Security Onion vs Wazuh

August 06, 2023 | Author: Michael Stromann
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Security Onion
Security Onion is a free and open Linux distribution for threat hunting, enterprise security monitoring, and log management. The easy-to-use Setup wizard allows you to build an army of distributed sensors for your enterprise in minutes.
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Wazuh
Wazuh is a free and open source security platform that unifies XDR and SIEM protection for endpoints and cloud workloads.

Security Onion and Wazuh are both popular open-source security solutions, but they serve different purposes and have distinct differences in their functionalities. Security Onion is a comprehensive network security monitoring (NSM) platform designed for detecting and responding to security threats on the network. It integrates a suite of powerful security tools, including Snort and Suricata for intrusion detection, Zeek (formerly known as Bro) for network traffic analysis, and Elasticsearch for data storage and retrieval. Security Onion is primarily focused on network-based security monitoring, making it an ideal choice for organizations seeking a comprehensive solution for detecting and investigating security incidents on their network infrastructure.

On the other hand, Wazuh is a host-based intrusion detection system (HIDS) and security information and event management (SIEM) platform. It is designed to monitor and analyze security events on individual hosts or endpoints, providing real-time threat detection and response capabilities. Wazuh's architecture revolves around agents installed on the monitored hosts, which send security event data to a central management server for analysis and correlation. Wazuh is a powerful choice for organizations looking to enhance the security of their individual servers and workstations, offering features like file integrity monitoring, log analysis, and threat detection on the host level.

Another significant difference between Security Onion and Wazuh is their scope of monitoring. Security Onion is primarily focused on network-based monitoring, analyzing network traffic and detecting potential threats at the network level. In contrast, Wazuh is designed for host-based monitoring, providing visibility into security events and activities on individual hosts, making it more suitable for detecting insider threats, malware infections, and other host-level security incidents.

See also: Top 10 SIEM software
Author: Michael Stromann
Michael is an expert in IT Service Management, IT Security and software development. With his extensive experience as a software developer and active involvement in multiple ERP implementation projects, Michael brings a wealth of practical knowledge to his writings. Having previously worked at SAP, he has honed his expertise and gained a deep understanding of software development and implementation processes. Currently, as a freelance developer, Michael continues to contribute to the IT community by sharing his insights through guest articles published on several IT portals. You can contact Michael by email stromann@liventerprise.com