What Are The Key Differences Between XDR, SIEM and SOAR?

If you work in cybersecurity, you've likely heard buzz around concepts like XDR, SIEM and SOAR. While these solutions all aim to improve an organization's security posture and operations, they each have distinct functions. In this article, we'll explore the definitions and key differences between extended detection and response (XDR), security information and event management (SIEM) and security orchestration, automation and response (SOAR).

What is XDR?

XDR, or extended detection and response, aims to provide a more unified view of an organization's security by consolidating multiple security tools and datasets onto a single platform. Traditional approaches involved discrete point products for endpoints, networks, cloud workloads etc. But this siloed structure makes it difficult to detect and respond to modern threats that span different attack vectors.

XDR bridges this gap by ingesting and correlating security-related data from various sources like endpoint detection and response (EDR) tools, network detection and response (NDR) systems, cloud workloads, firewalls and more. The goal is to identify indicators of compromise (IOCs) and detect threats much earlier as attacks often begin on one system or attack surface before progressing elsewhere.

In addition to improved detection, XDR solutions also provide automated response capabilities whether that's isolating infected hosts, blocking malicious IPs or remediating vulnerabilities. This helps security teams contain incidents faster. Prominent XDR vendors include CrowdStrike, SentinelOne and Tanium who have built their platforms to natively consolidate multiple security products.

What is SIEM?

A SIEM or security information and event management solution has been around much longer than XDR. The core functions of a SIEM involve collecting, normalizing and storing log data from operating systems, firewalls, applications and other network devices into a centralized repository. This log data is parsed to extract useful security-related fields for monitoring and analysis.

SIEMs also perform log correlation to detect relationships between different events. For example, correlating a failed login attempt with a file access from the same source IP could indicate a brute force attack. SIEMs further allow querying log data, generating reports, dashboards and visualizations to uncover potential security issues or anomalies. Popular SIEM vendors include Splunk, Elastic, IBM QRadar and Microsoft Sentinel.

While SIEMs provide log management and threat detection abilities, their response capabilities are typically limited to alarms, notifications or manual escalation procedures. Many also lack visibility beyond network/host logs which can hinder detection of modern lateral movement tactics used by APT groups.

What is SOAR?

SOAR technologies take incident response processes to the next level through automation. The core functions of SOAR involve orchestrating an organization's diverse security tools and technologies together with proprietary playbook workflows for automating tasks.

Playbooks define the steps security analysts would normally perform manually in a given scenario like file analysis, forensic investigation or malware remediation. SOAR platforms connect to various security tools via APIs to dynamically execute these playbooks. They also integrate with ticketing solutions like Jira for example, and offer case management for tracking incidents from detection to resolution.

Prominent SOAR vendors include Demisto, Phantom, Swimlane and Resolve Systems. Some SOAR platforms also incorporate functionality for security analytics, cyber threat intelligence and risk-based prioritization. The goal is to streamline processes, reduce manual toil and enable security teams to respond quicker and more efficiently to growing caseloads.

Key Differences Between XDR, SIEM and SOAR

To summarize the main differences, XDR provides endpoint, network and cloud visibility through a unified platform along with automated detection and response. SIEM focuses on log collection, correlation and monitoring for threat detection. SOAR automates common incident response tasks and workflows via playbooks to improve efficiency.

While SIEMs detect threats, XDR expands this across multiple security layers and SOAR automates the follow-up. An ideal program would leverage these complementary strengths for comprehensive protection. In the table below, we outline some additional contrasts:

Frequently Asked Questions

Moving on from above, below we've addressed some frequently asked questions about how these solutions relate to and complement each other, as well as clarifying misunderstandings regarding their intended roles and capabilities. 

1. Can a SIEM do detection and response too?

While many SIEMs now include some detection capabilities through analytics and correlation, their response functionalities are still quite limited compared to XDR. A SIEM on its own may not provide the automated detection across multiple security layers and built-in response tools that an XDR platform delivers.

2. Can an XDR replace a SIEM?

In theory, a comprehensive XDR could minimize the need for a standalone SIEM since it incorporates log management and analytics capabilities. However, most organizations still find value in retaining their SIEM for compliance and forensic needs due to the immense amount of historical log data retained. An integrated XDR and SIEM approach is ideal for most.

3. Does SOAR replace security analysts?

No, SOAR is meant to augment analyst work rather than replace people. While it can automate many repetitive tasks, there is still a need for trained security experts to define playbooks, monitor for anomalies, investigate threats and make judgment calls that automation cannot. SOAR just makes analysts more productive.

4. Is there a single best solution - XDR, SIEM or SOAR?

There is no single best solution, as each option offers unique benefits when used complementarily. An ideal security program leverages the integrated strengths of XDR for expanded detection, SIEM for log management and SOAR for response automation. This delivers comprehensive protection across the entire attack lifecycle.

5. Can a SOAR also do detection?

While some SOAR platforms now include basic analytics, their core focus remains on automating incident response processes rather than long-term monitoring and detection. Detection remains best suited to technologies like XDR and SIEM that specialize in collecting and correlating security data over time.

Work With Blink Ops Today

By gaining a thorough understanding of how XDR, SIEM and SOAR solutions work together, you can identify opportunities to streamline inefficiencies through automation.

At Blink Ops, we've helped thousands of organizations better integrate their existing security tools to deliver more coordinated detection and faster response capabilities. Our platform seamlessly connects to 100s of technologies for unified visibility and orchestration.

Take the first step towards optimizing your security operations today. Book a personalized demo with Blink and talk to  with one of our specialists to see how Blink Ops can streamline your defenses through simplification without added overhead.