An SOC is essential to maintain and improve organisations’ cyber security posture, ensure business continuity and protect confidential information from cyber threats.

In this article, we share with you how an SOC helps organisations protect themselves against cyber threats and also the guidelines needed to set it up.

Establish an effective security operations center (SOC)

An SOC is essential to maintain and improve the cybersecurity posture of organisations, ensure business continuity and protect confidential information from cyber threats.

It allows for rapid identification and response to cyber attacks, minimising the impact of security incidents and mitigating risks. A SOC helps organisations in the following ways:

• Continuous monitoring: A SOC continuously monitors the organisation’s network and systems for cyber threats, vulnerabilities and suspicious activity
• Threat detection: A SOC detects and responds to potential security events and incidents in real time and in an effective manner
• Vulnerability management: A SOC monitors vulnerabilities in the organisation’s network and systems and helps to prioritise remediation
• Malware analysis: A SOC examines malware to better understand its tactics, techniques and procedures to better counter it
• Incident management: A SOC helps organisations manage security incidents and provides a comprehensive response plan
• Compliance: A SOC helps to ensure compliance with standards and regulations, especially when dealing with sensitive data

Here are some general guidelines for setting up an effective Security Operations Centre (SOC):

• Define the objectives: First of all, define the objectives of your SOC. These objectives should be clear and aligned with the company’s objectives. It is important to have a clear understanding of the threats and risks that your organisation may face.
• Identify the right tools: An effective SOC requires the use of the right tools to perform critical functions such as monitoring, detection and response. These may include security information and event management (SIEM), threat detection and vulnerability management tools.
• Train the security staff: Staff working in the SOC must have the right training and skills to be effective. The security team needs to know the latest security threats, techniques and tools in order to be able to detect and respond to security incidents.
• Develop standard procedures: Establishing standard procedures helps SOC analysts to quickly identify and respond to threats. It is essential to have guidelines in place for data collection, analysis, incident response and reporting.
• Continuous monitoring and improvement: A SOC needs to be continuously monitored to ensure that it is working effectively. It is important to continually analyse and identify areas for improvement, review the processes, procedures and tools in place, and update them regularly.
• Measuring results: Finally, it is necessary to continually monitor the performance of your SOC. This involves setting up key performance indicators (KPIs) to have visibility on the data that will help you identify problems and opportunities for improvement.

The right mix of people, processes and technology will put your organisation on the right track to building an effective SOC and improving your cyber resilience.