Wazuh provides an incredible learning environment and a practical, hands-on platform for understanding real-world SIEM and XDR operations. The open-source architecture allows interns to explore how endpoint agents capture security telemetry, track File Integrity Monitoring (FIM) events, and monitor system configuration compliance without a steep paywall. Navigating the OpenSearch-powered dashboard makes learning to query log indices, filter security events, and analyze MITRE ATT&CK framework mappings intuitive. Writing basic custom decoders and XML detection rules in a lab setting gives valuable insight into how SOC teams analyze raw log streams and build actionable alerts.

I appreciate how Wazuh unifies SIEM and XDR capabilities into a single, open source platform. The endpoint agent provides incredible visibility into host level activities, allowing us to perform deep File Integrity Monitoring (FIM) and Security Configuration Assessments (SCA) seamlessly. I frequently test our custom rules by simulating attacks from a Kali Linux VM running in VirtualBox, and it is impressive how accurately Wazuh's decoders pick up the specific indicators of compromise across our network. Additionally, the built in MITRE ATT&CK mapping makes it incredibly easy to correlate these alerts with known adversary tactics, which drastically speeds up our incident triage workflows.

What I like most about Wazuh is how it brings SIEM, XDR, file integrity monitoring, vulnerability detection, log management, and compliance monitoring together in one open-source platform. It also integrates smoothly with tools like Elastic, supports a broad range of operating systems, and offers highly customizable rules and dashboards—all without expensive licensing costs.