Why Observability and Security Should Go Hand in Hand

In today’s world, organizations are growing faster than ever. Applications are being deployed at scale, and the need to ensure both performance and protection is becoming more urgent. However, we often treat observability and security as separate functions. But here’s the thing: they shouldn’t be. When they work together, they create a stronger defence for your organization, helping you catch threats faster and stay ahead of potential problems.

Why Observability and Security Need to Be In Sync

At its core, observability is about understanding what’s happening inside your systems helps getting a complete view of logs, metrics, and traces. Security, on the other hand, is all about keeping those systems safe from bad actors. While they may seem like separate goals, they rely on the same thing: visibility into the inner workings of your environment.

Here’s why integrating observability with security is so important:

1. Security Threats Leave Clues in Observability Data

Every security incident—whether it's an unauthorized login, data breach, or unusual network behaviour—leaves a trail. Observability data is often the first place to spot these warning signs. By keeping an eye on performance data like failed login attempts or spikes in traffic, you can catch a potential threat before it spirals out of control.

2. Faster Detection and Response

When observability and security are aligned, teams can detect and respond to threats much faster. Instead of hunting through disconnected security alerts, teams can correlate those alerts with performance data to get a complete picture and respond in real time.

3. Proactive Risk Mitigation

A strong observability practice means you’re constantly monitoring for issues like misconfigurations, excess permissions or even suspicious user behaviour that could be exploited by attackers. Integrating this with security measures makes it easier to identify and address potential risks before they become a full-blown problem.

4. Lowering Mean Time to Resolution (MTTR)

When a security breach occurs, time is critical. Having observability tools in place ensures you can pinpoint the root cause faster and contain the situation before it does too much damage.

5. Meeting Compliance Requirements

For organizations working in regulated industries (e.g., healthcare, finance, and retail), both observability and security are key to meeting compliance requirements. Continuous monitoring and logging are essential for audits, and observability provides the detailed data you need to stay on top of this.

6. Supporting Zero Trust Models

The Zero Trust model is all about verifying every request, regardless of where it comes from. By combining observability with security, you get continuous visibility into who’s accessing what and how ensuring security policies are always enforced.

The Challenges Enterprises Face When Trying to Combine Observability and Security

While most organizations know they need both observability and security, implementing them together is no easy task. Some of the biggest challenges include:

• Data Overload and Noise – The amount of data being generated is overwhelming. Sorting through all the noise to find real security threats is tough, and without a good correlation between observability and security tools, it can lead to missed signals.
• Integration Complexity – Enterprises typically work in complex multi-cloud or hybrid environments, which makes integrating observability and security tools a real headache.
• High Costs of Ownership – SaaS-based observability and security solutions can get really expensive, especially as you scale. Some organizations struggle to balance the cost against the value these tools provide.
• Lack of Skilled Personnel – Many companies don’t have enough skilled personnel who understand both observability and security, which leads to slow adoption of these practices.
• Data Silos Between Teams – Security and observability teams often work with different tools, causing fragmentation in insights. This can delay incident response and make it harder to get the full context during a crisis.

Real-World Example: The 2024 Change Healthcare Cyberattack

Take the 2024 ransomware attack on Change Healthcare as an example. This breach, carried out by the BlackCat/ALPHV ransomware group, compromised sensitive personal data of over 100 million individuals. The attackers used stolen credentials to gain access and move through the system undetected, eventually deploying ransomware.

How Observability Could Have Helped Prevent This Attack

1. Real-Time Anomaly Detection – If observability tools were integrated, they could have flagged unusual access patterns or lateral movements much earlier, allowing the security team to act before the ransomware was deployed.
2. Comprehensive System Visibility – Observability could have provided a complete view of the infrastructure, making it easier to identify vulnerable access points (like the unsecured Citrix remote service).
3. Faster Incident Response – By combining security alerts with performance data, Change Healthcare could have identified the breach sooner and taken action before much damage was done.

Another Success Story: How a Financial Institution Prevented a Major Attack

Now, let’s look at a different scenario: In 2023, a major North American financial institution successfully prevented a sophisticated phishing attack thanks to their integrated observability and security approach.

Here’s what they did:

• Advanced Monitoring – They had observability tools that gave them real-time insights into system performance and security.
• Anomaly Detection Algorithms – Machine learning helped them detect abnormal behaviour, like strange login attempts, well before the attackers could escalate their efforts.
• Automated Response – Their system automatically flagged and blocked the suspicious activity, stopping the breach before it could cause any harm.

This proactive, integrated approach worked wonders, and it’s a great example of how observability and security can act as a powerful duo when combined.

Looking Ahead: The Need for a Unified Approach

As organizations continue to scale and adopt more complex environments, separating observability and security is no longer an option. Both need to work together to detect threats earlier, respond faster, and maintain a solid security posture without sacrificing performance.

Organizations that embrace this unified approach will be better equipped to protect themselves against today’s increasingly sophisticated attacks. So, whether you’re using a single platform or integrating your tools, the key is to eliminate silos and make sure your security and observability teams are always aligned.

How is your organization handling the integration of security and observability? Are you using a unified platform or managing multiple tools?