiple machines
- elevation of privileges
- lateral movement
- script execution
- disabling protections
- access to backups
- task creation
- unusual network activity.
Early detection of some of these signals can allow an organization to intervene before an attack reaches its peak. CISA emphasizes that logging and monitoring, in particular, enable the faster detection of suspicious behavior that may precede breaches or ransomware attacks.