Firewall Log Analyzer and Management Software
Centralize firewall logs on a single location
SolarWinds® Security Event Manager (SEM) helps you stay on top of key network traffic by enabling you to collect logs and events from firewalls and IDS/IPS devices in real time. SEM pairs this data alongside other network logs on a single, central location.
By centralizing all firewall logs, users can improve firewall management and gain greater flexibility in determining whether configuration changes or newly added rules are working as intended.
Use custom or built-in correlation rules for better network visibility
SEM empowers you to get the most out of your firewall deployments by offering powerful in-memory event correlation to help you set effective rules and policies. You can set rules in real-time for network, application, database, and firewall events. With this visibility, you can better understand why an incident occurred and get started troubleshooting quicker.
Secure your network against threats with automated active response
SEM is built to gather logs from your endpoints and firewall devices, so users can monitor suspicious activity in real time and proactively respond before threats emerge. Using SolarWinds Security Event Manager, users can stay one step ahead of cyberthreats with active response technology designed to mitigate threats as soon as they appear on the network. Some of the key built-in active responses include: kill processes by ID or name, restart or shut down machines, block IP addresses, and detach USB devices.
Keep an eye on firewall activity by setting custom alerts
Given the high-risk nature of a potential security breach, you need to remain in the loop with any suspicious activity surfacing within firewall event logs. SEM’s firewall log analyzer comes with a robust alerting system capable of sending instant alerts if suspicious activity occurs, like notifications based on objective metrics like excessive bandwidth usage. You can also use preconfigured rules or create custom ones to help you better understand the relationships between various events and track anomalies.
Retain access to historic logs without exceeding storage capacity
In addition to having access to real-time logs, it’s important to store historic logs for both compliance purposes forensic analysis that may require looking back at an event from weeks earlier.
One of the most significant advantages of using SEM is having access to its high-compression data model. SEM can store data at up to a 60:1 compression ratio, so it doesn't create a storage overhead for data retention. This can enable you to store and access logs while avoiding typical high costs.
What is a firewall log analyzer?
A firewall log analyzer, sometimes called a firewall analyzer, is a tool used to generate information about security threat attempts that can occur on a network where the firewall sits. A firewall log analyzer will help track the traffic coming in and out of the firewall, which can allow you to view logs in real time and use the resulting insights to improve network defenses.
To understand the role of a firewall log analyzer, it’s important to understand how critical firewalls are and how they work. A firewall’s purpose is to monitor the traffic passing in and out of a given network environment. This means firewalls need to have visibility into the source and type of traffic coming in and out of the network—for example, source and destination IP addresses, protocols, and port numbers. The success of how well a firewall works is often dependent on the rules used to configure it.
That’s where a firewall log analyzer can make a difference. When users aggregate and view firewall log information, they can better identify the quality of attempted network connections and configure rules to help the firewall do its job determining which connections are permitted to enter and which must be denied.
Why is firewall log analysis important?
Since firewalls are designed to help protect a network from security threats, firewall log analysis is a critical component of cybersecurity practices. Firewall log analysis can be used to discover suspicious network activity that could indicate malicious threat actors breaching a network and can help greatly improve an organization’s firewall effectiveness.
A firewall analyzer helps by monitoring how the firewall handles traffic. When analyzed, firewall logs can offer useful insights, including:
- Helping you evaluate the effectiveness of certain firewall rules
- Improving the speed at which you can identify and mitigate malicious activity and security risks
- Enable you to stop repeated intrusion attempts from single IP addresses
- Identifying outgoing connections that might be signs of certain breaches like botnet attacks, in which a threat actor will use your system as a launchpad for DDoS attacks
How to analyze firewall logs
The first step in the analysis process is to gather all the logs being generated from firewalls on your network. Since you may be using firewalls made by different manufacturers on different parts of the network, there’s a good chance not all firewall logs will be generated in the same file format. For the best firewall log analysis to parse, query, and monitor for suspicious events, the next step is to standardize all firewall logs into a normalized format.
Once you’ve gathered your network’s firewall logs and standardized them into a common format, you can begin the process of analyzing the logs.
You should first decide what you want to analyze about your log data. For this step, it’s important to create firewall log activity baselines, so you can more easily identify and analyze event logs outside this understood normal behavior instead of needing to manually go log by log to find potentially harmful events.
However, certain firewall log events can be cause for healthy suspicion. If you see the following in your firewall logs, it may be good to perform a deeper investigation:
- Permitted authentication
- Dropped traffic
- Stop/start/restart firewalls
- Modifications made to a firewall configuration
- Administrator access granted
- Failed authentication
- Ceased administrator session
A firewall analyzer tool is built to help automate this analysis process and can help improve overall firewall security management.
How does the firewall log analyzer work in Security Event Manager?
SolarWinds Security Event Manager is designed as a full-stack security management software for organizations to use as a firewall log analyzer to improve log management.
With SEM, users can easily collect and centralize firewall logs generated from across the network. SEM then stores these logs in a single, unified location. From this dashboard, users can easily analyze and monitor their logs and generate reports, set up notifications, or even query historic firewall log data as needed.
SEM also enables users to correlate firewall log data with internal threat intelligence data to obtain better visibility into network activity. With the ability to create custom rules and correlations, organizations can greatly improve their security protocols by more quickly highlighting suspicious network activity.
In addition, SEM is built to enable you to automate threat mitigation protocols with out-of-the-box active response tools. These integrated tools are designed to help you detect anomalies and known patterns of malicious firewall log activity and can automatically respond by isolating devices or systems, providing hands-off support to help ensure overall security.
Related features and tools
- Microsoft IIS Log Analyzer
- Log & Event Manager
- SIEM Log Management
- Apache Log Viewer and Analyzer
- Juniper Firewall Log Analyzer
- Linux Ubuntu Log Analyzer
- Snort IDS Log Analyzer
- Squid Log Analysis Software
- SonicWALL Log Analyzer
- pfSense Firewall Log Analyzer
- Log Parser Tool
- Centralized Log Management
- SQL Server Audit Log Tool
- What is a firewall log analyzer?
- Why is firewall log analysis important?
- How to analyze firewall logs
- How does the firewall log analyzer work in Security Event Manager?
- Related features and tools
What is a firewall log analyzer?
A firewall log analyzer, sometimes called a firewall analyzer, is a tool used to generate information about security threat attempts that can occur on a network where the firewall sits. A firewall log analyzer will help track the traffic coming in and out of the firewall, which can allow you to view logs in real time and use the resulting insights to improve network defenses.
To understand the role of a firewall log analyzer, it’s important to understand how critical firewalls are and how they work. A firewall’s purpose is to monitor the traffic passing in and out of a given network environment. This means firewalls need to have visibility into the source and type of traffic coming in and out of the network—for example, source and destination IP addresses, protocols, and port numbers. The success of how well a firewall works is often dependent on the rules used to configure it.
That’s where a firewall log analyzer can make a difference. When users aggregate and view firewall log information, they can better identify the quality of attempted network connections and configure rules to help the firewall do its job determining which connections are permitted to enter and which must be denied.
"A firewall change was made without notice and broke the site-to-site VPN. I was able to go in, find the change, and quickly move it back. Saved my day!"
IT Manager
Medium Enterprise Computer Services Company
Secure your network with a firewall log analyzer
Security Event Manager
- Collect and analyze events and logs from network firewalls.
- Use real-time event correlation to detect and respond to malicious activities.
- Improve threat response times with automated active response tools.