SolarWinds Looks to Bring Security Management Costs Under Control

2014 Cybersecurity Forecast

The challenge with IT security for the average organization is that they can’t afford to hire a dedicated specialist to manage it. All the security technology in the world simply isn’t of much value when there’s nobody around to decipher what any of it means.

As part of a broad effort to make security management both more accessible and affordable, SolarWinds this week released enhanced versions of SolarWinds Log & Event Manager, SolarWinds Firewall Security Manager and Solarwinds Patch Manager.

According to Nicole Pauls, director of product management for SolarWinds, the cornerstone of the SolarWinds security strategy is to deliver a security information event management (SIEM) platform that can be used by the average IT administrator at a price point that is only about a quarter of what a comparable SIEM platform costs.

With an entry point in the area of $5,000, Pauls says SolarWinds Log & Event Manager makes it possible for the average IT generalist to now be a lot more proactive about security. As a SIEM platform, Pauls concedes that SolarWinds Log & Event Manager is not designed to handle advanced persistent threats or other forms of targeted security attacks. But in terms of providing a console that allows the average IT administrator to handle most common security issues, Pauls says SolarWinds Log & Event Manager is more than up to the security management task.

While there is clearly a need for tools that deal with more advanced threats, the fact that SolarWinds is now offering an alternative approach to managing security at a lower cost suggests that the long-awaited convergence of IT and security management has finally begun in earnest. Naturally, much work still must be done in terms of integrating IT operations and security management consoles. But as security management become more affordable, it should become more practical for the average IT administrator to start taking on some of the more routine security management tasks that previously would have required an expensive security specialist.