Lost in translation: When security monitoring solutions don't understand the language of SAP
SIEM systems (Security Information and Event Management) are a central tool for many companies to monitor the IT landscape and recognise threats at an early stage. SIEM solutions collect and analyse log data from various sources - firewalls, servers, networks, etc. - in order to obtain a comprehensive picture of the security situation.
One challenge, however, often arises in the area of SAP systems. Traditional SIEM tools reach their limits here, as they do not take sufficient account of the special features of the SAP world.
The communication problem: SIEM and SAP speak different languages
SIEM systems are generally designed to monitor infrastructure and network events. They recognise patterns and anomalies based on rules that have been developed for these environments. SAP, on the other hand, is a complex application landscape with its own protocols, security mechanisms and a specific data structure.
The problem: the events in SAP that are relevant for security - such as unauthorised transactions, critical authorisation changes or suspicious user activities - are simply not understandable for many SIEM systems. Without special interfaces and mechanisms for data preparation, SAP remains difficult to access for central security monitoring.
The consequence: SAP in the blind spot of security monitoring
Even in organisations with experienced security teams and established SIEM solutions, the integration of SAP data is often neglected. As a result, critical incidents at application level remain undetected even though the rest of the IT landscape is comprehensively monitored.
It is often assumed that the existing SIEM is "sufficient" or that the SAP department is already taking care of security. However, the fact is that without targeted integration of SAP-specific events, there is no holistic overview of the company's security situation.
The solution: making SAP data accessible to the SIEM
In order to make SAP incidents visible and analysable in the SIEM, SAP logs, configurations and role analyses must be prepared in such a way that they can be understood in central security monitoring. Modern solutions, such as BCS for SAP, make it possible to extract these security-relevant events from the SAP application area, normalise them and integrate them into any standard SIEM system - regardless of the manufacturer or size of the SIEM system or the type and complexity of the SAP system landscape.
This finally makes SAP visible in the SIEM and gives companies a complete, contextualised overview of their security situation.
The in-house system: SAP Enterprise Threat Detection (ETD)
SAP Enterprise Threat Detection is SAP's SIEM solution. It addresses the central problem that traditional SIEM systems often do not understand SAP's specific protocols, events and data structures, meaning that critical incidents at application level are overlooked. However, a major disadvantage of SAP ETD is the high cost and considerable effort involved in implementation.
Implementation is usually a long-term project with a realisation period of one to three years. The main reasons for this include the technical complexity of system integration, the customisation of recognition patterns, integration into existing IT and security processes and the effort required for training and change management measures. For this reason, SAP ETD is particularly suitable for large companies with complex SAP landscapes and a sufficient budget. For smaller companies or organisations with limited resources, the costs and project scope often represent a significant hurdle.
BCS for SAP: The new alternative
A particularly powerful solution for this challenge is BCS for SAP (Business-Critical Security for SAP). BCS enables security-relevant SAP data to be automatically extracted, processed and forwarded to any SIEM system - regardless of the manufacturer or architecture. This enables end-to-end, transparent monitoring of the entire SAP landscape.
The use of predefined use cases, warning rules and dashboards allows security incidents to be efficiently detected, analysed and prioritised at application level. This means that even complex threats and suspicious activities become visible at an early stage and can be defended against in a targeted manner. As a result, companies benefit from a comprehensive view of their business-critical processes and strengthen their compliance and overall cyber security strategy in the long term.
In addition, BCS is more cost-effective than SAP ETD as it enables flexible integration into existing SIEM landscapes and there are no additional licence costs for a separate SAP solution such as SAP ETD. This makes BCS particularly attractive for companies that have already invested in a central SIEM infrastructure and want to expand their SAP security efficiently and economically.
Conclusion: Holistic security requires comprehensive integration
The monitoring of SAP systems can no longer be neglected in the context of IT security. Only by intelligently linking SIEM and SAP can companies really comprehensively recognise and assess attacks and risks. Organisations that have not yet integrated their SAP systems into central security monitoring should urgently do so - not least in order to meet compliance requirements and sustainably improve the protection of business-critical processes.
Your next step towards holistic SAP security
Would you like to know how you can seamlessly and efficiently integrate your SAP systems into your existing SIEM? Contact us for a no-obligation consultation or a live demo of BCS for SAP. Together, we will identify the right solutions for your requirements and take your SAP security to the next level!
