Cybersecurity

SOC: What is a Security Operations Center (SOC)?

Everything you wanted to know about a Security Operations Center (SOC) and best practices for running one.

What is SOC?

Before we get into the nitty gritty details, let's define SOC. It's a security operations center is an industry standard for detecting and responding to cyberattacks. The SOCs are a valuable resource because they can detect incidents quickly.

What is security operations center? 

Security operations centers are facilities that house an information security team responsible for monitoring and analyzing the organization’s security posture on a continuous basis. Security analysts work closely with organizational incident response teams to ensure any detected incidents get addressed quickly.

SOC Objectives 

Security operations centers monitor and analyze activity on networks, servers, endpoint computers, databases. If there is any sort of anomaly or suspicious behavior in the network security breaches are investigated.

SOC (Security Operation Center) 

Digital Security operations center is responsible for the ongoing, operational component of security. This includes analyzing and preventing cybersecurity incidents.

Digital Security operations center is important because it allows companies to keep track of what is happening in their networks.

What Does SOC Stand For In Security

A Security Operation Center (SOC) is a centralized function inside an organization that uses people, procedures, and technology to continually monitor and enhance the security posture of the business while preventing, detecting, analyzing, and responding to cybersecurity events.

A SOC functions as a hub or central command post, collecting telemetry from throughout an organization's IT infrastructure, including networks, devices, appliances, and data storage, regardless of where such assets are located. The development of advanced threats necessitates gathering context from a variety of sources. Essentially, the SOC serves as a point of contact for any events documented inside the organization that are being monitored. The SOC must decide how each of these incidents will be controlled and dealt with.

Benefits of Having a SOC

Security operations centers are a critical part of any security strategy. They provide 247 monitoring and analysis, which is key to detecting incidents quickly.

Roles Within a SOC

When it comes to security, the framework of your operations is made up of two things: software and employees.

Members of a SOC team include:

  • The leader of the group can step into any role, including overseeing security systems and procedures.
  • Data analysts are responsible for analyzing data, whether it is from a specific time period or after the occurrence of an event.
  • The investigator finds out what happened and why a breach occurred, usually working closely with the responder.
  • A person who is familiar with the requirements of responding to a security breach would be invaluable during one.
  • Auditors make sure that organizations are complying with current and future legislation. They ensure the compliance is met.

It's important to note that in some organizations, one person performs multiple roles. It might depend on the size of an organization and how many people are needed for success.

Best Practices for Running a SOC

Security leaders are shifting focus from technology to the human element. SOC operatives manage known and existing threats while working on identifying emerging risks. They work with company needs, risk tolerance levels, and help put major incidents to rest.

The SOC needs to consume data from within the organization and correlate it with external information that provides insight into threats and vulnerabilities. This external cyber intelligence includes news feeds, signature updates, incident reports, threat briefs, and vulnerability alerts. The SOC staff must constantly feed this information into monitoring tools in order to keep up-to-date on current threats.

To be truly successful, SOCs need to use security automation. When they combine highly skilled analysts with this technology and skillsets, it allows them to increase their analytics power in order to better defend against data breaches and cyber-attacks.

Protect Your Organization from Cybersecurity Threats

SecurityStudio helps information security leaders at organizations ensure they’re protected against cybersecurity threats, stay insurable, and legally defensible with our risk assessment and risk management software. Schedule a demo to learn how we can help.

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