Security Onion
Free Linux distribution bundling network monitoring, intrusion detection, and log management.
Technical Architecture & Overview
Security Onion is a Linux distribution that installs a complete network security monitoring stack, including Suricata and Zeek for network detection and metadata, Elastic for storage and search, and its own management interface for alerts, dashboards, and hunting. It also supports host telemetry such as Sysmon and osquery data, and it includes an intrusion detection honeypot (IDH) node option. Paid support, training, and the Security Onion Pro edition come through Security Onion Solutions.
Targeted Technical Use Cases
Standing up full NSM capability on your own hardware without assembling the stack component by component.
Evaluation & Trade-offs
Core Strengths
- +Curated suite of tools designed to work together instead of a parts list.
- +Same interface covers alerts, dashboards, PCAP, and hunt.
- +Scales from a single node to distributed grids.
Trade-Offs & Limitations
- -Hardware requirements are substantial for full packet capture.
- -The Elastic License 2.0 bars providing the software to third parties as a hosted or managed service.
Defensive Security Application
Network and host telemetry collection with integrated detection for teams building their own SOC visibility.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Security Onion?→
Security Onion is a Linux distribution that installs a complete network security monitoring stack, including Suricata and Zeek for network detection and metadata, Elastic for storage and search, and its own management interface for alerts, dashboards, and hunting. It also supports host telemetry such as Sysmon and osquery data, and it includes an intrusion detection honeypot (IDH) node option. Paid support, training, and the Security Onion Pro edition come through Security Onion Solutions.
What is Security Onion used for?→
Standing up full NSM capability on your own hardware without assembling the stack component by component.
What are the strengths of Security Onion?→
- +Curated suite of tools designed to work together instead of a parts list.
- +Same interface covers alerts, dashboards, PCAP, and hunt.
- +Scales from a single node to distributed grids.
What are the limitations of Security Onion?→
- +Hardware requirements are substantial for full packet capture.
- +The Elastic License 2.0 bars providing the software to third parties as a hosted or managed service.
How is Security Onion used defensively?→
Network and host telemetry collection with integrated detection for teams building their own SOC visibility.