2022–2024
SIEM at Planetary Scale
Transformed a fragmented monitoring estate into a unified observability fabric with sub-second insights.
Impact
Reduced controllable event delay by 70% across >1.2M events per second • Unified >50 diverse data sources with a hardened ingestion pipeline • Delivered live delay transparency that empowered proactive partner engagement
Problem
Our Cyber Fusion Center relies on accurate, timely, and actionable data being ingested into the SIEM. While preexisting controls and measurements validated data accuracy and searchability (actionable), timeliness was measured from the demarc of the SIEM, allowing delays to mask upstream issues and slow response for downstream teams.
Approach
We ensured every feed stamped events with an authoritative event timestamp that reflected when the activity actually occurred. Additional hop-by-hop logging instrumented each stage—from source through routing, processing, and searchability—so we could observe delay accumulation in real time. This visibility let us tighten our own infrastructure controls, engage source owners to resolve shipment issues, and brief downstream customers on live delay expectations.
Tack-on benefits included the foundation for alerting on feed delay (instead of backlog-only signals) and the telemetry necessary to surface outliers whose behavior drifted after previous fixes.
Results
- Brought >90% of events into double-digit seconds of delay from occurrence to searchability for customer teams and the rules engine.
- Equipped the 24/7/365 on-call rotation with live insights into where delays originated, accelerating triage.
- Established SLO/SLA guardrails that simplified platform support and reduced data-swell-driven false positives.
- Automated detection of delay outliers, enabling rapid re-engagement when feeds regressed.
Lessons Learned
Invest early in test fixtures for every feed, and treat parser deployments as product releases with telemetry, rollback, and change review.