Security operations centers process thousands of events per second. Firewall logs, endpoint detection alerts, identity provider signals, and cloud API telemetry all flow into the SIEM where correlation rules, machine learning models, and analyst workflows transform raw data into actionable intelligence. But compliance data has traditionally lived outside this ecosystem. Scan results sit in a compliance platform, risk acceptances are tracked in spreadsheets, and remediation status is communicated via email. The SOC never sees any of it.
This separation creates blind spots. When a compliance scan reveals that MFA policies have been weakened, that finding should trigger the same level of attention as an identity-based threat alert. When a risk acceptance expires and a control reverts to failing status, the SOC should know about it in the same console where they track active incidents. SIEM integration closes this gap by forwarding compliance events in formats that security tools already understand.
Alert Fatigue and Structured Data
The SIEM integration challenge is not about generating more alerts. SOC teams are already drowning in data. The value of compliance event forwarding lies in providing structured, contextual data that enriches existing workflows rather than adding noise.
CEF (Common Event Format) addresses this directly. Unlike free-text log entries that require custom parsing, CEF events arrive with standardized field names, severity levels, and categorization. A SIEM receiving a CEF event from TATER can immediately route it to the correct dashboard, apply correlation rules, and present it to analysts with full context. No custom parsers, no regex extraction, no lost fields.
Two Forwarding Channels
TATER supports two complementary event forwarding channels, each serving different integration patterns. Syslog with CEF format targets traditional SIEM deployments that ingest events via network listeners. The implementation follows RFC 5424 and supports both UDP and TCP transport. UDP is simpler and lower latency; TCP provides delivery guarantees for environments where event loss is unacceptable.
Webhook forwarding targets modern SOAR platforms, cloud-native SIEMs, and custom automation pipelines that consume events via HTTPS callbacks. Each webhook payload is signed with HMAC-SHA256, and the signature is included in the X-TATER-Signature header. Receiving systems validate the signature against a shared secret to ensure the event was not tampered with in transit. Failed deliveries trigger automatic retry with exponential backoff: 5 seconds after the first failure, 15 seconds after the second, with a delivery attempt counter in the X-TATER-Delivery-Attempt header.
"Compliance data belongs in the SIEM alongside threat intelligence and incident data. When your SOC can see that a risk acceptance expired the same week an identity alert fired, the correlation is immediate. Separate tools mean separate investigations."
Supported SIEM Platforms
The CEF format was chosen because it is the closest thing to a universal SIEM ingestion standard. TATER's CEF events are tested and compatible with: Microsoft Sentinel, IBM QRadar, Splunk, ArcSight (Micro Focus/OpenText), LogRhythm, Fortinet FortiSIEM, Elastic Security, Rapid7 InsightIDR, Blumira, AT&T AlienVault USM Anywhere, Trellix (McAfee) ESM, SolarWinds SEM, ManageEngine Log360, Graylog, Sumo Logic, Datadog, Palo Alto Cortex XSIAM, Exabeam, and Securonix. Any platform that ingests CEF-formatted syslog will work without custom configuration.
What Gets Forwarded
TATER forwards two categories of events. The first is the audit trail: every create, update, and delete operation across the platform generates an audit log entry that can be forwarded to the SIEM. This provides a complete record of who changed what and when, useful for both security monitoring and regulatory compliance.
The second category is compliance state change events: risk acceptance created, remediation completed, remediation failed, control status changed. These events carry structured data including the control ID, framework mapping, severity, and responsible party, enabling SIEM correlation rules that trigger when compliance posture degrades.
How TATER Helps
TATER's SIEM integration is configured through the Settings page. Enter your syslog host and port for CEF forwarding, or provide a webhook URL for HTTPS event delivery. Webhook secrets are encrypted at rest. The test button validates connectivity before committing the configuration. Once enabled, all audit events and compliance state changes flow automatically to your SIEM with no additional configuration per event type. Retry logic with exponential backoff ensures delivery reliability without manual monitoring.
