Public sector organizations, including government agencies and educational institutions, are increasingly turning to modern Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) platforms as part of their Zero Trust cybersecurity strategies, to address the rising threat of cybercrime. SIEM systems integrate security information management (SIM) and security event management (SEM) to provide a comprehensive view of data from multiple sources, enabling real-time detection and mitigation of cyber threats. With cybercrime expected to grow significantly, and data breaches costing millions, SIEM's ability to handle vast quantities of structured and unstructured data is crucial for public sector entities, which are often targets due to their sensitive data. As data usage grows, SIEM solutions must offer speed and scalability, while balancing log storage requirements and costs, especially in light of new directives like M-21-31 that demand extended log retention. Cloud-based SIEM solutions are becoming more affordable, allowing even smaller agencies to benefit from these platforms, though considerations around cloud versus on-premise deployments and compliance with mandates such as FedRAMP are important.