Blog | Software Engineering News

Extending Cribl for SIEM: Get More Value with Edge, Lake, and Search

Written by Peter Townshend | July 16, 2025

Cribl Cloud Suite for SIEM offers benefits far beyond ingest reduction – read on to see just how much you could benefit from expanding beyond Cribl Stream

If you're already using Cribl Stream to manage data ingestion into your SIEM, you know just how effective it can be. Stream helps reduce noise, control costs, and improve data quality at the point of entry.

Indeed, the benefits of Cribl can be extensive, but they aren't limited to trimming data. There's still plenty of untapped value in your telemetry when it comes to edge collection, long-term storage, and retrospective access.

Cribl’s full range of products helps you unlock that value with a complete, end-to-end data management solution combining Cribl Stream with Cribl Edge, Cribl Lake, and Cribl Search.

Together, they allow you to extend your Cribl, capitalizing on your investment, by retaining more data cost-effectively, and maintaining full visibility without flooding your SIEM.

Research shows that the compound annual growth rate of telemetry data is 28%, whereas IT budget growth rate is just 7%. With these figures in mind, it’s time to work smarter with your data or risk serious implications for future storage and analysis.

In the following article we aim to help you understand the full benefits of Cribl and show you how NETbuilder can help you implement it quickly, efficiently and with minimum hassle.

 

What Are the Limits of SIEM-Only Architecture?

While SIEM platforms remain essential for real-time alerting and threat detection, they weren’t built for the sheer scale of security data that is created across today’s digital ecosystems.

Devices are larger in number and increasingly complicated, zero-trust architecture multiplies authentication logs, and ever-tightening regulations are increasing pressure with longer storage requirements and shorter response deadlines.

By using Cribl Stream, you are already remedying one of the biggest issues SIEM-only architecture creates: high ingest and indexing costs. But there are several other common issues you’re likely to still be facing, namely:

  • Rigid storage constraints
  • Expensive rehydration for archived data
  • Delays when onboarding new sources

Cribl Edge, Lake, and Search can eliminate these issues, offering a comprehensive, cost-efficient, and flexible complement to your SIEM.

 
What is Cribl Edge & Why Use It?

Cribl Edge is a lightweight, vendor-neutral data-collection agent that runs close to your data sources – on endpoints, servers, or cloud infrastructure. It enables:

  • Collection and processing of telemetry at the edge
  • Pre-filtering and enrichment before data even reaches Stream
  • Reduced data transfer and faster time to insight

Edge improves observability and performance by acting as a first line of control in distributed environments.

 

What is Cribl Lake & Why Use It?

Cribl Lake uses low-cost object storage, like Amazon S3 or Azure Blob, to hold full-fidelity logs outside your SIEM. It enables: 

  • Long-term retention for compliance or audit use 
  • Policy-based tiering to manage storage lifecycle 
  • Reduced reliance on hot storage and rehydration 

With Cribl Lake, you can retain more data at a reduced cost – without sacrificing structure or accessibility. It offers the advantages of data warehousing, without the headaches of maintaining your own bucketing strategy. 

 

What is Cribl Search & Why Use It?

Cribl Search allows you to query archived logs directly in Cribl Lake, without re-indexing or loading them back into your SIEM. 

You can also search your own data lakes and APIs, as well as data locally on Cribl Edge nodes. This lets you keep your data at rest, while still gaining insights.

This fast, easy access is perfect for: 

  • Forensic investigations 
  • Compliance lookups 
  • Historical context during incident response 

It’s serverless, scalable, and pay-per-query – ideal for teams who need flexibility without infrastructure overhead. 

 
How Does it All Work Together?

Cribl’s stack seamlessly connects to form a highly efficient data pipeline from collection right through to query: 

  • Cribl Edge gathers logs, metrics, and traces at the point of generation 
  • Cribl Stream filters, enriches, and routes only necessary data into your SIEM 
  • Cribl Lake stores full-fidelity data in low-cost cloud storage 
  • Cribl Search lets you query that data on demand, without loading it back into your SIEM 

This layered model gives you control, scale, and access without creating bottlenecks or draining budgets. 

 
What are the Overall Benefits of Expanding Cribl?

Aside from reducing ingest costs with Stream, the benefits of Cribl extend to several areas: 

  • Regulatory compliance – Store sensitive logs for years at minimal cost 
  • Threat hunting – Access historical context when needed 
  • Root cause analysis – Query logs from specific events, even months later 
  • Application observability – Track performance and behavior at scale 
  • Edge-to-cloud control – Capture and refine data earlier in its lifecycle 

This broader utility strengthens both your security and engineering workflows. 

 

How Can NETbuilder Help Expand Cribl?

NETbuilder helps organizations scale Cribl for SIEM beyond just Stream with: 

  • Certified engineering teams trained via our dedicated Cribl Academy 
  • Reusable pipeline templates and automation frameworks 
  • Embedded knowledge transfer so your team owns the outcome 

We help you scale Cribl across your observability pipeline. It’s fast, it’s stress free, and offers clear ROI. 

It’s time to discover the benefits of Cribl, beyond just Stream. Book a free Cribl Expansion Workshop and we’ll help you map untapped observability data, uncover pipeline opportunities, estimate potential cost savings, and identify performance gains. 

For further reading, download our free whitepaper: From Logs to Leverage: Unlocking Observability With Cribl. 

 

Cribl for SIEM FAQs

Do I need to change my current Cribl Stream setup? 
If you are currently a Cribl Cloud user, Edge, Lake, and Search layer on top without disrupting your Stream pipelines. However, note that Lake and Search are not available for on-prem Cribl licenses.

Will I lose real-time alerts? 
No. High-value data continues to route to your SIEM. Lake and Search handle the rest and can also support their own alerting/dashboarding.

Can I access all past logs with Cribl Search? 
Yes, as long as they're stored in Cribl Lake or supported object storage. 

Does Cribl work with my current SIEM? 
Yes. Cribl integrates with Splunk, Sentinel, QRadar, Elastic, and more. 

Can I search logs stored in Amazon S3 using Cribl Search? 
Yes. Cribl Search lets you query data directly in S3 or other object storage without rehydrating or re-indexing it. 

What kind of data can Cribl Edge collect? 
Cribl Edge collects logs, metrics, and traces from endpoints, servers, and cloud-native services, right at the source. 

Do I need to rehydrate data to use Cribl Search? 
No. Cribl Search queries data directly in its raw form without the need to move or reprocess it. 

Is Cribl Search a replacement for my SIEM? 
No. Cribl Search is best used to extend SIEM capabilities, offloading cost, increasing retention, and expanding search flexibility. 

How long can I retain data in Cribl Lake? 
As long as needed. Cribl supports custom retention policies to meet compliance or operational needs. 

Can I use Cribl with CrowdStrike NextGen, Splunk, Sentinel, or Elastic? 
Yes. Cribl integrates with all major SIEMs and observability tools through flexible pipelines and open standards.