IBM Security QRadar (recently acquired by Palo Alto Networks) is a security and analytics platform designed to defend against threats and scale security operations. This is done through integrated visibility, investigation, detection, and response. QRadar empowers security groups with actionable insights into high-priority threats by providing visibility into enterprise security data. Through centralized visibility, security teams and analysts can determine their security stance, which areas pose a potential threat, and which areas are critical. This will help streamline workflows by eliminating the need to pivot between tools.
IBM Security QRadar has a range of valuable features. These include a flexible playbook engine that allows for graphical visualization of processes, effective integration with other security management systems, good machine learning and analysis capabilities, and effective flagging and pinpointing of strange activity. Other valuable features include simplicity, event and flow collection, predictive analysis capabilities, AI assistant, blocks of predefined conditions for configuring detection rules, real-time detection, vulnerability management, and good visualization. It receives praise for its higher availability, ease of use, risk rating of users, good monitoring and dashboards, and machine learning models. It is described as a complete platform with over 100 features, suitable for large companies with critical infrastructure, and able to support MSSP models. Customers appreciate its user-friendliness, stability, scalability, and good technical support. Pricing is also considered reasonable.
IBM Security QRadar needs improvement in several areas, including complex management configurations, stability, cost, visualization, compatibility with new-generation tools, and cloud support. Other areas for improvement are dashboards, technical support response time, remote action capabilities. Some users would like to see noise reduction, out-of-the-box use cases, advance in office management, APM features, and a threat intelligence feed.
Users report positive ROI from IBM Security QRadar, with a good or reasonable return on investment, particularly in terms of employee profiling and valuable data obtained. It is seen as providing significant value.
IBM Security QRadar adopts a straightforward pricing approach, often with no setup costs, easing the implementation burden for users. Typically, pricing is structured based on a combination of factors such as data volume, event rates, and required features. Costs vary accordingly, catering to diverse organizational sizes and requirements.
IBM Security QRadar is used for a variety of security purposes such as threat detection and response, incident management, monitoring, breach management, and user behavior analytics. It is used for logging and monitoring network security, security analysis, and monitoring for network-related attacks. QRadar is used to collect logs and monitor user activity and traffic from one network to another. It helps detect viruses on Windows servers and critical assets, and track user activity such as connections during travel. The UBA component is used to investigate user activity and detect uncommon authentication patterns. The tool helps automate the incident processing and provides visibility into the incident management process.
IBM Security QRadar's customer service and support receive mixed reviews. Some users are satisfied with the level of service they receive and find technical support helpful. Others have had issues with accessibility and response time.
Initial setup for IBM Security QRadar varies depending on the complexity of the environment and network architecture. It can range from easy to moderate to complex, and can take anywhere from a few hours to several months to complete. It is manageable with the right technical expertise and support. The deployment and configuration require initial implementation followed by additional time for fine-tuning and automation.
IBM Security QRadar is considered a scalable solution, with ratings of this aspect ranging from six to ten out of ten. The solution is said to handle thousands of users, and it is easy to add appliances or expand licenses. Some users have noted that the solution may require some planning for long-term scalability or may come at a high price. It is reported to work well for small, medium, and large enterprises, with users ranging from less than five to over 25,000.
The stability of IBM Security QRadar is rated good to excellent, with some even giving it a perfect 10. Some reviewers mention occasional errors or bugs, but these are generally quickly resolved by IBM's support team. A few reviewers express concerns about the system's capacity to handle large volumes of logs and the resources required for certain features.
IBM Security QRadar is built to address a wide range of security issues and can be easily scaled with minimal customization effort required. As data is ingested, QRadar administers automated, real-time security intelligence to swiftly and precisely discover and prioritize threats. The platform will issue alerts with actionable, rich context into developing threats. Security teams and analysts can then rapidly respond to minimize the attackers' strike. The solution will provide a complete view of activity in both cloud-based and on-premise environments as a large amount of data is ingested throughout the enterprise. Additionally, QRadar’s anomaly detection intelligence enables security teams to identify any user behavior changes that could be indicators of potential threats.
IBM QRadar Log Manager
To better help organizations protect themselves against potential security threats, attacks, and breaches, IBM QRadar Log Manager gathers, analyzes, preserves, and reports on security log events using QRadar Sense Analytics. All operating systems and applications, servers, devices, and applications are converted into searchable and actionable intelligent data. QRadar Log Manager then helps organizations meet compliance reporting and monitoring requirements, which can be further upgraded to QRadar SIEM for a more superior level of threat protection.
Some of QRadar Log Manager’s key features include:
Reviews from Real Users
IBM Security QRadar is a solution of choice among users because it provides a complete solution for security teams by integrating network analysis, log management, user behavior analytics, threat intelligence, and AI-powered investigations into a single solution. Users particularly like having a single window into their network and its ability to be used for larger enterprises.
Simon T., a cyber security services operations manager at an aerospace/defense firm, notes, "The most valuable thing about QRadar is that you have a single window into your network, SIEM, network flows, and risk management of your assets. If you use Splunk, for instance, then you still need a full packet capture solution, whereas the full packet capture solution is integrated within QRadar. Its application ecosystem makes it very powerful in terms of doing analysis."
A management executive at a security firm says, "What we like about QRadar and the models that IBM has, is it can go from a small-to-medium enterprise to a larger organization, and it gives you the same value."
IBM Security QRadar was previously known as IBM QRadar, QRadar SIEM, QRadar UBA, QRadar on Cloud, QRadar, IBM QRadar User Behavior Analytics, IBM QRadar Advisor with Watson.
Clients across multiple industries, such as energy, financial, retail, healthcare, government, communications, and education use QRadar.