A Security Operations Center (SOC) is a command center comprised of trained security resources, process, and technology that are constantly monitoring for hostile behaviour while preventing, detecting, and responding to cyber events.

Many industry analysts describe the SOC as a centralised command that aggregates telemetry throughout a company's IT infrastructure, including network devices, desktops, and cloud apps. Due to the development of threats over the previous decade, the industry has adopted a tiered approach to security, resulting in several products generating amounts of threat data to be monitored. The study and application of such data contributes to the growth of the Managed SOC company.

The Advantages of a SOC

1. Reduces the cost of cyber security personnel.

Finding talented applicants and recruiting them internally for most cyber-related professions is a challenging undertaking, owing mostly to a scarcity of security professionals available for employment. Indeed, according to the (ISC)2 Cybersecurity Workforce Study Report, the worldwide Cyber Security talent deficit will approach 4 million empty job vacancies, and when you do find one, they aren't cheap. By collaborating with a SOC, your company has rapid access to security knowledge without the cost burden of employing internally.

2. Shorten dwell time and economical effect

Dwell time is the amount of time an attacker remains unnoticed on a network after gaining first access. The longer an attacker is within the network, the higher the risk of harm. SOCs reduce dwell time from months to minutes, lowering the financial effect when an intrusion occurs.

3. Constant surveillance

Adversaries do not work from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., nor do they follow the standard Monday-Friday 40-hour work week. Businesses are under constant attack, and so should your security staff. A 24/7 SOC does not cease hunting and monitoring for danger indicators while business owners are asleep, but rather actively hunts and monitors for them even on holidays and weekends.

4. Threat triage, incident isolation, and remediation

Countless products across the 'layers of security' generate heaps of threat data. This is where security analysts undertake triaging — the investigation process that determines if a threat should be escalated to incident level. Some SOCs give remediation assistance, while others provide a remediation solution to resolve the threat, and still others provide a combination of the two. When a significant threat is escalated to an incident, it is often important to 'contain' the spread to additional devices, which is when device isolation comes into play. Today's contemporary SOC can isolate while containing the danger until the treatment is applied.

5. Security stack understanding and compatibility

Most managed service providers already have a security technology stack in place, with vendor picks and investments in place. This includes firewalls, next-generation antivirus, email security, DNS, authentication, and other similar tools. Working with a SOC that complements your existing security layers (stack) provides rapid visibility across primary attack vectors while aggregating threat telemetry in a single pane of glass and across the fleet of managed clients.

Other advantages of a SOC service worth mentioning

1. Log management and data storage
2. Correlation of threats with events and intelligence
3. Capabilities for forensic investigation
4. Reduce investments in the technological stack
5. Coverage of threats to remote home workers

Finally, a SOC supplemented to your IT crew.

Consider a SOC to be an extension of your current MSP's IT staff, enhancing your ability to identify and respond to threats around the clock. Working with a SOC lowers the enormous financial expenses associated with employing and keeping an internal team of cyber security specialists to meet the time-consuming and complicated problems of triaging threats and incident investigations. Working with a SOC-as-a-Service provider provides operational and financial benefits for the majority of managed service providers.

A Security Operations Center (SOC) is a command center comprised of trained security resources, process, and technology that are constantly monitoring for hostile behaviour while preventing, detecting, and responding to cyber events.