Security Operation Center
You can imagine the SOC as a physical room where the network traffic is continually monitored with alerts and visualised information that could be used to respond to a potential cyber-incident.
The SOC platform interacts directly with a SIEM platform to analyse network traffic and events. An unmonitored network environment could have multiple threats breaching resources, but an intelligent SIEM provides the right information and alert system so that the SOC platform and professionals can identify them and react quickly.
How does SOC work?
A SOC platform or SOC engineers perform the following functions:
- 24/7 monitoring across the entire environment.
- Preventative maintenance and deployment of cybersecurity appliances.
- Alert ranking to determine priority during incident response.
- Threat response when a cyber threat is found.
- Containment and eradication of discovered threats.
- Root-cause analysis after a cyber incident.
- Assessment and management of compliance for various regulations.
During a cybersecurity incident, the SOC team and platform will contain and analyse the threat to figure out what went wrong, why cyber protection failed, and what can be done to prevent the issue in the future.
The challenges:
The two cybersecurity strategies, SIEM and SOC, work together to protect internal resources. A SOC without a SIEM doesn’t have the right tools to detect and contain threats.
While the SIEM and SOC complement each other, there are challenges to be aware of when choosing the best fit SIEM for your business.
Storage Space – A SIEM collects potentially thousands of events and aggregates the information in one location. The log files must be stored either locally or in the cloud. This means that the organisation must have enough storage space to store the log data.
Personalisation – A SIEM that can analyse data and send alerts to the SOC team is beneficial, but too many false positives may result in lacking attention to critical ongoing threats from legitimate notifications.
Control and Manage Rules – Alerts must be specific enough so that the analyst knows the type of threat and can determine the right procedures that should be followed. The SOC team must configure the SIEM to give them the right detailed information and alerts so they can quickly determine the right steps based on the type of threat detected.
Already have a SOC and want to test it?
A step-by-step guide to test your SOC: Click here.
Read “What Is SIEM?”: Click here.
Read “What Is MSSP?”: Click here.
