How can Splunk be effectively used for security monitoring?

Using Splunk for security monitoring is most effectively achieved by analyzing logs for unusual patterns and responding to potential threats in real-time. This approach leverages Splunk's powerful search and data analytics capabilities to identify and investigate security incidents as they occur. By continuously ingesting and analyzing security logs from various sources like firewalls, intrusion detection systems, and servers, security teams can quickly detect anomalous behavior that may signify an attack or security breach.

Real-time monitoring enables organizations to implement an immediate response to incidents, which is crucial for minimizing the impact of security threats. This proactive approach allows security analysts to correlate data across various sources, recognize patterns indicative of malicious activity, and act swiftly to mitigate risks.

Other options suggest methods that may contribute to a security posture but are not as comprehensive or proactive as real-time analysis of logs for unusual patterns. Tracking file changes alone may provide some insights but lacks the depth of monitoring needed to defend against complex security threats. Creating periodic user activity reports offers historical data but does not facilitate real-time threat management. Enabling automatic backups is important for data recovery but does not directly address monitoring or detecting security incidents.