In the era of cyber threats and security breaches, it’s crucial to have a strong security operation center (SOC) in place. The best security operation center is one that continuously monitors your assets and detects threats in a timely manner. It also ensures that you are compliant with industry standards such as PCI DSS and HIPAA.
A managed SOC is a cybersecurity service that enables businesses to protect themselves from security breaches without the need for building their own cybersecurity team. These services are delivered by third-party security operations centers with the tools and expertise to monitor, detect and respond to cybersecurity attacks.
SOC as a service is an ideal option for small and medium-sized businesses that are unable to afford to establish a security operations center or for those that are unsure about how to manage an in-house cybersecurity team. This is because a managed soc as a service provider offers a cost-effective way to keep your business safe from data theft, malware, viruses, and other cyberattacks.
The key to managing a successful SOC is choosing the right model, staffing it with the most qualified specialists and adopting the most appropriate tools and technologies. Then, implement security orchestration, automation and response (SOAR) processes whenever possible to increase efficiency and incident response times.
It also helps to stay connected with global cyber intelligence resources. These networks can provide a wealth of information about emerging threat trends and solutions that can be woven into the SOC’s overall security fabric.
In addition, a good SOC should be well-versed in security compliance and regulations, especially those that affect industries such as health insurance, retail, financial and technology. A SOC that is able to adhere to compliance requirements can help keep your organization protected from data breaches and litigation.
SOC staff members can range from a SOC manager to a Tier 1-3 security analyst(s). Other specialized roles include a forensic investigator, security engineer, vulnerability manager and threat hunter.
An effective SOC needs to be staffed with the most skilled security analysts available and have access to an extensive array of tools, technologies and resources that will allow them to identify threats in real time. Additionally, it must be able to implement new updates as they become available.
A SOC also must have a compliance auditor in place to ensure that all its processes and employee actions are compliant with regulatory standards and company policies. This is particularly important when considering GDPR, HIPAA and other compliance mandates.
Lastly, a good SOC should be able to provide timely alerts to the organization’s stakeholders and managers. This can reduce the number of false positives and allow the team to prioritize addressing the issues that are actually threatening to the business.
The SOC staff should be able to quickly identify the nature of the threat, the areas of the network that are being targeted, and the severity of the attack. This allows the team to prioritize the attack and apportion resources accordingly.