Don’t drown in your data — Why you don’t need a data lake

Elastic challenges the prevalent notion that organizations must use cumbersome data lakes for long-term data retention, advocating instead for a more efficient approach using their own platform. Elastic's solution leverages a unified data layer that allows fast, affordable, and accessible analysis of large datasets without the need to rehydrate entire contents from storage. This approach is especially beneficial in scenarios like the SolarWinds attack, where rapid access to historical data is crucial. Elastic's system uses an index-on-write methodology, enabling high-speed searches over inexpensive object stores and across multiple systems via cross-cluster search. This capability not only enhances threat detection and incident response but also supports advanced analytics and visualization tools. Elastic claims their solution is not only more powerful but also more cost-effective than traditional data lakes, as demonstrated by users like the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency.