What is the primary objective of a Security Incident and Event Management (SIEM) system?

A Security Incident and Event Management (SIEM) system is primarily designed to identify and analyze security incidents within an organization's network and IT environment. SIEM systems collect and aggregate log data from various sources, such as servers, network devices, and security appliances, allowing for real-time analysis of security alerts generated by applications and network hardware.

The primary functions of a SIEM system include correlating events from different sources to detect patterns indicative of potential security threats, enabling security teams to respond to incidents swiftly and effectively. By continuously monitoring and assessing security-related data, a SIEM enhances an organization's ability to quickly identify breaches, anomalies, or policy violations, thereby improving its overall security posture.

While data encryption during transmission, optimizing network performance, and backup and recovery of data are all important aspects of information security and IT management, they are not the core functions of a SIEM system. SIEM focuses specifically on security incident identification and analysis, which is why that choice accurately reflects its primary objective.